The future of the Catholic Church hinges on so many factors and elements but one of them is Social Communication. Some may say that Communication been the future of the Church is meaningless and sometimes over exaggeration. But the Church’s Decree 𝙄𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙈𝙞𝙧𝙞𝙛𝙞𝙘𝙖 (𝙊𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙈𝙚𝙖𝙣𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙎𝙤𝙘𝙞𝙖𝙡 𝘾𝙤𝙢𝙢𝙪𝙣𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣) is prophetic and futuristic about Communication and the future of the Church.
𝙄𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙈𝙞𝙧𝙞𝙛𝙞𝙘𝙖 (𝙊𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙈𝙚𝙖𝙣𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙎𝙤𝙘𝙞𝙖𝙡 𝘾𝙤𝙢𝙢𝙪𝙣𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣) proved futuristic by starting that the Church cannot ignore the ”marvellous technical inventions…of man’s genius,” which open up ”new avenues of easy communication” and contribute greatly to the enlargement and enrichment of human mind.” 𝙄𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙈𝙞𝙧𝙞𝙛𝙞𝙘𝙖, 1.
Some may ignore the prophetic and futuristic voice of this Decree. But the fact still remains the same that the future of the Church in the modern world needs Communicators both ecclesial and civil. After all, the Church has disparate elements in her bosom.
Church communications role are prevalent and remain a critical part of the Church structure now. We may be subservient to it or not.
But let the global pandemic that hit us and changed everything become a clarion call for us. In the middle of the heat of the global pandemic and the uncertainty and of course fear that engulfed the Church structure, Communication became key. Those already resting of the wings of Communication had no big deal of transition. They were the best in those times.
Social Communication has a lot to offer the Church and we must all get involved. Both ministers and non-ordained (”lay faithful) must be ready to embrace Communication.
You may believe it or not, the virtual space has come to stay but not to eliminate the ecclesial or the Eucharistic presence of the Church. Of course there are a few lacunae which when tempered with may bring about aberrations of the Church’s law and essentially the administration of the Sacraments. A typical example is in the name of Communication, people will like to confess their sins virtually or on their mobile phones and other media.
Communication in itself when handled well is good and Social Communication on the other hand is futuristic. The boon and bane of Communication must be filtered and used by Church Communicators.
If we are our own evangelizers in the Church, then we are our own communicators too. Can there be an evangelization with communication? Evangelizers are invariably Communicators.
”𝐵𝑢𝑡 ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑢𝑝𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑛𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐿𝑜𝑟𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛 ℎ𝑖𝑚? 𝐴𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑣𝑒 𝑖𝑛 ℎ𝑖𝑚 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑠𝑡 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 ℎ𝑖𝑚? 𝐴𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 ℎ𝑖𝑚 𝑖𝑓 𝑛𝑜 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 ℎ𝑖𝑚? 𝐴𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑐ℎ 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 ℎ𝑖𝑚 𝑖𝑓 𝑛𝑜 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚? 𝐴𝑠 𝑆𝑐𝑟𝑖𝑝𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑦𝑠: 𝐻𝑜𝑤 𝑏𝑒𝑎𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑓𝑢𝑙 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑒𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑔𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝑛𝑒𝑤𝑠.” (𝙍𝙤𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙨 10:14-15 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝘾𝙝𝙧𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙖𝙣 𝘾𝙤𝙢𝙢𝙪𝙣𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝘽𝙞𝙗𝙡𝙚: 𝘾𝙖𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙡𝙞𝙘 𝙋𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙖𝙡 𝙀𝙙𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣)
By Rev. Fr. Michael Selasi COMBEY
