Vatican official encourages Indian seminarians to take communications seriously

(October 07, 2011) An official of the Vatican’s communications office told Indian seminarians that formation in communication was a key priority in the Church. Mgr. Paul Tighe, Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Social Communication made the point in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata, while inaugurating a four-day seminar for students of theology from the major seminaries in the country. The Catholic Church in a digital world is universal as well as local and it needs to respond to challenges and opportunities offered by the new media, he told the October 2-5 seminar held at the Salesian communications centre of Nitika, on the theme, ‘Social Communication in Theological Formation - Paradigms for Pastoral Leadership’. Mgr. Tighe appreciated the efforts of the Catholic Bishops Conference of India for responding to the need to form pastors and church leaders in social communication. Fifty students of theology from five theological colleges in India attended the Kolkata seminar which included talks, hands on training and sessions by media experts. Students made audio,video presentations on the theme. The students have resolved to form media cells in their colleges and initiate media activities like social networking, promotion of World Communication Day, media education, internet in their respective seminaries. Presiding over a Mass at the tomb of Blessed Mother Teresa, the Vatican official pointed to the saintly nun’s capacity to find God in unusual places in the suffering of others.