Church is still failing to communicate, says priest

A former spokesman for the diocese of Ferns said yesterday it was "absolutely self-evident" that the Catholic Church has had serious historical and continuing failures in the field of communications.

Father Walter Forde, the parish priest of Gorey, related a story from the early days of the BBC. Broadcasting House, he said, requested that it be permitted to transmit the present Queen Mother's wedding. The church authorities refused, fearing irreverence - that the broadcast would "be likely to be listened to by men in public houses with their hats still on."

That, Father Forde said, neatly encapsulated a problem the churches have had with the new communications technology. "We don't realise the revolutionary changes in communications opportunities and processes, and we are ill-prepared to use them."

In particular, he felt there was no strong commitment to, or no cohesive and comprehensive church policy on, broadcasting. More than any other agency, he said, the church's whole reason for being was to communicate a message, "and yet it is slower, less effective, more reluctant and hesitant, more suspicious of the media than other institutions in our society."

He accused the church of retreating too often into a cultural enclave of its own and using a language that is "often specialised and obscure."

"The media, in many ways, have replaced the pulpit as the source of ideas, information, and the major shaper of attitudes and values." As the media cross boundaries of understanding, culture, and science, they "can bring the church back into meaningful interaction with the rest of the world."

Father Forde believes the church has a responsibility to contribute to the interpretation of world affairs and bring attention to issues and ideas which might otherwise be overlooked.

On a more positive note, he estimated that over half the Catholic parishes in Co Wexford had introduced newsletters and parish journals, which he described as "one of the more positive developments of the last decade." Father Forde was launching the 46th issue of Link, the Gorey parish journal.