An Indian priest said that building human communities requires the ability to tell stories straight from the heart.
In his opening address during the three-day SIGNIS Asian Assembly on Tuesday, Father Stanley Kozhichira, president of the organization, invited everyone to become “heart speakers,” or people who can listen and speak with a heart.
"Indeed, it is a strange concept; when we make an effort to speak with the heart there are no words surface,” he said. “It is pure love and truth that comes to build the human relations, basic human communications through just being present to each other.”
Reflecting on the assembly’s theme, “Speaking with the Heart: The Truth in Love,” which is also Pope Francis’ World Communications message this year, Fr. Kozhichira encouraged everyone to address the insufficient use of the “best and latest means of communication available to us” in proclaiming about the Kingdom of God.
“[Pope Francis] takes us to speak with heart, a constant effort from the Holy Father to help us understand the Synodal Church by gradually building into a human community that identifies real people and not virtual persons,” the priest said.
Moreover, Fr. Kozhichira shared how SIGNIS Asia is actively responding to the vision of becoming heart speakers, which he called “the most vibrant SIGNIS [region] in the world” with 17 member countries.
“There are six desks that take care of the Media Education, Journalism, Cinema, Television, Radio and Digital World, which regularly organize events and activities for the member countries giving prominent participation for the young media enthusiasts,” he explained.
Meanwhile, Bishop Joseph Prathan Sridarunsil, President of the Catholic Social Communications of Thailand, delivered the event’s welcome address.
He called the attention of priests, religious people, and the laity to continue spreading the love of God amid the rapidly changing fields of the digital realm.
“We Catholic Communicators are invited to inject the value of the Gospel and the Word of God into the world with declining Peace,” said the bishop. “The world that is more interested in bad rather than good news, the world full of bullying, racial and sexual discrimination, and the desperate cries of the voiceless.”
Founded in 2001, SIGNIS Asia is one of the regional groupings of SIGNIS, the World Catholic Association for Communication. Guided by their communication desks, they are dedicated to “fostering and coordinating communication activities” in the South, East, and Southeast Asian regions.
Their annual assembly for this year, which features different speakers across Asia discussing Catholic communications, is held at the Baan Phu Waan Pastoral Training Center in Bangkok, Thailand, until October 26.
Msgr. Daniel Tumiel, the Apostolic Nuncio's secretary to Thailand and Cambodia and Apostolic Delegate to Laos, is set to lead the Closing Mass Thursday. Luke Godoy
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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