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| Rt. Rev. Joseph Franzelli |
Bishop Chairman of Social Communication at Uganda Episcopal Conference, Rt. Rev. Joseph Franzelli has said that the silence of the Catholic communicators in the country is very loud and called upon them to communicate more, communicate better and communicate together.
Bishop Franzelli of Lira Diocese was addressing Diocesan Communication Coordinators, Secretaries and Director of Catholic Radio Stations, who gathered in Fort Portal Diocese, Uganda. at the beginning of a weeklong annual meeting organized by the national Social Communications office ahead of the national celebrations of the World Communications Day to be celebrated on Sunday by the Conference.
Opening the World Communications Day celebration which takes place on 17th May 2015, Bishop Franzelli said that the Local Church is challenges to communicate in order to fulfill the mission of the Universal Church in Uganda.
When addressing the communicators, the Bishop said, “Our silence as the Catholic Church in Uganda is very loud; there is no common statement issued on some of these burning and important issues and our people whom we serve are left in darkness and confusion. They listen to the radio, they read the local newspapers and watch television from which they get lots of messages which quite often are not in full agreement with message of truth that the Church stands for.”
The Bishop acknowledged the fact that some of the issues that call for communication are very delicate and complicated and that it is not the sole responsibility of the Catholic communicators to bring them out but also and first of all the duty of the Bishops’ Conference.
The Bishop challenged the diocesan communicators to reflect on the reason why we often fail to fulfill our mandate to communicate. “For what reason do we keep quiet? Is it because we don’t know exactly what to say or because we are afraid of saying what needs to be communicated for fear of getting into trouble?” he asked.
However, he urged Diocesan communicators to use all avenues of the Catholic media available in the country in order to educate, form and inform people on very important issues affecting the country. “To communicate more and better, we need to do it together. Our strength only comes from being united and in sharing more. The question of networking is something that we need to put a lot of emphasis on,” the bishop advised.
Finally Bishop Franzelli encouraged communicators to share information and news from their dioceses with the New Contact, which is an electronic Newsletter published by the Episcopal Conference as the medium of communication by the Catholic Church in Uganda.
Source: Pamela Adinda, AMECEA Social Communications