Indian bishops’ conference holds intensive media training for church communicators

The Conference of Catholic Bishops of India (CCBI) organized a month-long media training course Paalanaa Bhavana, Bangalore, in the southern Indian state of Karnataka.

On May 31, the course ended with the certificate ceremony presided over by Archbishop Peter Machado Bangalore and Fr Stephen Alathara, secretary general of the CCBI.

Twelve participants attended this course, and they came from different parts of India.

The training was jointly organized by the Department of CCBI Media Apostolate and the Archdiocesan Communications Centre of the Bangalore Archdiocese.

Speaking at the occasion, Machado said, "Today, there are three important aspects in the field of communication: media, message, and messenger. We must always look for what is necessary and useful amidst what we call ‘media garbage’ today."

He also thanked Fr Cyril Victor Joseph, director of the Archdiocesan Communication Centre, for organizing the media training program and all the resource persons.

Addressing the gathering, Alathara, in his opening note, said that today is the Feast of Visitation, which is the best example of communication as Mother Mary communicated Jesus' message to Elizabeth.

"When you're involved in the media, my advice to you is to be passionate 24/7. You must understand that there's no holiday for media people. You don't know what information comes when. You need to be vigilant and passionate. That's the key,” he added.

In his talk, Joseph conveyed wishes on behalf of the gathering to Archbishop Peter Machado, who celebrates the 5th anniversary on the day of his installation as the Metropolitan Archbishop of Bangalore.

The participants participating in a month-long media training presented their AV projects and shared their experiences. Machado and Alathara distributed the certificates to the participants. - Santosh Digal