Fr. Silvio Cajiao, S.I.

Bogotá

Forty years have passed since John XXIII encouraged the bishops to "update" the evangelizing presence of the Church in today’s world, and without doubt, the means of communication could not be excluded from that great assembly which produced the decree Inter mirifica (12-04-63) (Cfr. Nos. 15 & 16). From that moment on, following a recommendation of the same decree (Cfr. No. 19), the Pontifical Council for Social Communications was created which generated a series of documents. In continuity with the directives of the Council and the Popes, it repeatedly insisted on the urgent need to instruct pastoral ministers in the competent use of these means and how to guide others in their use, given their obvious repercussion on culture, public opinion, moral formation and the proclamation of the Gospel in today’s world.

The Pontifical Council for Social Communications produced the document Aetatis novae (02-22-92) which, in regards to the topic at hand, states: "Education and training in communications should be an integral part of the formation of pastoral workers and priests" (No. 18).

In addition, in its document Church and the Internet (02-22-02), we read in the conclusions: "Where necessary, they should receive media education themselves; in fact, ‘the Church would be well served if more of those who hold offices and perform functions in her name received communication training.’

… "This applies to the Internet as well as to the older media. Church leaders are obliged to use ‘the full potential of the computer age to serve the human and transcendent vocation of every person, and thus to give glory to the Father from whom all good things come.’ They ought to employ this remarkable technology in many different aspects of the Church's mission, while also exploring opportunities for ecumenical and interreligious cooperation in its use."

… "Priests, deacons, religious, and lay pastoral workers should have media education to increase their understanding of the impact of social communications on individuals and society and help them acquire a manner of communicating that speaks to the sensibilities and interests of people in a media culture. Today this clearly includes training regarding the Internet, including how to use it in their work. They can also profit from websites offering theological updating and pastoral suggestions."

Following this last recommendation, allow me to quote Cardinal Castrillón when, while addressing the Pontifical Council for Social Communication, he indicated the paradoxes of our contemporary society as well as the achievements attained in Latin America in creating networks such as RIIAL – the Information Network of the Latin American Church – in which the strength of communion of the Spirit was especially evident in some particularly difficult realities: … "It is precisely because the computer age has created a new culture that the priest must evangelize, that it must be studied, be included, and promoted starting from his priestly formation. The young seminarians have grown up in a culture where computers are already an essential element and a normal tool in furthering their activities." (http://www.riial.org/documents/card_castrillon_hoyos.pdf)

It is in this perspective of a new culture that we must make an impact in proclaiming the Gospel message of salvation, a true challenge for the priests of today.