Clerics have urged Catholic Me-
dia Practitioners to use their
gifts and profession to spread
the gospel of Jesus Christ and
promote economic development.
At the media conference organized
by the Catholic Archdiocese of Lagos
tagged: “Mobilising Catholic Media
Practitioners for the mission of the
Church in the Digital Era”, Monsig-
nor Joseph Oladejo Faniran, urged the
Catholic newsmen to be at the forefront
of spreading the good news through
their profession.
Monsignor Faniran, a Professor and
Dean, Faculty of Arts & Social Scienc-
es, Catholic Institute of West Africa(CI-
WA), Port Harcourt, speaking on ‘Com-
munication Apostolate in The Mission of
the Church: Mobilizing Catholic Media
Practitioners in Lagos Archdiocese’, not-
ed that since the age of industrialization,
which was signalled by the invention of
writing, the simple media of oral culture
have been transformed into the complex
global network of today which embrac-
es computerized electronic information
processing, digital technology etc.
The Cleric noted that following this
development, the act of communication,
an innate capacity given by God to en-
able persons to express themselves and
create relational culture, has become
an organized, professional or specialist
matter which demands competence and
training.
He added that communication has
transformed to the extent that to be
heard or to have a voice today means
having access to skills, training, tech-
nology and technical know-how adding
that the continuous rapid development in
media technology, is spawning a transfor-
mation comparable to that brought about
by the Industrial Revolution.
Monsignor Faniran opined that Lagos
as the melting point of all diversities that
characterize the entity called Nigeria calls
for special attention in the area of com-
munication and called on Catholic Media
Practitioners to take the challenge of pro-
claiming the good news in their neigh-
bourhood.
He explained that the act of communi-
cation is an innate capacity given by God
to enable persons to express themselves
and create relational culture, adding that
there is the need for the Catholic Media
Practitioners to assist in training individ-
ual members of the Church to commit
the media of interpersonal communica-
tion at their disposal in carrying out the
mission of the Church on their level of
interaction.
According to him, even on the parish
level, there are people with various gifts
that are waiting to be harnessed for the
mission, where the poets in those com-
munities can be encouraged to turn their
faith experience into poems, stories and
songs; the playwrights can write plays
with religious meaning; both fine and
performing artists can be assisted to cel-
ebrate their faith in Jesus through their
talents.
He said, “Members of such parishes or
communities will then be transformed
from passive churchgoers into men and
women of vision, ideas, faith, love and
hope who are ready to commit them-
selves and their talents to the service of
Jesus and His Kingdom. The various
social media platforms are waiting to
be used for the same purpose especially
among the youth who increasingly turn
to the world of cyberspace as a window
on the world.”
