Symposium marks 40 years of Vatican media document

MANILA, November 11, 2011―In a bid to broaden the public’s knowledge and understanding on one of the most important documents of the Church on social communication, the St. Joseph Freinademetz Communication Center (JFCC) will hold a symposium to commemorate its’ 40th year of publication.

The impact of Vatican’s Pastoral Instruction on Social Communication or “Communio et Progressio” in the Church and in today’s digital world will be discussed in a forum on November 12 from 9 to 5:30 p.m. at the Graduate School of the University of Sto. Tomas (UST) in Manila.

Themed “40 Years of Communio et progressio”, the seminar will have a panel of speakers who will shed light on the significance of the document in today’s technological era.

One of the speakers, Msgr. Pedro Quitorio III, media director of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines Media Office will discuss through his topic “Communio et Progressio and Bishops Conferences” various endeavors of the CBCP Media Office in the field of media.

Other resource speakers include Fr. Franz-Josef Eilers, SVD, who will discuss on “Communio et Progressio: History, Background, Concerns”; Fr. Anh Vu Ta (UST), on “Contribution to Theology”; Prof. Christian Esguerra (UST) on “Contribution to Journalism Ethics”; and Prof. Anthony Roman (UST), on the topic “In the Digital World”.

A panel of Asian Communication Bishops from the Philippines, Thailand, India and Indonesia will tackle the topic “Communio et Progressio in Asia”.

Considered the magna carta of church communication, the pastoral instruction “Communio et Progressio” was prepared and published by the Pontifical Commission on Social Communication as mandated by the Second Vatican Council.

The pastoral instruction highlights, among other things, the responsibility of Church’s leaders to learn the intricacies of social communication for the purpose of evangelization and the duty of Catholics to contribute in the good use of the media. (CBCPNews)