Indian Bishops commemorate Vatican's communication document
Indore, India, 3 February 2014: Bishop Chacko Thottumarikal, chairman of Indian bishops'
commission for Social Communications, has opened the national year-long celebrations
to commemorate the path-breaking document of Second Vatican Council on media and communications,
Inter Mirifica. The program, which included a seminar, was opened at Satprakashan
Sanchar Kendra in Indore on February1.
The year-long program called "Inter
Mirifica Year 2014" aims to revitalise the Indian Church's communication ministry.
The event is comprised of various programmes on intellectual, cultural and creative
planes, a press release said.
The celebrations are desinged to help the Indian
Church, especially those involved in the media to “take to heart the spirit of the
document” for a productive communications ministry, said Dr Joby Kavungal CRJ, the
national organiser of the celebrations.
Father Kavungal and Fr Jose Vallikatt
facilitated the seminar for group of people in media misssion. Similar programmes
are planned at national and regional levels. They include celebrating World Communication
Day, International media conference, National media cultural fest and national media
competitions.
Inter Mirifica sought the active engagement and full participation
by the Catholic Church in the field of media and communications. The document not
only served as a guideline for communications but also became the foundation for the
subsequent documents on media and communications in the Church.
“Catholics
needs to involve more deeply in to media and communication ministry,” said Bisho Thottumarikkal
said while opening the celebrations.
He said the year 2014 is the jubilee
year of the document, which gave preliminary orientations and impetus to the Catholic
communication ministry.
He said the CBCI meeting 10 years ago deliberated about
media and communication with the theme “Towards a communicating church.” Communication
is Church's mission. Modern systems of communication such as Internet offer great
opportunity to reach the message of Jesus to the whole world, he noted.
Religious
sisters, and priests of the Diocese of Indore had dedicated this day for thinking
about their missionary role and responsibility to harness social media’s potentials
for evangelisation.Source: UCAN