World Communications Day, celebrated this year on May 12, will be an opportunity for parishioners in the Diocese and around the world to support the efforts of Catholic media, as these outlets continue develop new and better ways of spreading the Good News and keeping the faithful informed.
Through the Catholic Communications Campaign, a collection will be taken up in all parishes during Masses the weekend of May 11-12. Donations will help fund grants for communications projects that use media to spread the Gospel message and advance the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ general mission goals.
Fifty percent of the funds will remain in the Diocese, where they will be used to subsidize media outreach across digital, social and print formats.
UNMATCHED LOCAL CONTENT
Rayanne Bennett, diocesan executive director of Communications and Media, pointed to the expanding effort to engage with the faithful on a consistent and even daily basis.
“We have long recognized that the creation of quality and important content – be it news coverage;
video features, or catechetical messages from our Bishop and other Church leaders – is only impactful if we can deliver it effectively to our community,” she said. “That is why we have a multifaceted distribution effort, including a robust digital program, in which diocesan announcements, Monitor news content, video messages and more are shared on a regular basis through the websites and social media.
Adding to that is a twice weekly newsletter where people can stay informed of news that is posted to TrentonMonitor.com.”
Backing up the digital effort is the news operation of The Monitor, its monthly print magazine. Bennett said, “The magazine delivers a more visual and consistent format to our very loyal and supportive subscribers. While our digital followers continue to grow in number, the print magazine is still reaching the highest number of community members with the greatest regularity out of all other delivery methods.”
Bennett credits the work of the dedicated Communications and Media staff and freelance partners for the quality and effectiveness of their ministry. “They are all wonderful, hard-working professionals for whom this is so much more than just a job.”
She also expressed gratitude to Bishop O’Connell, saying, “His prolific writing, unwavering responsiveness to our needs and clear appreciation for our work has made a big difference to all of us.”
FUNDING CATHOLIC MEDIA
The CCC collection was established in 1979 by the USCCB to provide essential resources for the Church’s outreach to the community through traditional and evolving media formats. Fifty percent of collected funds goes to the USCCB for projects such as production of faith-based documentary films and creation of multimedia content for key campaigns.
Recent grants have helped with creation of the USCCB Secretariat for Divine Worship’s app for the Liturgy of the Hours, training for communicators in the Catholic Media Association, and projects of the Catholic Media Council, United States Catholic Mission Association and many others.
This year’s World Communications Day theme is “Artificial Intelligence and the Wisdom of the Heart: Toward A Fully Human Connection.”
In his message for the occasion – released Jan. 24 on the feast of St. Francis de Sales, patron saint of journalists – Pope Francis spoke about the need for communication to maintain its roots in human need and expression.
“At this time in history which risks becoming rich in technology and poor in humanity, our reflections must begin with the human heart,” he wrote. “Only by adopting a spiritual way of viewing reality, only by recovering a wisdom of the heart, can we confront and interpret the newness of our time and rediscover the path to a fully human communication. Such wisdom cannot be sought from machines.”
He noted that although machines possess greater capacity than humans for storing and correlating data, “human beings alone are capable of making sense of that data.” Using artificial intelligence for the good of humanity is “not simply a matter of making machines appear more human, but of awakening humanity from the slumber induced by the illusion of omnipotence, based on the belief that we are completely autonomous and self-referential subjects, detached from all social bonds and forgetful of our status as creatures.”
The Pope said that AI can “make a positive contribution to the communications sector, provided it does not eliminate the role of journalism on the ground but serves to support it.”
The full text of the Pope’s message in English can be found at:
En Espanol:
Marianne Hartman reaches 40-year mark in serving Diocese’s communications ministry