World Communications Day 2016 is all about mercy
July 29, 2019 at 12:37 p.m.
Each year on the Sunday before Pentecost, the universal Church observes World Communications Day, intended to draw attention to the integral role that communications work plays in the mission of the Church.
To read Pope Francis' message on World Communications Day, click here.
This year’s observance, which took place May 8, was extraordinary for two reasons. First, it marked the 50th anniversary of the existence of World Communications Day. Coming just three years after the promulgation of Inter Mirifica, the Second Vatican Council’s Decree on the Media of Social Communications, the inaugural day might have been described as a way to annually affirm what was proclaimed about communications by the Council Fathers.
The second reason that this year’s World Communications Day stands apart from the 49 that came before it is that it has fallen within the Year of Mercy proclaimed by Pope Francis. This fact was not lost on the Holy Father, who used the theme of this jubilee year to assign a special significance to this important consideration of communications efforts.
“Communication and Mercy: A Fruitful Encounter,” the theme for the 2016 World Communications Day, reflects a connection between mercy and communications, and broadens the message to challenge all of us – not just those who work in Church communications – to consider how we communicate with one another.
Our response to this challenge can take many forms. Historically, the faithful of the Diocese are asked to join their counterparts around the United States in supporting the Catholic Communication Campaign, sponsored by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in conjunction with World Communications Day. While the results of the latest collection aren’t yet in, the coordinators of CCC recently issued a letter of thanks for the 2015 campaign, to which the Trenton faithful donated more than $45,000.
Half of that amount remains with the Diocese for use in its Communications endeavors. Here, the local allocation is applied to the Department of Radio and Television for its work in producing such faith-based television programs as Realfaith TV, The Catholic Corner and Cristo Para Todos. We have long been grateful to receive that support, which helps to make those efforts possible.
This year, however, World Communications Day calls us to do more, and to be more. The responsibility of using communications resources and methods to convey God’s mercy falls to each of us. And the need has never been greater.
While communications means today are vastly more powerful and advanced than what the Council Fathers imagined 50 years ago, they can also be more destructive.
Social media, embraced by young and old as a means of staying connected, is also used by extremist groups to recruit new members. In this mean-spirited season of presidential politics, tweets fly at lightning speed, carrying withering criticism and insults that couldn’t be further from our Catholic understanding of mercy.
In his message for World Communications Day, Pope Francis states, “The internet can help us to be better citizens. Access to digital networks entails a responsibility for our neighbour whom we do not see but who is nonetheless real and has a dignity which must be respected. The internet can be used wisely to build a society which is healthy and open to sharing.”
This is something we should all take to heart. If we adopt a clear-eyed assessment of the ways in which we communicate, each of us can likely see times when we could have done better.
If we open ourselves up to the call of World Communications Day – to the fruitfulness of using communication to convey God’s love and mercy – then we will be able to have a truly positive impact on our world, in God’s name.
We all have times where we can use the gift and responsibility of communications toward that understanding of mercy.
If you wish to contribute to the 2016 Catholic Communication Campaign, send your check made payable to The Diocese of Trenton, 701 Lawrenceville Rd., Trenton, NJ 08648, attn.: Department of Finance/Catholic Communication Campaign.
To read the full text of Pope Francis’ message for World Communications Day 2016, go to TrentonMonitor.com.
Rayanne Bennett also serves as the Diocese’s executive director of communications.
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Each year on the Sunday before Pentecost, the universal Church observes World Communications Day, intended to draw attention to the integral role that communications work plays in the mission of the Church.
To read Pope Francis' message on World Communications Day, click here.
This year’s observance, which took place May 8, was extraordinary for two reasons. First, it marked the 50th anniversary of the existence of World Communications Day. Coming just three years after the promulgation of Inter Mirifica, the Second Vatican Council’s Decree on the Media of Social Communications, the inaugural day might have been described as a way to annually affirm what was proclaimed about communications by the Council Fathers.
The second reason that this year’s World Communications Day stands apart from the 49 that came before it is that it has fallen within the Year of Mercy proclaimed by Pope Francis. This fact was not lost on the Holy Father, who used the theme of this jubilee year to assign a special significance to this important consideration of communications efforts.
“Communication and Mercy: A Fruitful Encounter,” the theme for the 2016 World Communications Day, reflects a connection between mercy and communications, and broadens the message to challenge all of us – not just those who work in Church communications – to consider how we communicate with one another.
Our response to this challenge can take many forms. Historically, the faithful of the Diocese are asked to join their counterparts around the United States in supporting the Catholic Communication Campaign, sponsored by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in conjunction with World Communications Day. While the results of the latest collection aren’t yet in, the coordinators of CCC recently issued a letter of thanks for the 2015 campaign, to which the Trenton faithful donated more than $45,000.
Half of that amount remains with the Diocese for use in its Communications endeavors. Here, the local allocation is applied to the Department of Radio and Television for its work in producing such faith-based television programs as Realfaith TV, The Catholic Corner and Cristo Para Todos. We have long been grateful to receive that support, which helps to make those efforts possible.
This year, however, World Communications Day calls us to do more, and to be more. The responsibility of using communications resources and methods to convey God’s mercy falls to each of us. And the need has never been greater.
While communications means today are vastly more powerful and advanced than what the Council Fathers imagined 50 years ago, they can also be more destructive.
Social media, embraced by young and old as a means of staying connected, is also used by extremist groups to recruit new members. In this mean-spirited season of presidential politics, tweets fly at lightning speed, carrying withering criticism and insults that couldn’t be further from our Catholic understanding of mercy.
In his message for World Communications Day, Pope Francis states, “The internet can help us to be better citizens. Access to digital networks entails a responsibility for our neighbour whom we do not see but who is nonetheless real and has a dignity which must be respected. The internet can be used wisely to build a society which is healthy and open to sharing.”
This is something we should all take to heart. If we adopt a clear-eyed assessment of the ways in which we communicate, each of us can likely see times when we could have done better.
If we open ourselves up to the call of World Communications Day – to the fruitfulness of using communication to convey God’s love and mercy – then we will be able to have a truly positive impact on our world, in God’s name.
We all have times where we can use the gift and responsibility of communications toward that understanding of mercy.
If you wish to contribute to the 2016 Catholic Communication Campaign, send your check made payable to The Diocese of Trenton, 701 Lawrenceville Rd., Trenton, NJ 08648, attn.: Department of Finance/Catholic Communication Campaign.
To read the full text of Pope Francis’ message for World Communications Day 2016, go to TrentonMonitor.com.
Rayanne Bennett also serves as the Diocese’s executive director of communications.
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