“When they (the Media) are put at the service of the Gospel, they are capable of increasing almost indefinitely the area in which the Word of God is heard; they enable the Good News to reach millions of people. The Church would feel guilty before the Lord if she did not utilize these powerful means that human skill is daily rendering more perfect…. Thanks to them she succeeds in speaking to the multitudes”. (Pope Paul VI, Evangeli Nuntiandi 45)
The Church has a duty, not just a right to be heard on every and any issue that concerns the people of God. Pastors of souls and Church leaders especially have a responsibility to speak up on matters of doctrine and morals in order to guide the conscience of the faithful and keep the world correctly informed. We all need to be more deliberate and more intentional in engaging the media so that the same media which often carry fake news and offensive messages may become the pulpit for the gospel and sound doctrine.
As a modest help, CEPACS, (the Pan African Episcopal Committee for Social Communication of SECAM, the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar) hereby reminds all the bishops of the following offers and opportunities which can enhance their media presence and effectiveness on pastoral matters. Since RECOWA/CERAO is one of the 8 regions through which SECAM carries out its mission on the African Continent the following are presented for your attention:
- Use the FREE services of APO, (the Africa Press Organization) which is the leading Pan-African communications consultancy and press release distribution service provider. APO has offered its considerable media facilities to freely distribute, disseminate and project media contents (audio, video, press release materials etc), from Bishops, dioceses and other catholic entities of Africa at the highest international level to as many as 800 media outlets worldwide, and make them available to professional journalists, hitherto unreachable for Church and pastoral news outfits or officials, all for free. Contents in both English and French are accepted. Just introduce yourself or your media personnel or office and get them to send your material to: nicolas@apo-opa.com, to enjoy the widest international publicity possible. The coverage at this level is unmatched.
- APO will also train your personnel/ journalists and build their capacity on writing press releases reports and statements, organizing press conferences. news reports etc in both English and French languages. Some conferences and diocese are already benefitting from this. Make enquiries about this at the same address as above. nicolas@apo-opa.com
- One of the most effective strategies for doing this in our time is to adopt a functional pastoral communication approach that includes the use of modern mass and social media means and establishing a functional alliance with friendly, well trained, well-formed church and secular media personnel and the social media savvy youths who can be very generous with their time, skills and resources to the Church. To this end, we propose that you find out and work also with the associations of catholic media professionals in your dioceses or bishops conferences like UCAP, (the Association of Catholic Print Media Professionals) and SIGNIS, (the Association of Catholic Electronic Media Professionals). SIGNIS can also help to coopt the youths who are natives and experts of the digital media to work with the Church. CEPACS is working to get these professional associations to get more involved in the issues that concern the local Church wherever they are.
- Additionally, there is an ongoing effort with the help of the Eternal Word Television Network, EWTN, to compile a database of Radio Establishments in Africa. Same is being done for National and Diocesan Catholic print media and catholic television broadcasters in Africa. When the task is completed this can be a very powerful platform for research and news sharing and diffusion for the Church in the continent. It shall be put at your disposal and that of your communication offices. Thank you for your attention.
Bishop Emmanuel Badejo President of CEPACS
Fr. George Nwachukwu Director of Communications RECOWA/CERAO
