Beloved Parishioners,

In this week's Pastor’s Corner, I share with you the church’s document on social communication and social media. Next week I would share more on my pilgrimage to Holy Places visited during this period.

The document Inter mirifica (Latin for “Among the wonderful”), subtitled "Decree on the Media of Social Communication", is one of the Second Vatican Council's 16 magisterial documents promulgated on 4 December 1963, by Pope Paul VI. In this document, the Church welcomes and promotes the various wonderful technological discoveries of the modern time especially “those media which, such as the press, movies, radio, television, and the likes, of their very nature, reach and influence, not only individuals, but the very masses and the whole of human society, and thus can rightly be called the media of social communication.” (IM, 1)

The Church made salient recognitions of different facts about the media of social communication noting that “these media if properly utilized, can be of great service to mankind, they greatly contribute to men's entertainment and instruction as well as to the spread and support of the Kingdom of God” (IM, 2). However, the Church admits that these media can be abused contrary to the design of God and to the decimation and loss of man. Thus, the Church teaches that “it is the duty of Pastors to instruct and guide the faithful so that they, with the help of these same media, may further the salvation and perfection of themselves and of the entire human family. In addition, the laity especially must strive to instill a human and Christian spirit into these media, so that they may fully measure up to the great expectations of mankind and to God's design.” (IM, 4)

Furthermore, the Church noted that the news we disseminate in the media should always be true and complete, within the bounds of justice and charity, and the manner in which we disseminate them should be proper and decent. To the young, the Church noted that they should ensure that they accustom themselves to moderation and self -control in the use of the media and not become obsessed with it. In the same vein, the Church observed that parents should remember that they have a most serious duty to guard carefully television shows, publications and other things of this sort, which may be morally harmful, to enter their homes or affect their children under other circumstances.

The Church highlights that the moral responsibility for the proper use of the media of social communication falls on newsmen, writers, actors, designers, producers, displayers, distributors, operators, and sellers, as well as critics and all others who play any part in the production and transmission of mass presentations. As such, the Church admonishes them to adjust their economic, political or artistic, and technical aspects so as never to oppose the common good. Again, they ought always to be mindful that a great number of their readers and audience are young people, who need a press and entertainment that offer them decent amusement and cultural uplift. In addition, they should see to it that communications or presentations concerning religious matters are entrusted to worthy and experienced hands and are carried out with fitting reverence.

The Church charges the various public authorities to promulgate and carefully enforce laws that will ensure a fitting and careful watch, lest grave damage befall public morals and the welfare of society through the base use of these media. It subsequently charges them to diligently assume the duty of protecting and safeguarding true and just freedom of information, especially when it is a question of freedom of the press. Public authorities are to encourage spiritual values, culture, and the fine arts that guarantee the rights of those who wish to use the media.

More so, the Church advocates that in order to instill a fully Christian spirit into Catholics, a truly Catholic press should be set up and encouraged. Such a press- whether immediately fostered and directed by ecclesiastical authorities or by Catholic laymen-should be edited with the clear purpose of forming, supporting, and advancing public opinion in accord with natural law and Catholic teaching and precepts. It should disseminate and properly explain news concerning the life of the Church. Moreover, the faithful ought to be advised of the necessity both to spread and read the Catholic press to formulate Christian judgments for themselves on all events. Here in the diocese, we have the Catholic Sun which I have found very beneficial in uplifting my spiritual reading.

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