A significant improvement

The meeting of the executive Committee of the CEEM (Commission of European Episcopates for the Media), chaired by the bishop of Gap (France), the Most Rev. Jean-Michel di Falco-Léandri, opens in Rome on 25 April (until 27 April). After the approval of the minutes of the meeting in 2007 (Gap, 23-25 March), Monsignor Aldo Giordano, general secretary of the CCEE (Council of the Bishops’ Conferences of Europe), will review the CCEE’s activities. This will be followed by a similar presentation of the activities of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, by its President, Monsignor Claudio Maria Celli. After the report of the regional linguistic groups and European organizations, a discussion will be opened on the ends and means of CEEM’s work, and on the programme and theme (‘The culture of the web and the Church’) of the Commission’s plenary assembly, scheduled for 2009. Discussion will also focus on the CCEE’s plenary assembly in Budapest in 2008 (30-09/03-10) on the Church’s relation with the media. The documents placed at the disposal of participants at the meeting in Rome also include the text of the intervention of the director of SIR Europe, Paolo Bustaffa, on communication and ecumenism, at the EEA3 (Sibiu, 4-9 September 2007). Here is an excerpt from his address. As a premise to my brief presentation about a theme that the agency SIR Europe has been working on for seven years, I would like to quote a passage from a Pontifical Council for Communications document on the criteria for ecumenical and inter-religious collaboration (October 4, 1989), an extract from the Milan Archbishop, Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini’s pastoral letter “Effata’, apriti” (August 11, 1990) and, finally, an exhortation from the Italian Bishops’ Conference directory “Comunicazione e missione” (Communication and Mission, June 18, 2004).The Pontifical Council for Communications document states: “The communication and information age creates new meeting and exchange opportunities also between the various religious traditions, offering further occasions to increase unity and create bonds of friendship. Ecumenical collaboration can be achieved in every area of social communication: this is already a testimony to the world. Considering that the media reach out beyond the ordinary limits of space and time, this collaboration can take place at the local level as well as at the regional or international levels.”In “Effata’, apriti” Cardinal Martini writes: “To achieve such a Europe (Europe of the spirit; cf. John Paul II, January 12, 1990), a great effort in communication must be made between European countries, between East and West, between North and South of Europe. Such a commitment has much to do with the life of the Churches: it is a commitment to ecumenical communication as well as a commitment to work towards life conditions in which peace, justice, and the protection of the environment are ensured for all. This commitment was assumed by the representatives of the European Churches in Basel in May last year (1989).Without a qualitative leap in our ability to communicate, we will not grasp this providential opportunity that might be unique in our history”. “Ecumenism and dialogue with other religions deserve a special attention. (…) A greater knowledge of the various religious traditions, Churches and Christian ecclesial communities will create opportunity for dialogue in respect of each identity and of the truth.”These are two passages from the Italian Bishops’ Conference directory “Comunicazione e missione” that open and conclude the reference to the 1989 document of the Pontifical Council for Communications. They fit in well with what was presented earlier and they present a perspective that was not as obvious in previous documents.I believe that these three quotations express well the fact that “ecumenical communication” is not just about how much “ecumenical news” we manage but rather about ecclesial sensitivity and professional integrity that should always imbue communication within the Christian Churches, about the Christian Churches and between the Christian Churches.This effort will also bring greater clarity to non-ecclesial information management.It is therefore urgent that we demonstrate “greater intelligence” in grasping and making others grasp what is essential in the life and thought of each Christian Church, in the ecumenical dialogue and the inter-religious dialogue.All this, while journeying along the path of Christian realism that leads to unity and avoiding the path of a complacent appeasement that leads elsewhere.In this respect, the Pontifical Council document declares that “sometimes, always in a spirit of reciprocity, ecumenical collaboration might require that Catholic communication professionals get involved with communication projects of other Churches and Christian communities, or that members of other Churches participate in Catholic projects, or, again, there might be need for Christian teams to work within secular institutions.”Such experiences at the national as well as European and international levels already exist in Europe.They create a precious heritage; they are a training ground that deserves to be known, and be emulated, to be set as a point of reference for this “qualitative leap in our ability to communicate” that Cardinal Martini wished for in his 1990 pastoral letter.On this subject, from the observation platform of SIR Europe, we note a few aspects that deserve to be mentioned.The language of ecumenical communication, in the past few years, has become less suspicious and, without ignoring the differences, mutual listening has become the inescapable starting point.Understanding the other’s motivations, as we say, is becoming always more the common practice and this is no small conquest in the world of communication.In this regard, we must recall the important contribution of the Charta Oecumenica around which many meetings, debates and events took place, generating news and press coverage.Interest in ecumenism has grown and today it goes beyond the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity: it deals also with other events and experiences. News is no longer just about that week in January or some special event.For example, the “Ecumenical Review” that SIR publishes regularly after having read all 168 Italian Catholic weeklies, confirms that many ecumenical (and inter-religious) events around the country are “normally” covered in news reports, interviews and other press coverage.In simpler words, we can say that when ecumenism is life, facts, and faces, it becomes news and contributes to a greater sensitivity and competence.If all this is happening in the Christian media, what is happening in the secular press?Certainly, ecumenical news follows the logic of the market: it is not given much space when something that unites takes place: everything changes as soon as diversity and contrast arise, in particular on ethical and political issues.Still we can say that the secular media pays attention to the Christian Churches in particular when they speak up together in favor of peace, justice, the environment, solidarity…Still unresolved is the issue of the poor or inexistent competence of those who in general cover religious news: ecumenical communication falls victim to this.In any case, faced with belittling or superficial coverage, rather than complaining or accusing, the Christian Churches should reconsider their language, their style of communication.Maybe they should organize some training session on ecumenism for journalists and media professionals.There is, however, a fundamental element to keep in mind in this reflection.Professional ethics is the common denominator for all those that work in the media, independently of where they belong: the rules and criteria of the journalist’s job require competence and intellectual honesty. The knowledge and observance of professional rules can also help to improve the quality of ecumenical coverage.Diversity, in fact, is neither eliminated nor diminished: yet, rather than creating conflict, it enriches research, dialogue, respect and common goals.The responsibility of the Catholic press agencies and of those that work there is to provide honest information on the ecumenical movement and on the life of the various Churches and Christian communities. Greater knowledge will create opportunities for a respectful dialogue about each identity and about the truth. Such a task should not hinder the full presentation of the specific Catholic message.The same criteria apply, as indicated in the quoted texts, to the inter-religious dialogue. The growing religious pluralism asks new highly relevant questions concerning the relationship among the various creeds as well as their joint testimony to the world about the primacy of religious values and their contribution to the good of humanity. When it comes to peace, justice, human dignity, right to life, fight against poverty and, above all, recalling the primacy of the spiritual dimension, the various religions are called to come together to witness and communicate in harmony.We cannot deny that today’s dialogue between Christian Churches is challenged by life, family, and education issues. I personally think that on these fronts, the press, if it aspires at being ecumenical, must be patient, listening, going in depth, studying. It is unconceivable to deal with ecumenism in a gossipy, sensationalistic manner. Here again we must recall the theme of the specific formation of the ecumenical information professional: I want to underline that the first teaching comes from language, words, from the search for truth by the one who speaks in behalf of the Christian Churches.An important signal is coming from Sibiu, from this meeting between the CCEE spokespersons and the representatives of the media of other European Christian Churches, and it needs to be strengthened through a more transparent, genuine, efficient communication in ecumenism and on the part of every Christian Church.