UGANDA: Bishop Franzelli Calls upon Catholic Communicators to Communicate More; Better and Together

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.