BEING COMMUNICATORS IS GREAT PRIVILEGE AND RESPONSIBILITY

VATICAN CITY, DEC 15, 2004 (VIS) - Archbishop John P. Foley, president of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, delivered a homily this morning at a Mass for the meeting of SIGNIS International at the Paul VI International House in Rome.

  SIGNIS is a non-governmental organization with members from 140 countries and, as the World Catholic Association for Communication, includes professionals in radio, television, cinema, video, media education and the Internet. Two Catholic organizations - UNDA for radio and television, and OCIC, for cinema and audiovisual - merged in 2001 to form SIGNIS.
 
  "We are privileged to work in the field of communications." said the archbishop, "to have as our work of daily life the responsibility of making Christ known to others through the media. It is a privilege, but it is also a responsibility. It is the work on which we shall be judged. How well do we do it?"

  He suggested how to be good communicators: "First, we should reaffirm our own faith in the word made flesh, Jesus Christ. Second, we should strive to live in our own lives the example of Jesus Christ - not only for our own salvation and sanctification, but so that the message we transmit might be received more readily because the messenger is more credible. Third, while we work in general for better programs in the media, for a higher moral tone in the media, for better media legislation to guarantee access to the media of messages of a religious and spiritual nature, the most important work we do in media is to transmit the message of the Word made flesh."
CON-CS/SIGNIS/FOLEY                        VIS 20041215 (270)