SOME time ago Pope Francis visited the renovated premises of Osservatore Romano, (the official Vatican Newspaper) and Vatican Radio.
Pointing to the beautiful renovation of the offices, he asked them “What are you doing with the publications and broadcasts?” Are you merely publishing and broadcasting items of relevance, or are you following up? What is happening with these once they have been published or broadcasted? The Pope wanted to know how these publications and broadcasts are being used.
The same question I could ask regarding the articles I wrote for “Opinion” in Catholic Sabah.
I have written 26 articles. What have these articles achieved? Have they benefited people? I would guess that only very few people have benefited from them, while the vast majority of people would hardly have had a look at them or seen them.
Thus, one may ask, are these articles useful? Are the articles good or bad, helpful, or relevant to our daily Christian life? Are they dull, actual, or too theoretical? How many people use these articles for prayer, meditation, educative purposes, discussions, or formation?
Due to a lack of libraries the reading culture in South-East Asia is less than desirable, while worldwide, fewer people are reading, but get much of their information from pictures and headlines through magazines, the internet, and other media outlets.
Consequently, people’s ideas and opinions are less informed, less insightful, and rather shallow. Many are thus easily influenced by “fake news”, “conspiracy theories” etc.
Media and journalism should be at the service of ‘truth’, and misinformation is therefore the greatest enemy. True journalism’s mission is to seek truth and report it. It is not at the service of a group or persons with particular or invested interests. It is not propaganda for an idea, action, or opinion.
You may say, for instance, I am in favour of the old Latin Mass or women priests, and write articles promoting these issues. The purpose of such articles on these topics often tries to convince people of a certain standpoint.
True journalism, while writing about these subjects, should always assure that “truth is served”.
What is truth? Pilate asked while looking Jesus in the face, who said “I am the way, the truth and the life”.
You can only know the truth going to Jesus. The truth in Jesus is dynamic, ever-growing. Every step with him is a new discovery, gives new perspectives and insights.
The Church is to be built on this foundation of truth and not on what the majority of people think or like.
In this context, good articles are important tools that, like gifts, should be used for formation and education. What use is a toolbox which you have in your storeroom and which you never use?
In each article you should ask yourself, is this useful? How can I use this? Is this for my private use in meditation and prayer? Should I bring this to my fellowship or sharing group for discussion? Is this the material that I could use for teaching my children or catechism in school?
If you conclude that they cannot be used for any one of these, give your feedback to the editor or author to help them sharpen their tools so that they could better serve, and so that the truth is served which will help people to recognize the lies and falsehoods in our present-day society.
Question 1. What concrete suggestions do you have to make better use of our Catholic media?
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Fr Guido Gockel MHM
A member of St Joseph’s Missionary Society of Mill Hill, headquartered near London, Father Guido was ordained a priest in 1969. Shortly after ordination, he was sent to Malaysia (Sarawak) where he served as a missionary for 18 years.
While on a vacation to Sabah, he was introduced to a group of young people who had become involved in the Charismatic Movement (CCR). This experience helped him to be instrumental in introducing CCR to Miri, Sarawak, where he was assigned to a mission outpost.
Since his first missionary stint of seven years in the early 70’s, he has been back to Malaysia three more postings, and numerous short visits. He has acquired a basic knowledge of “Melayu pasar” and other languages of Sarawak
Catholic Sabah has the privilege of being acquainted with Fr Guido, who has been generous in giving his time to write for a year under the column titled “I’m on My Way” since the launching of the Catholic Sabah online portal in 2020.
With a little encouragement, Fr Guido has agreed to continue to write, and thus Catholic Sabah decided to upload his writings, once every month, in both English and Bahasa Melayu. Father is open to questions, to offer further discussion/explanation. He can be reached through email or whatsapp @ frguidomhm@gmail.com.
