USCCB meeting: updates on new media, defense of marriage
June 15, 2012
At the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ spring meeting in Atlanta, Bishop John Wester f Salt Lake City spoke on “Using the New Media for the New Evangelization,” and Bishop Salvatore Cordileone offered a report on the promotion and defense of marriage.
Bishop Wester, chairman of the bishops’ communications committee, posed three key questions: “What does the New Evangelization look like in this world of communications? How can we help build stronger relationships with our millions of parishioners? How can we increase the effectiveness of our work in sanctifying, teaching, and governing by using the tools of 21st-century communications?”
“We are taking three paths to answering these critical questions,” he said. “We are identifying and sharing the overall best communications practices. We are developing digital content that meets the needs of different audiences. We are striving to build a culture of innovation with digital communications.”
“This year is a significant one,” reported Bishop Cordileone. “The recent victory in North Carolina, 61% to 39% in support of the constitutional amendment protecting the definition of marriage, is a great encouragement. Also encouraging is the outstanding number of signatures being collected in Maryland and Washington State to place their respective referendum on the ballot. Both are reporting breaking state records in the amount of signatures collected. The redefinition of marriage in the law is not, and never will be, inevitable.”
“But ongoing vigilance and effort are needed,” he continued. “Maine, Minnesota, Maryland and Washington State are poised to have crucial votes in November. Also, in Illinois, a lawsuit was recently introduced challenging the current law around civil unions as discriminatory and calling for the full redefinition of marriage. The State Attorney General, who is charged to defend the law of the state, is officially supporting the lawsuit.”
“Social science continues to affirm that children thrive and do best with their mother and father in an intact home,” he added. “The protection of marriage as the union of one man and one woman is a work of justice and is foundational to the good of all, especially for those most vulnerable among us, our children. It is the way of true compassion—love in truth and truth in love. Our young people are hungry for this truth and are in a position to witness to it in a uniquely powerful way.”
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Further information:
- Using The New Media For The New Evangelization (USCCB)
- Report On Promotion And Defense Of Marriage (USCCB)
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Posted by: ronaldruais1947 -
Jun. 15, 2012 11:20 AM ET USA
Unfortunately, this is just another proposal that will go unimplemented and forgotten. Look at what happened to the pastoral letter “Our Hearts were Burning.” It too promised the use of all of the new media and presentation equipment. What did we get? We got three priests sitting at a table discussing their interpretation of a particular biblical passage. No background music, no side bar animations, no PowerPoint highlights, no dramatic visuals at all just three priests sitting and talking (not
