A Catholic television will go a long way in helping to address the issue of the Catholic Church in Ghana’s declining membership at a time when the church is searching for solutions, says Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Dolphyne, the Director of the Sekondi-Takoradi Diocesan Department of Social Communications.
In an opinion piece titled: “Catholic Media Evangelization In Ghana: All Hands On Deck” shared with newswatchgh.com on March 27, he said “In order to give a platform for Catholic evangelization and outreach, the television project will be a potent instrument that can reach a large audience, including people who might not be able to attend church in person.”
During the outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic in 2020 and the subsequent suspension of Church services in Ghana, many Catholics resurrected their old age worry the Catholic in Ghana not having a national television where they can solely get or depend on Catholic content and participate in Masses and watch other Catholic programmes.
The dream of many Catholics in Ghana to one day see the Church have a national television network came to fruition as major steps and efforts had been put in place to let the establishment of a national television network see the light of the day.
These efforts metamorphosed into the setting up of a National Implementation Committee, election of officers, inauguration, and the registration of a Catholic Media Organisation and launching of the TV projects in some Dioceses.
The National Catholic Secretariat of Ghana under the auspices of the Ghana Catholic Bishops’ Conference (GCBC), and spearheaded by the National Laity Council has kick-started Lumen Christi Catholic Media Limited.
According to Fr. Dolphyne “The Church in Ghana must adopt the Catholic media evangelization project because it provides a potent and effective way to reach a large audience at a time when we need to innovate in order to address the issue of declining membership and maintain an active presence and voice in the nation.
“The dream of bringing the Catholic faith and her teachings and practices into the homes, on the phones, tablets, and computers of our beloved Catholics, potential Catholics, and non-Catholics cannot therefore be defeated by a lack of funds or other resources, he indicated.
Highlighting the advantages of having a Catholic TV, he said the Catholic Church in Ghana would have a platform to provide catechetical and spiritual development resources, as well as educational programming that could help Catholics deepen their faith and understanding of Catholic doctrine.
The Church has a great opportunity here to reach the entire nation and the world by using the media, he added.
A Catholic television will provide the Catholic Church in Ghana a voice in the public realm and promote social justice and human rights problems in line with Catholic social teaching in a democracy that is developing like ours. It will also establish topics for discussion in the nation’s public conversation.
A project of this kind, Fr. Dolphyne noted would provide some of our thronging Catholic youth with employment and training options in media and communications, which is important for the Church in a nation fighting the problem of youth unemployment.
“Our challenge as Catholics in Ghana and the use of media for evangelization is not a problem of content but a willingness to invest the needed capital to kick-start the project,” he stated.
“While acknowledging the various stakeholders’ contributions to the realization of the National Catholic Television agenda, it’s equally important to remind ourselves that most of our people are not welcoming the idea of buying an additional decoder to enable them access Catholic contents. These people are posing the question, “why can’t I have the Catholic television on my already existing decoder without buying a new decoder?”’
He added: “The fact is we are already late in media evangelization and any attempt to penetrate that space must be holistic and aimed at directing the market to our favour.”
“Those who are arguing for the ability to access the Catholic television content on the multi-TV platform rather than through a different decoder should know about the financial contribution needed and what each Catholic can do to make it a reality,” he said.
