The Pope has a message for the media
The art of communication is by its nature linked to an ethical value, to the virtues that are the foundation of morality.
This was one line from the message Pope Benedict gave to a weekend gathering called by the Pontifical Council for Social Communications for a multi-national group of Catholic communications professors, the people who are teaching future members of the media.
According to a press release on the conference, the gathering also aims “to give the council a fuller understanding of the range of activities taking place in these institutions and a greater appreciation of the qualifications, talents and skills of those who work within them.”
In other words, the Pope and the Council for Communications is taking a keen interest in how teachers in Catholic institutions are teaching the skills and goals of informing the global community.
Recalling how, during the course of the congress, attention had turned to the matter of the identity of Catholic universities and schools, the Pope pointed out that “such identity is not simply a question of the number of Catholic students; it is above all a question of conviction, of truly believing that only in the mystery of the Word made flesh does the mystery of man become clear”.
“As experts in the theory and practice of communication, and as educators who are training a new generation of communicators, yours is a privileged role, not only in your students’ lives, but also in the mission of your local Churches … to make the Good News of God’s love known to everyone”.
This is essentially the same message (which of course it would be) Benedict brought to Catholic educators in America on his US apostolic visit. The message many of them feared would be a trip to the woodshed. It was more like a walk in the woods, with prodding so gentle it may not have been immediately felt.
Are we ready to commit our entire self – intellect and will, mind and heart – to God? Do we accept the truth Christ reveals? Is the faith tangible in our universities and schools? Is it given fervent expression liturgically, sacramentally, through prayer, acts of charity, a concern for justice, and respect for God’s creation?
Teachers, he told them, have a big responsibility which is also a great opportunity: Teaching transcendent truths about the human person.
When nothing beyond the individual is recognized as definitive, the ultimate criterion of judgment becomes the self and the satisfaction of the individual’s immediate wishes. The objectivity and perspective, which can only come through a recognition of the essential transcendent dimension of the human person, can be lost. Within such a relativistic horizon the goals of education are inevitably curtailed. Slowly, a lowering of standards occurs. We observe today a timidity in the face of the category of the good and an aimless pursuit of novelty parading as the realization of freedom. We witness an assumption that every experience is of equal worth and a reluctance to admit imperfection and mistakes.
What a great snip of text that is. How did the ears listening that day hear this lofty language? Have the educators gone back over this message?
Questions, questions…
How might Christian educators respond?
Urgently, he says, and with “intellectual charity.”
Once their passion for the fullness and unity of truth has been awakened, young people will surely relish the discovery that the question of what they can know opens up the vast adventure of what they ought to do.
Which gets back to the message for the media…