The Church and media

Whether it likes it or not, the Church is competing in the market-place with the media, among others, for people’s minds, hearts, souls and values.

There is a new cultural language, and if the Church wants to influence this culture it has to learn its tongue. It has to use the media culture as it is, not as it would like it to be. For it cannot evangelise a culture it doesn’t know, or worse, one it despises.

For more than 30 years, the Church has said many laudable things about the relationship it wants to foster between the message of the Gospel, the media and our culture. In 2002, for example, John Paul II wrote: “The impact of the media can hardly be exaggerated. For many the experience of living is to a great extent an experience of the media.”

Jesus understood the power of the media of his day – the parable. Likewise, the Church has always understood that stories and preaching are a most effective way to personal communication.

Over the centuries, the Church was most comfortable when communication meant the serious task of researching and reading. In the 20th century, however, communication became more democratic, the emphasis moved to entertainment, and the post-modern society challenged universal truth claims.

In the past 40 years, the Church was, in terms of the media, in retreat from the very culture it is sent to evangelise. Recent signs of hope are encouraging, but hardly the robust interchange some might like to see.

Most Catholics in the Western world are comfortable in a media-saturated culture. They are increasingly disinterested in religious practice and do not accord the Church any special status in public debate.

Physical and sexual abuse scandals have seriously undermined general affection and goodwill towards the Church. In this environment it can be hard for its message to be heard in public, and for its quiet, sometimes heroic acts of service to be known.

So what can Catholics do about all of this?

To enter our media culture they need to let go of their long held suspicion of media that entertains, of the belief that they cannot use a popular forum to speak about God.

Jesus understood that the most important lessons could be learnt through stories – while people are laughing, crying, being confronted and consoled. He also knew the art of communicating his message simply. In some respects the Church has become too serious for its own good.

As passionate as the Church has been about various issues, it is creative and thoughtful filmmakers who are the marketplace preachers of our day. The Church needs to rediscover the power of accessible stories to communicate its message and harness the necessary resources to tell them in the public domain.

I think the Church needs to leave behind the misapprehension that radio, television and film are good for direct evangelisation. To the degree that the media can enable people to join the community that gathers in his name it is helpful in the service of the Gospel.

Catholics should not take as an example television evangelists who often reduce Christianity to being anti-intellectual, morally black and white, wealth producing and miracle hunting. I am yet to be convinced that they keep their congregations past one generation.

The Church has commendably been a custodian of high artistic culture. It does not need to abandon this past legacy, but marry it with the popular culture which now forms the people with whom it wants speak and influence for good.

This involves being conversant with sporting and public entertainment events, music, television, internet sites, video games, texting and films that appeal to a majority of our compatriots.

While the Church cannot resign from its role in society as a constructive critic, it can be more supportive of the media in our culture which is often concerned with very similar issues to the Church.

Many programmes look to show the cardinal virtues of justice, fidelity, self-care and prudence or the Christian values of mercy and hospitality. Some darker programmes even explore the consequences of the vices of malice, envy, greed, sloth, lust, pride and anger.

This task could be understood as the commission to inculturate the Gospel in a media culture. This is the stuff of sane missiology.

Armed with a new missionary spirituality the Church can learn the new language spoken in the modern marketplace where, these days, Catholics have to unashamedly compete with other groups for minds, hearts and values.

If the Church continues to wait for the world to come to it, on its terms, the media will assume even greater responsibility for shaping the values and the construction of meaning for society.

Fr Leonard is to deliver two talks at Mount St Joseph Retreat House, Tarġa Gap, Mosta – ‘How can Catholics live in a media-saturated culture?’ on Friday at 7 p.m., and three talks entitled ‘The world in our face’, on Saturday from 8.30 a.m. till 5 p.m. To register, call 2141 6916 or 2276 0203.

Fr Leonard directs the Australian Catholic Office for Film and Broadcasting.