Media & Communications
Pope John Paul II Communication Hall
In communicating the Christian message, the two skills that are always emphasized in seminary formation, and rightly so, are preaching and catechetics. But this alone is highly inadequate in a new world of a mass media culture. This theme of communication was taken up for discussion at the. The final statement of Catholic Bishop’s Conference of India (CBCI) meeting held in January 2004 insisted on the need for training ‘all community leaders – bishops, priests, religious and lay leaders’ in the appropriate use of the technology of communication. This includes a clear mention that a ‘proper media course should be part of seminary curriculum’.
Bearing this in mind, His Eminence Cardinal Ivan Dias inaugurated the Communication Hall of the seminary in the presence of other Auxiliary Bishops, the staff and students on February 25, 2005. This Hall is dedicated to the great communicator of the Catholic Church in our age
– Pope John Paul II who inspired us to use the media for the good of God’s Kingdom. This Communication Hall is well equipped and facilitates the training of seminarians for an urgent new approach to the proclamation of God’s Word.
It has proved to be a boon for the formation of seminarians in developing a valuebased perspective to the phenomena of mass communications. Consequently, they are initiated and encouraged to use ‘powerpoint’ presentations to express their learning in philosophy and theology. Courses in media education form part of the curriculum for our seminarians. Periodically good films have been screened followed by a cineforum. Thus, apart from the homily, the seminarians are discovering new and effective ways of communicating the Word of God.
However, the use of this Hall is not restricted only to seminarians! The archdiocese of Bombay also invites specialists in leadership, management and communications to conduct special sessions for its priests. In this way, the Pope John Paul II Communication Hall has proved to be not only utile but indispensable in the continual formation of the clergy and seminarians of the archdiocese of Bombay.
COMPUTER ROOM
Fr. Stephen Fernandes (Moderator)
“Great good and great evil come from the use people make of the media of social communication” (Pontifical Council for Social Communications, Ethics in Communication, no. 1). We have strived to respond to the needs of modern society by using the computer and the internet as vehicles for evangelization, catechesis, and responsibility towards God’s creation.
In the quest for ‘Care for Creation’, which was the Archdiocesan theme for the year, the Computer Department organized an electronic waste recycling drive. Apart from this, the computer department also accomplished important goals. This year, the entire computing centre consisting of 19 client computers was upgraded to Windows XP This has enabled our seminarians to use the computing facility in a highly advanced manner.
The library reference room has four computers maintained by the computer department. This helps students to access the library software when searching for relevant books, journals and encyclopedias.
We would like to expand our horizons by increasing the number of computers and the internet access time, so that many more students benefit from online internet study and research. It is our hope that our students will be capable of maximizing their social outreach initiatives and evangelization activities through the proper use of the computer. We hope that our seminarians will be well equipped to announce the Gospel to persons in the third millennium and communicate the teachings of the Church on the “digital continent” of the ever changing technological landscape.