Reporting the positive” “

Holding training seminars for Catholic and non-Catholic journalists; supporting the reorganization of press offices in the Episcopal Conferences of Eastern Europe; promoting a meeting between the webmasters of the sites of the Episcopal Conferences, and intensifying the exchange of photographs, materials and documents: these are just some of the proposals made during the three days of debate and exchange between the spokespersons and press officers of 22 of the 34 Episcopal Conferences represented in the Council of the Episcopal Conferences of Europe (CCEE). The meeting was held in Athens from 24 to 27 June. The next meeting will take place in Poland in 2005. INTERNET. The spokespersons urged closer collaboration between the websites of the Episcopal Conferences. “Internet – it was pointed out – is opening up new opportunities for proposing courses in catechism, and information on the life of the Church… The fact remains, however, that the web, often used as a place of instant gratification, is difficult to wed with the extratemporal dimension of the ‘world of faith'”. “For the Church – emphasized Msgr. RENATO BOCCARDO, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications – the web offers a useful space for evangelization, because it permits all cultures and age groups to be reached at the same time. But this new channel of communication must prompt the Church to revise its own language”. WHY DOES EVIL MAKE A BIGGER SPLASH THAN GOOD? The Athens meeting gave the spokespersons a chance to analyse and discuss the contemporary information system in Europe. It was underlined that the motor of the communication machine works today by the economic criterion; that means that media businesses live not by what they produce but by their capacity to attract advertising. This system inflames competition and exacerbates the search for ever bigger audience and market shares, obtained through scandals, exaggerations, often in violation of every moral rule or ethical code of conduct, to the detriment of the most vulnerable, such as minors. So can the system of communication be changed, in such a way that it respects the rules? Msgr. CLAUDIO GIULIODORI, director of the Office for Social Communications in Italy, made four recommendations: reminding communicators of their responsibility and the need to respect codes of good practice; recounting stories and experiences of life, testimonies; enabling the positive side of the Church and society to emerge: contrasting the aggressiveness of the media not by mere reaction, but by proposing initiatives; and fostering personal relations with media operators. THE FAMILY. Another issue addressed at the Athens meeting: the defence of the family. The document of the Commission of the Episcopates of the European Community (Comece) was referred to. From the interventions it emerged that if parents have prime responsibility for the education of their children, including use of the mass media, it is also essential that national and European policies consider the family not just as a sum of individuals, but as a social and political protagonist in its own right, with its own specific rights and duties. In many countries of Europe, the Churches are dedicating particular projects and events to the defence of the family: such as pro-week life in Germany in April, projects to train children in the use of the media in Maltese schools, or “Listening 2004”, day of family listening in English dioceses. MEETING WITH THE LOCAL CHURCHES. The warm hospitality extended to the delegates by the Orthodox archbishop of Athens, CHRISTODOULOS, was the occasion for a free-ranging dialogue on issues relating to the European Constitution and the future of the Union. The archbishop echoed John Paul II in expressing his deep disappointment that no explicit reference to Christianity was inserted in the Constitution, “as if our civilization were born yesterday”. Yet following this decision the Churches all the more face the task of preserving the Christian conscience of Europe, because “Christianity, Greek education and Roman legislation are the foundations of European civilization”. The meeting with the Catholic archbishop of Athens, Msgr. NICOLAOS FOSKOLOS, permitted the delegates to gain a closer knowledge of the situation of the Catholic Church in Greece, which represents only 0.5% of the population (97% Orthodox). The archbishop expressed the hope that the dialogue begun with the government and the Orthodox Church would lead to a new recognition of the role and contribution of the Catholic Church in the country.