A Brief History of Communication in the Catholic Church
By Frances Forde Plude
[This text was supplied to the Catholic Encyclopedia by “The Harper Collins Encyclopedia of Catholicism" by Richard P. McBrien, 1995.]
Throughout its history the Catholic Church has witnessed and utilized various modes of communication – oral tradition, medieval manuscripts, and the printed word.
In the last century modern modes of social communication (newspapers, film, radio and television) have become major components of popular culture throughout the world.
As early as 1896 a film projector was demonstrated at the Vatican. The first papal encyclical wholly devoted to the motion picture appeared in 1936. In 1957 the encyclical Miranda prorsus was concerned with radio and television and spoke of the pastoral problems posed by modern communications media.
In 1963 the Vatican II Council decree Inter Mirifica called modern means of social communication "marvelous technical inventions from creation." This document noted that an interdependent world has a need for, and a right to, information. Bishops were called to oversee media activities in dioceses. The Council directed a Vatican commission to initiate an international consultation and to publish a pastoral instruction to "ensure that all the principles and rules of the Council on the means of social communication be put into effect."
The pastoral instruction Communio et Progressio appeared in 1971. Another document, Aetatis Novae, was issued by the Pontifical Council for Social Communications in 1992, reflecting upon the revolution in human communications occurring in the two decades since the earlier instruction.
Both of these documents note that communications media are powerful instruments for progress. The role of media is noted in the formation of public opinion – agenda-setting, as media experts call it. These church documents cite the justice of equal access for all to information and media channels. Also noted: the need for special training in media techniques and the special affirmation necessary for media professionals of good will.
Communio et Progressio sees the church maintaining lines of communication to keep in relationship with the whole human race and to build closer communion within the church. Aetatis Novae cites newer mass media technologies (satellites, cable TV, videocassettes, compact disks, computerized image making) as "new languages." We are reminded again that "Communio et Progressio is rooted in a vision of communication as a way toward communion" and that media should be at the service of dialogue with the world. "The dialogue also involves support for media artists; it requires the development of an anthropology and a theology of communication..."
Aetatis Novae concludes: "It is not enough to use the media simply to spread the Christian message and the church's authentic teaching. It is also necessary to integrate that message into the new culture created by modern communications...with new languages, new techniques and a new psychology."
The 1992 document cites a need for a pastoral plan of social communications. "Catholic media work is not simply one more program alongside all the rest of the church's activities; Social communications have a role to play in every aspect of the church's mission." An Appendix to the document offers guidelines for designing such a pastoral plan and a process for implementing it.
Catholic Media Activity
Global mass media content is heavily influenced by United States media activities: Hollywood film techniques, Cable News Network on-the-spot coverage, and American advertising and marketing. The economics of mass media are also moving to the American model as many nations alter their media from a government-sponsored to a system based upon advertising.
Communications scholars have long debated the realities of "media effects" or the precise way media form audience choices and values. Of special concern has been the impact of violence in media programming and the possibility that this might result in a more violent culture. Music has been a significant aspect of programming with the advent of rock music and the combination of sound and sight in music videos. Minorities, senior citizens and women are often under-represented in media.
It has become obvious that mass media reflect popular culture and that the dynamics of myth, ritual, and storytelling are at work within media viewers as they interact around the world with dramas, situation comedies and soap operas. Theologians have also discussed this in terms of the religious imagination.
Media scholars and theologians have begun a systematic dialogue on these topics under the guidance of the Gregorian University in Rome and the Jesuit Center for the Study of Communication and Culture once located in London. Joint conferences have been held with subsequent book publications.
Many religious communities have had members trained in mass media techniques, and a communications office exists in most dioceses. Catholic universities and colleges have programs of study in communications with many summer programs available.
Organizations exist to unite Catholic media personnel: the International Organization for the Press (U.C.I.P.); for cinema (O.C.I.C.); and for radio and television (UNDA). An annual World Communications Day usually features a statement by the Pope on the significance of media.
In the United States, after regional hearings, an annual national communications collection was established, with a portion of the proceeds remaining in the local diocese for its own communication efforts. This funding has been used to sponsor the production of selected materials for international broadcast and cassette distribution. Some of this national funding helped establish the Catholic Television Network of America (CTNA), a satellite system linking many dioceses for program delivery and teleconference meetings. In addition, some dioceses operate closed circuit television systems for extensive educational and pastoral tasks.
Media Coverage of the Catholic Church
In 1991 the Knights of Columbus and the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights commissioned a scientific study of U.S. news coverage of the Catholic Church by the Center for Media and Public Affairs. The study examined a sample of nationally influential media outlets within three 5-year time blocs. The study used content analysis with the final sample numbering 1876 news items. Subject categories included sexual morality, church authority and dissent, ecumenism and church-state relations, and the use of descriptive language.
Opinions in the media "were tilted against the church's teaching on issues involving sexual morality and authority relations within the church and its involvement in secular politics (aside from support for church statements opposing war). Only on the relatively non-controversial issue of ecumenical outreach did the church receive support from a majority of sources."
The Catholic Church is sensitive to the influence of mass media in society – as information shared, as storytelling, and as news gateway. The continuing challenge is to utilize media to build a faith community.
References
Communication Research Trends, A Quarterly Information Service from the Centre for the Study of Communication and Culture, London.
Goethals, Gregor T. The TV Ritual: Worship at the Video Altar. Boston: Beacon Press, 1981.
Lichter, S. Robert, Amundson, Daniel and Lichter, Linda S. Media Coverage of the Catholic Church. 1991.
Soukup, Paul A. Communication and Theology: Introduction and Review of the Literature. London: World Association for Christian Communication.