… ComWEEK commences May 5
All roads lead to the Holy Cross Cathedral, Lagos on May 12, 2024, when the Catholic Archdiocese of Lagos joins its counterparts to celebrate the 58th World Communications Day, beginning with Mass and culminating with media interaction of communications experts with Most Rev. (Dr.) Alfred Adewale Martins, Catholic Archbishop of Lagos. This year’s celebration of the Communications Week (ComWEEK) which begins today, May 5 will be held in all parishes, dioceses and organisations, and an inaugural public lecture is scheduled to hold on Wednesday, May 8, at the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria (CSN) Resource Centre, Abuja.
The theme chosen by the Holy Father, Pope Francis for the 2024 World Communications Day celebration is, “Artificial Intelligence and the wisdom of the heart: Towards a fully human communication.” According to Archbishop Martins, the first World Communications Day was held in 1967, following from one of the recommendations of the Second Vatican Council in the document Inter Mirifica (1963), that Pope Paul VI led the world in celebrating the maiden edition of the World Day of Communications, with the theme, “Church and Social Communication: First World Communication Day.”
According to Archbishop Martins, the Holy Father explained the motive for what has since become an annual celebration in the following words: The Church, realising “That she is truly and intimately linked with mankind and its history,” wishes by means of this initiative …to draw the attention of her children and of all men of good will to the vast and complex phenomenon of the modern means of social communication, which form one of the most characteristic notes of modern civilisation. Archbishop Martins said that the very insightful document, a confirmation of the Church’s renewed attitude towards the media, an attitude which has not been stable through history, the Holy Father noted the very obvious fact that, owing to the new development, the media, man’s social life has changed tremendously.
He added that this is because “Time and space have been conquered, and man has become as it were a citizen of the world.” “He said: “No more do we need to wait for days or months before getting information, even from war zones. No longer do we need the few professionals in journalism to feed us with edited or doctored versions of events. In the new social structure in reference, almost everyone has the capacity to tell his or her story as they know it.” On Communications Week 2024, Archbishop Martins said: “The annual celebration of World Day of Communications has been expanded to one week for the Church in Nigeria since last year. It begins from Sunday, 5th May to Sunday, 12th May 2024. All Parish Priests and Priests-incharge of the various parishes are to announce this during Masses, publish it in their bulletins and ensure that their parishes participate actively in this programme. “The daily manual to be used in parishes and for students in our schools are available on the website: comweeknigeria.com.
