In dialogue with the web

“The culture of the web is a culture of networking. It’s a horizontal network of people increasingly entering into dialogue with each other”. That’s one of the reflections that emerged at the annual meeting of the executive committee of the Episcopal Commission for the Media (CEEM), a specialized commission of the Council of the Bishops’ Conferences of Europe (CCEE), which monitors the development of the media and inter-church communications, promotes the work of the Bishops’ Conferences in this field, and formulates media policy options. The meeting was held at the Domus Sanctae Marthae, in Vatican City, from 25 to 27 April. The culture of the web. The participants examined the theme of the next plenary assembly on the theme “the culture of the Internet and the Church”, due to be held in Rome in March 2009. Presentation of the theme of the plenary assembly was entrusted to Nicoletta Vittadini , professor of sociology of education at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Rome. If the web is born “within a culture of an economy of giving away”, it’s also true that “the culture of the web is a culture in which the relation with the authorities tends a priori not to be recognized. So the authorities that are present within the real world must re-acquire authority within the web”. In 2009,the European bishops with special responsibility for the media will try to analyse the effects of the culture of the web in and over our society, and in and over the Church; examine how Christians can intervene in this culture; and verify what contribution the web can make to ecumenical and inter-religious dialogue. Constant company. “The Catholic media must be a presence, a constant company, a proposal for people searching for God”, said the President of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, Monsignor Claudio Maria Celli , in his address to the CEEM meeting. “We must avoid succumbing to a self-referential agenda and speaking merely as Catholics to Catholics – he continued -, forgetting all those who don’t form part of our communities and who are seeking the meaning of life”. Msgr. Celli also reported on the activities of the Vatican Office he leads. He sees the service of the Holy See to the world of communications expressed in a series of projects being pursued in 2008: these include training pastoral agents for communication; pursuing ongoing dialogue with the university departments that deal with social communications to understand what ought to be the identity and mission of faculties of social communications within Catholic universities; acquiring greater knowledge of the experiences of Catholic radio stations; making a renewed commitment to theological reflection on communication; opening up the Church to new forms of audiovisual presence at the international level, such as the young news service H2Onews; pursuing the work already begun with the Latin-American IT network RIIAL; and proposing new globally broadcast transmissions of significant moments in the life of the Church. Positive and negative sides. “We may note a growth of the Church’s presence in the media and a renewed interest in the religious sphere”: that’s one of the findings that emerged at the annual meeting of the CEEM, especially through the presentation of the activities performed over the past year by the bishops responsible for the European regional linguistic groups. But “problematic situations” are not lacking. They include “the revision of modes of access to the public radio and television service”. In various countries, in fact, some recent European provisions and the growth of new religions have led to downplaying the presence of Catholic transmissions in public broadcasting. Moreover, “the trivialization of some liturgical events of national and international importance” has been registered. Other threats are posed by “the exploitation of the Church for political ends, especially in debates touching on ethical issues”; “the reduction of the Church merely to an institution interested in defending her own interests”; and “a view of religion as problematic for peaceful coexistence, especially after the terrorist attacks in New York and London”. Therefore, “we need to defend an image of the Church based on the witness of her members and the presentation of the Christian message. Trustworthiness and authenticity are required today”, especially because “the young are very interested in religion and the lifestyles generated by it”. Some figures. The Church, therefore, is increasingly interested in the world of communications and, in particular, in what is happening on the web. And she is not wrong in this: according to figures published by the European Commission in Brussels in recent days, “over half Europeans regularly use the internet, 80% of users have broad band connection and 60% of public services in the EU-27 are available on the web”. Thanks to the rapid dissemination of broad band in Europe, “two thirds of schools and half of all doctors use high-speed connections”. According to the Commission, “the Internet attracted almost 40 million new regular users in 2007”; there are now some 250 million of them, but it’s also true that “40% of Europeans never use the Internet” (and they aren’t just the elderly).