(Manila, 9 July 2022) The prevalence of disinformation and fake news call for credible communicators of truth. This was stressed in a Catholic forum on truth and discipleship aired Saturday, July 2, on YouTube and Facebook Live.
Bishop Paul Tighe from the Holy See said people, Bishops and priests included, need to be aware of the inner workings of digital media beyond the veil of entertainment glaring at viewers onscreen.
The secretary of the Pontifical Council for Culture also said that inner discernment, attentiveness as well as intentionality should accompany people’s engagement online.
The Church must actively assist in developing these skills by utilizing resources that are found in schools and parishes. “Intergenerational dialogue” can be promoted to aid netizens in becoming alert to certain risks found in social media use.
Digital media should be understood beyond their offering of convenience, facility, and expanded reach. Their impact on the way people communicate and form relationships should be explored. The reason is that in the current milieu, people’s offline and online lives are inevitably linked, the prelate said.
Instead of shunning digital media for their supposed negativity, Christians should then adopt a reflective stance, Tighe said echoing the Pastoral Instruction Communio et Progressio’s urgent call for “judicious and critical” media use (81-83).
The manner in which people use their God-given freedom should be a primary concern, he added, as they go about their dual role of “prosumers” --- producers and consumers --- of digital content.
Fr. Francis Lucas, president and CEO of CMN or the Catholic Media Network, said credibility is best established by way of immersing one’s self in the community, and living the Filipino value of “pakikisama” or getting along not least with grassroots people.
Positivity needs to fuel online conversations to counter the culture of bashing and trolling, the priest said.
Social media influencers, not a few of whom are Church leaders and personnel, need to offer alternative yet meaningful content catering to impressionable social media users in particular.
Amid lies and destructive propaganda, Lucas said that a silver lining could be found in values still aflame in people’s hearts. One such value is the Filipino’s religiosity as shown regularly at public displays of piety and devotion.
Added to this are the people’s faith, hope and love which are the real bases for knowing and living the truth. In the end, Christians need to rediscover Christ as the truth Himself, the priest said.
In the duration of the two-hour forum, both speakers have underlined the fact that “living” the ways of truth ultimately, gives credence to one’s effort of communicating the same truth every day.
Psalm 25:5 that states “Guide me in your truth and teach me” was the forum’s adopted theme.
Initiating the event was Veritas Asia Institute for Social Communication (VAISCOM), the training and formation arm of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences - Office of Social Communication (FABC-OSC).
The Philippines’ Catholic Media Network or CMN and Mary the Queen Parish (MTQP) of Novaliches Diocese were event co-organizers.
The forum was aired simultaneously on the respective Facebook pages of VAISCOM and MTQP, and on the YouTube channel of FABC-owned Radio Veritas Asia.
Radio Veritas Asia (RVA), a media platform of the Catholic Church, aims to share Christ. RVA started in 1969 as a continental Catholic radio station to serve Asian countries in their respective local language, thus earning the tag “the Voice of Asian Christianity.” Responding to the emerging context, RVA embraced media platforms to connect with the global Asian audience via its 21 language websites and various social media platforms.
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