“Communication and Mission”: that’s the title of the “Handbook of Social Communications in the Mission of the Church” presented in Rome in recent days. The document, approved during the 53rd general assembly (17-21 May 2004) of the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI), comprises 2 sections with a total of 8 chapters, divided into 203 paragraphs, and is furnished with an index of sources and an analytic index. “The two parts of the Handbook explains Cardinal CAMILLO RUINI, president of the CEI, in the presentation of the document provide both the foundations and practical guidelines for a change in mentality and in commitment by all Christians, each according to his own gifts and specific responsibilities, so that the inculturation of the Gospel within the language of the media may render the media themselves ever more capable of transmitting the Gospel message or allowing it to transpire”. This Handbook, continues Cardinal Ruini, “is intended to help church communities to gain an awareness of the role of the media in our society; and to offer a common platform for the pastoral plans that each diocese is called to realize”. Among the novel features of the document: the role of the animator of communication and culture, to whom Chapter VI is dedicated. The action of the “new animator”, says the Handbook, “on the one hand must be at the service of those who are already actively involved in pastoral work, to help them better incorporate their work in the new socio-cultural context dominated by the media; on the other, it must open up new pastoral approaches, in the field of communication and culture, by which to reach people and spheres often on the fringes of, if not excluded from, the life of the Church and her mission”. The complete text of the Handbook is available on the website old.agensir.it
