Challenge
to Catholic Communicators
-*Fr. Cedric Prakash SJ
On 15 May 2022, Pope Francis
proclaimed ten outstanding women and men as Saints of the Catholic Church.
Among them was Blessed Titus
Brandsma, a Dutch Carmelite priest and journalist.Fr. Brandsma was named
spiritual adviser to the Dutch Association of Catholic Journalists in 1935 and
became its president after the Nazi invasion of the Netherlands. He worked with
the Dutch bishops’ in crafting their message opposing Nazi ideology and the
forced publication of propaganda in Catholic newspapers.
Following Germany’s invasion of the Netherlands in 1940,
Brandsma defended the freedom of Catholic education and the Catholic press
against Nazi pressure. In the
face of great risk, he visited the offices of Catholic media outlets around the
country over the course of ten days, encouraging editors to resist pressure to publish
Nazi propaganda. His actions drew the ire of the Nazi regime who arrested him
in 1942. Several months later, he was transported to the Dachau concentration
camp where he was killed by a lethal injection of carbolic acid. He had to pay
the ultimate price for his visible and vocal stand against Nazim. St. John Paul
II, who beatified the Dutch priest on 3 November 1985, regarded him as a “valiant
journalist” and a “martyr of freedom of expression against the tyranny
of the dictatorship.”
A few days before the canonization of Brandsma, hundreds
of journalists from all over the world, wrote an open letter requesting the Holy
Father to name the Dutch Carmelite as the patron saint of journalists. The
letter is significant on several counts; the key aspects, relevant for all
Catholic communicators today include,
“In 2018
you asked us, journalists, loud and clear, ‘to promote a journalism of peace’,
a ‘journalism that is truthful and opposed to falsehoods, rhetorical slogans,
and sensational headlines. A journalism created by people for people, one that
is at the service of all… a journalism committed to pointing out alternatives
to the escalation of shouting matches and verbal violence’ (‘The truth will set
you free’ (Jn. 8:32), Fake news and journalism for peace. Message of His
Holiness Pope Francis for World Communications Day,24 Jan 2018).
We
wholeheartedly endorse your call to action and in it we recognize a mission
statement for the whole of the journalistic enterprise: for old and new media,
for editors of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations, and
internet platforms - and not only for journalists of Catholic origin, but for
all journalists of good will.
On 15
May, in Rome, you will canonize a man who embodied these crucial journalistic
values until his dying day: the Dutch Carmelite Father Titus Brandsma (1881 -
1942).
Titus
Brandsma has meant a lot to the Catholic community in the Low Countries, but
his journalistic work stands out among all his other activities. He was
editor-in-chief of a newspaper, devoted himself to the modernization and
professionalization of the Catholic daily press in the Netherlands, and strove
for better working conditions and the establishment of a professional training
for journalists.
Father
Brandsma did his work in the context of the rise of fascism and Nazism in
Europe. In word and deed, he opposed the language of hatred and division that
was becoming common at the time. In his view, what we now describe as ‘fake
news’ was not to be tolerated in the Catholic press; he successfully argued for
an episcopal ban on the printing of National Socialist propaganda in Catholic
newspapers.
He paid
with his life for his courageous actions: in early 1942 Father Titus was
arrested by the occupying forces and consequently sent to the Dachau
concentration camp. There, on July 26 of the same year, he was killed by an
injection, on the Sunday that the Dutch bishops had their courageous protest
against the deportations of Jews read out in all the churches.
We,
Catholic journalists, recognize in Titus Brandsma a professional peer and
fellow believer of considerable standing. Someone who shared the deeper mission
that should drive journalism in modern times: a search for truth and veracity,
the promotion of peace and dialogue between people.
We
therefore see him as a friend and advocate for our entire profession, indeed a
patron saint of journalism. We would therefore like to boldly ask you to make
this patron saint’s office official.
The
current patron saint of journalism is Francis de Sales. He is undoubtedly a
holy man of faith and of great merit, but he was not a journalist in the modern
sense of the word. Titus Brandsma was.
And as we
said, he gave his life for it. In our view, this makes him particularly
suitable for this patronage. According to UNESCO, in 2021, no less than 55
journalists died worldwide while carrying out their work. Many more had to deal
with violence, threats, repression, censorship and persecution. The commitment
to truth and humanity is extremely dangerous in these times of disinformation
and polarization. This urgently requires a holy intercessor who has experienced
this personally - and passed the ordeal with flying colours.”
The letter says it all: what
Catholic Communications should be today; the fact that St. Brandsma courageously
embodied its totality. It was certainly not easy for him; he had to face much
hostility from the all-powerful fascists; he did not relent and had to pay with
his life for his prophetic stand. There is plenty that Catholic Communicators all
over – and particularly in India- need to learn from St Brandsma and also from the
letter written by some renowned Catholic journalists to the Pope.
More so, because on 29 May 2022, the Church all over
the globe observes the 56th World Day of Social Communications
(In India, it coincides with the Feast of the Ascension of Our Lord).
The theme of Pope Francis’ powerful message is ‘Listening with the Ear of the
Heart’. The theme is rooted in the Gospel of St. Luke ‘Take care, then, how you
listen.’ (Lk8:18). The theme complements the 2021 message ‘Come and See’. Pope
Francis in his opening statement says, “Last year we reflected on the need
to “Come and See” in order to discover reality and be able to recount it
beginning with experiencing events and meeting people. Continuing in this vein,
I would now like to draw attention to another word, “listen”, which is decisive
in the grammar of communication and a condition for genuine dialogue”.
‘World Communications Day’ was
established by Pope Paul VI in 1967, just about two
years after the Second Vatican Council. In fact, it is the oldest special
observance day of the Catholic Church. This annual celebration
encourages us to reflect on the opportunities and challenges that the modern
means of social communication (the press, movies, drama, radio, television, the internet and all of social
media) afford the Church to communicate the gospel message effectively and contextually. The Church realised that she must
engage fully with the modern world. This realisation is expressed in the
opening statement of the Pastoral Constitution ‘Gaudium et Spes’ on ‘The
Church in the Modern World’, which says, “the joys and the hopes, the griefs
and the anguishes of the people of our time, especially of those who are poor
or afflicted in any way, are the joys and the hopes, the griefs and the
anguishes of the followers of Christ as well.”
Pope Paul VI, knowing that the Church is truly and
intimately linked with mankind and its history, wanted to draw attention to the
communications media and the enormous power they have for cultural
transformation. He and his successors have consistently recognised the
positive opportunities the communications media afford for enriching human
lives with the values of truth, justice, beauty and goodness, but also the
possibly negative effects of spreading hate, fake news and pressurising minds and
manipulating consciences with a multiplicity of contradictory and divisive
content. In 1990, Pope John Paul II, in his encyclical ‘Redemptoris Missio’
states, “The world of communications is the first Areopagus of the
modern age, unifying humanity and turning it into what is known as a ‘global
village’. The communications media have acquired such importance as to be for
many the chief means of information and education, of guidance and inspiration
for many people in their personal, family and social behaviour. In particular,
the younger generation is growing up in a world conditioned by the mass media.”
For Pope
Francis, ‘listen’ is not something theoretical; it is the sine qua non for
any catholic communicator who is interested in authentic communications, through
searching and arriving at nothing but the truth, just like the Master
Communicator Jesus! One hears a common complaint
today “nobody is listening!” Many experience this feeling – there is a
painful story to share, a cry that needs to be heard – but nobody cares! That
story, that cry becomes a voice crying in the wilderness! Is there someone
listening? Does anybody care? In his message, Pope Francis throws a direct
challenge to communicators: to listen and when you listen, to do so with the
ear of your heart!
In October
2021, Pope Francis launched the Synodal process with the theme “For
a synodal Church: communion, participation and mission.
The process will culminate with the 2023 Synod in Rome. Pope Francis has been
insisting that the synodal journey is about listening, learning and loving. His
Communications Day message reiterates this when he says, “A synodal process
has just been launched. Let us pray that it will be a great opportunity to
listen to one another. Communion, in fact, is not the result of strategies and
programmes, but is built in mutual listening between brothers and sisters.” The question one
needs to ask oneself: is there serious listening? Or is it lip-service: a
tiresome formality without change? The painful reality is that, in several
Dioceses the first phase has been sheer tokenism: an attitude of ‘it is a
process which ‘had to be done’ – so let’s get over it as soon as possible!’
Are we listening to the cries of the poor and the vulnerable,
the excluded and the exploited, the minorities and the other marginalised? When
we listen with the heart, we are called to do something about it – we need to
make a paradigm shift, to change; to ensure a better quality of life for all.
Pope Francis says it rather strongly “human beings tend to flee the
relationship, to turn their back and ‘close their ears’ so they do not have to
listen. The refusal to listen often ends up turning into aggression towards the
other, as happened to those listening to the deacon Stephen who, covering their
ears, all turned on him at once.”
In this context, he once again highlights the plight
of the migrants and their cries. We often treat them as outsiders: they are not
like us, they do not ‘belong’ here! These suffer because of man’s inhumanity to
man. They are the ‘other’! To this Pope Francis says, “The reality of forced
migration is also a complex issue, and no one has a ready-made prescription for
solving it. I repeat that, in order to overcome prejudices about migrants and to
melt the hardness of our hearts, we should try to listen to their stories. Give
each of them a name and a story. Many good journalists already do this. And
many others would like to do it, if only they could. Let us encourage them! Let
us listen to these stories! Everyone would then be free to support the migration
policies they deem most appropriate for their own country. But in any case, we
would have before our eyes not numbers, not dangerous invaders, but the faces
and stories, gazes, expectations and sufferings of real men and women to listen
to”. The reality of forced migrants is a key concern of Pope Francis’
papacy! Once again, we need to ask ourselves: are we listening to them with our
hearts?
In his
message, Pope Francis does not spare Church. He calls for a Church that has the
heart to listen. He says, “It is sad when, even in the Church, ideological
alignments are formed and listening disappears, leaving sterile opposition in
its wake.” In the final segment of his message, he emphasises the need and
importance of ‘Listening
to one another in the Church’ He says, “In the Church, too, there is
a great need to listen to and to hear one another. It is the most precious and
life-giving gift we can offer each other. Christians have forgotten that the ministry
of listening has been committed to them by him who is himself the great
listener and whose work they should share. We should listen with the ears of
God that we may speak the word of God.”
He
reserves his choicest words to ‘so-called’ Catholic communicators, many of whom
are frightened to be visible and vocal in standing up for truth and justice.
Pope Francis urges them to develop their listening capacities.
“Communication does not take place if listening has not taken place, and there
is no good journalism without the ability to listen…. In order to provide
solid, balanced, and complete information, it is necessary to listen for a long
time. To recount an event or describe an experience in news reporting, it is
essential to know how to listen, to be ready to change one’s mind, to modify
one’s initial assumptions.”
He quotes the German Lutheran theologian Bonhoeffer,
who like St Brandsma, was executed by the Nazis in 1945, “Thus, the
Protestant theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer reminds us that the first service we
owe to others in communion consists in listening to them. Whoever does not know
how to listen to his brother or sister will soon no longer be able to listen to
God either”. Strong words indeed if we have the courage to listen with the heart!
On 1 May, Pope Francis paid tribute to journalists who have died or been jailed
in the line of duty, defending a free press and praising those in the media “who
courageously report on humanity’s wounds…I render homage to journalists who pay
in person for this right”
It is important then, for
all catholic communicators to do an honest and objective evaluation of their
writings, productions and other forms of communications. How many of these have
genuinely responded to the cries of the poor and the vulnerable, the excluded
and exploited, the marginalised and the minorities of the country? How many have written/done productions against
the sedition, the UAPA and other draconian laws? the illegal incarceration of
human rights defenders? the demonising of the Muslims? the unconstitutional
abrogation of Articles 370 and 35A regarding Kashmir? the anti-conversion laws? the three farm bills
and the labour codes? The monstrous and extravagant Central Vista project? the
denial of the legitimate rights of the Adivasis, Dalits, LGBTI? growing
unemployment and spiralling prices? and much more? Do Catholic Communicators
have the prophetic courage to take on the fascist and fundamentalist forces
which are working overtime, to destroy the sanctity of the Constitution and the
secular, pluralistic fabric of our beloved nation? It is time to listen! It is
time for introspection! It is time to act! It is time to change!
Meaningful communication is
not about sophisticated centres, glossy publications or ‘projects’ to be run –
but the ability to stand for and communicate justice and truth with prophetic
courage. Pope Francis has been consistently challenging catholic communicators to
live up to this call. His message this year is all about that. Besides, from
this year, one has a saint in Titus Brandsma who lived his vocation to the fullest.
Will catholic communicators in India then have the audacity to listen with ear
of the heart, to stand up and be counted, to be witnesses for justice and truth
today?
A tough challenge indeed! A
challenge which demands an immediate and whole-hearted response! After all, World Social Communications Day is
also the Feast of the Ascension, when one is sent out to be his disciples, to
witness to the good news, in the world today! Is “YES”, the answer?
25 May 2022
*(Fr.
Cedric Prakash SJ is a human rights, reconciliation and peace activist/writer.
Contact: cedricprakash@gmail.com )
