‘Artificial Intelligence and the Wisdom of the Heart: Toward a Fully Human Communication’ is the Holy Father’s theme for World Communications Day 2024. For Pope Francis, this is a subject of great interest and potential; he also dedicated his message for the Church’s celebration of World Day of Peace to ‘Artificial Intelligence and Peace.’
World Communications Sunday is when we are asked to pray in particular for all journalists and those who work in the media and communications roles – and there is a Second Collection in support of the Catholic Communications Network (CCN): the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales’ media and communications office.
‘Communication’ is a word with a great variety of meanings but at its heart, a professional Communications role is about human relationships: building and encouraging them; maintaining them; and mending them when things go wrong. The Patron Saint of writers, journalists and communicators is St Francis de Sales, whose Feast Day is on 24 January – and it was this saint whom St John Henry Newman was quoting when he famously stressed the importance of one human heart speaking directly to another: ‘Cor ad cor loquitur – Heart speaks to Heart’.
Communications is as much about listening as it is imparting information; giving people whose voices may not always be heard a chance to express themselves – especially the young, who are, as Pope Francis says, ‘not just the future, but the “now” of the Church’ – and this is why Communication is one of the two main priorities for the Bishop’s Youth Commission: ‘The Twelve’.
A major aspect of Communications roles in the context of the Catholic Church is to proclaim the Good News of the Gospel through the ‘good news stories’ of our homes, schools and parishes. It is these acts of Faith, Hope and Love which reveal and demonstrate the Goodness, Truth and Beauty at the heart of what we do as Catholic Christians. However, Communications professionals can only help us tell our parishes’ and schools’ news to the rest of the world if they know about it! So please don’t hesitate to email communications@dioceseofleeds.org.uk with a few lines and a photograph or two about YOUR good news, and inform and inspire the people from across our own diocese and around the world who constitute the 10,000 to 17,000 monthly visits to this website’s news pages!
Recent Comments