Reality is also part of the Church’s life
Fr. IRENEUSZ SKUBIŚ
You need not convince anyone how important the media are. It is even said that only what the media show exists. If the media do not speak about someone or something it means that the person or the thing is not important, practically non-existing. This is an interesting, and unfortunately, true statement since the media actually control the thinking of many people, suggesting what they should talk about or what opinion concerning a given matter they should have. I want to mention the presence of the Christian option in the media, which is extremely important, especially to Christians, and which is after all our reality. We are concerned about these matters and we want those who think similarly have the best information about the Christian option. But the news concerning this subject, the reports showing the events and celebrations in the Church can be found only on the Catholic radio or TV Trwam. And mainly thanks to these media we (especially the sick and lonely, those living in old people’s homes) can experience these events. It is true that the public television or radio stations show some short pictures. The journalists of the secular press often take part in these events. But this is only trace information, which is decisively insufficient for Catholics. That’s why the existence of the Catholic media that devote time and place to meet the needs of wide audience, including listeners and viewers abroad, is very important. The Catholic media are needed for Catholics like they need churches where they can meet God, receive holy sacraments, participate in the Eucharist... The thing is that as Christians we can experience certain events together, pray together, share our views. The secular media provide a lot of national and international news but they do not speak about the teaching of the Pope, the bishops and there are no Catholic programmes. So let us imagine a situation that in Polish churches one cannot find ‘Niedziela’ or other Catholic titles, or that our Catholic radio stations do not work. We have not Radio Maryja, TV Trwam. What are we left with?... Catholic papers, Catholic radio stations help priests in their pastoral care, e.g. explaining believers how to look at new social phenomena from the Catholic point of view. For instance, recently in Great Britain the government has allowed medical experiments that combine human and animal embryos, which contradicts the fundamental moral or ethical principles. Naturally, the Church has firmly opposed such experiments, stressing that they attack the foundations of humanity, change God’s intentions. One should provide Catholics the evangelical arguments, the philosophical-theological background, which constitutes the intellectual base for all activities. The Catholic media do it universally, advising us how to live in the Christian way, according to the Gospel. And nobody has the right to say that there is no room for such media in our reality. They are also needed for priests who do not always have time to study certain problems. Priests make their contributions to the development and spread of the Catholic media, and the fate of the Catholic media depends on priests to a large extent. Anyone that thinks responsibly about pastoral care must be deeply convinced that today one cannot conduct true pastoral ministry without the Catholic media.
"Niedziela" 4/2010