FRANCISCAN FAMILY - II
THE CHURCH’S SOCIAL TEACHING
Guideline:
“In the study of the Church’s
social teaching (from Rerum novarum
onwards), pay specific attention to the duties and responsibilities of the
laity.”
The
Church’s social teaching on the duties and responsibility of the laity fills a
library. Following on the model of the Church as communion, and leading
into the priorities of the laity, I will indicate the duties and
responsibilities of the laity regarding the Church’s social teaching only on
the media of social communication.
SOCIAL TEACHING ON THE MEDIA OF
SOCIAL COMMUNICATION
Although
lay people are the most involved with the mass media, as either communicators
or recipients, these duties and responsibilities are not exclusive to them.
“These principles are addressed to all persons of good will, not just to
Catholic lay people” (EC 32). A proper use of the media of social communication
is the responsibility of the entire People of God.
Principles
and norms that apply to social communication are relevant in other fields also.
Principles of social ethics like solidarity, subsidiarity, justice and equity,
and accountability in the use of public resources and the performance of roles
of public trust are always applicable (EC 20).
These
principles derive from the essential character of social communication and the
innate qualities of the medium in question. This also follows from what is said
in Gaudium et spes: "By the very fact of their
having been created, all things are endowed with their own stability, truth,
goodness, proper laws and order which man must respect" (CP 14).
So,
the principles that we will extract from two relevant documents are basic not only to
the Church’s social teaching on the mass media but to all areas of human
activity. Social communication carries economic, political, cultural,
educational, and religious benefits (EC 6).
The
Church's approach to the means of social communication is fundamentally
positive and encouraging. We do not simply stand in judgment and condemn;
rather, we consider these instruments to be not only products of human genius
but also great gifts of God and positive signs of the times (EC 4).
PRINCIPLES OF
SOCIAL COMMUNICATION
The
following principles have been derived from two documents, Communio et Progressio (CP),
and Ethics in Communications (EC).
The Pontifical Council for Social Communications published Ethics in Communications, on 2 June 2000.
I. THE WORD OF GOD
1. The communion between the three divine Persons in the
Trinity is the source of unity and brotherhood.
The Church is a communion of persons
and eucharistic communities, rooted in and mirroring the intimate communion of
the Trinity (EC 3).
Communication in and by the Church
finds its starting point in the communion of love among the divine Persons and
their communication with us (EC 3). Unity and brotherhood find their source and
model in the central mystery of the eternal communion between the Father, Son
and Holy Spirit who live a single divine life (CP 8).
The Church has the mission of
proclaiming the Gospel until the end of time (EC 3). Today, that requires using
the mass media.
2. God took the initiative to make contact with man. God
communicated himself to us.
When man turned away from his
Creator, he was no longer able to communicate with his fellows. But for all that, God's love for man persisted.
God made the first move to make contact with mankind at the start of the
history of salvation. In the fullness of time, God communicated his very self
to us (CP 10).
3. Communication is the giving of self in love.
Communication is more than the
expression of ideas and the indication of emotion. At its most profound level
it is the giving of self in love (CP 11).
4. God the Son is the perfect communicator through his
Incarnation. Jesus Christ shared the truth and life of God with all.
When Jesus Christ, the Incarnate
Son, the Word and Image of the invisible God, set the human race free by his
death and resurrection, he shared with everyone the truth and the life of God.
He made peace between God and man and laid the foundations of unity among
people. From that moment, communication among people found its highest ideal
and supreme example in God who had become man and our brother (CP 10).
While Jesus was on earth, he
revealed himself as the perfect communicator. Through his
"incarnation", he identified himself
with those who were to receive his communication. He gave his message
not only in words but in the whole manner of his life. He spoke without fear or
compromise. He adjusted to his people's way of talking and to their patterns of
thought. He spoke from out of the press of his people (CP 11).
Christians recognize that Jesus is
the model for communicators. He communicates to us the Father's love and the
ultimate meaning of our lives. Through his incarnation, he identified himself
with those who were to receive his communication, and he gave his message not
only in words but in the whole manner of his life. He gave out the divine
message without fear or compromise. He adjusted to his people's way of talking
and to their patterns of thought. And he spoke out of the predicament of their time. His
"food" was to do the will of the Father who sent him (Jn 4:34), and
all he said and did was spoken and done in reference to that (EC 32).
5. The Eucharist is the most intimate form of communion
possible.
Christ's communication was, in fact,
spirit and life. In the institution of the Holy Eucharist, Christ gave us the
most perfect and most intimate form of communion between God and man possible
in this life, and, out of this, the
deepest possible unity between people (CP 11).
6. Jesus Christ communicated the Holy Spirit who brings
all together in unity.
Further, Christ communicated to us His life-giving Spirit, who brings all
people together in unity. The Church is Christ's Mystical Body, the hidden
completion of Christ Glorified who "fills the whole creation". As a
result we move, within the Church and with the help of the word and the
sacraments, towards the hope of that
last unity where "God will be all in all" (CP 11).
7.
Communication is a moral act
Jesus taught that communication is a
moral act: "For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. He
insisted on candor and truthfulness in others, while condemning any kind
of communication that was bent (EC 32).
II. THE NATURE OF
THE CHURCH
1. The
Church, as the People of God, promotes unity.
These ideals are completely in tune with the aims of the People of God. "For the promotion of unity belongs to the innermost nature of the Church," since she is "by her relationship with Christ, both a sacramental sign and an instrument of intimate union with God, and of the unity of all mankind" (CP 18).
2. The
Church upholds the dignity and rights of the person.
The special contributions which the
Church brings to the discussion of these matters are a vision of human persons
and their incomparable dignity and inviolable rights, (EC 30)...
3.
Fosters the solidarity of the human community.
...
and a vision of human community whose members are joined by the virtue of
solidarity in pursuit of the common good of all. The need for these two visions
is especially pressing when the possibility of discovering the real meaning of
life is cast into doubt (EC 30).
4. Has
a mission to the various fields of human endeavour.
In the face of this crisis, the
Church stands forth as an expert in humanity whose expertise leads her
necessarily to extend her religious mission to the various fields of human
endeavor. We may not keep the truth about the human person and the human
community to ourselves. We must share it freely, always aware that people can
say no to the truth—and to us (EC 30).
5.
Seeks dialogue and collaboration.
Attempting to foster and support
high ethical standards in the use of the means of social communication, the
Church seeks dialogue and collaboration with others: with public officials, who
have a particular duty to protect and promote the common good of the political
community; with men and women from the world of culture and the arts; with
scholars and teachers engaged in forming
the communicators and audiences of the future; with members of other churches
and religious groups, who share our desire that media be used for the glory of
God and the service of the human race, and especially with professional
communicators—writers, editors, reporters, correspondents, performers, producers,
technical personnel—together with owners, administrators, and policy makers in
this field (EC 30).
III. THE NATURE OF THE MEDIA
1. They are gifts of God to unite people and help them
cooperate in God’s plan of salvation.
The means (of social communication)
include the press, the cinema, radio and television. The Church sees these
media as gifts of God which unite people in brotherhood and so help them to
cooperate with his plan for their salvation (CP 1).
The media are called to serve human
dignity by helping people live well and
function as persons in community. Media do this by encouraging men and
women to be conscious of their dignity, enter into the thoughts and feelings of
others, cultivate a sense of mutual responsibility, and grow in personal
freedom, in respect for others' freedom, and in the capacity for dialogue (EC 6).
2. They are effective means for cultivating charity among
people.
The tools of communication, then, provide some of the most
effective means for the cultivation of that charity among people which is at
once the cause and the expression of fellowship (CP 12).
3. They are beneficial in promoting understanding and
sympathy between people.
A deeper understanding and a greater sympathy between people, as well as fruitful cooperation in creative work, are the benefits that should come from social communication (CP 18).
IV. THE POTENTIAL
OF THE MEDIA
Among the wonderful technical
inventions which foster communication among human beings, Christians find means
that have been devised under God's Providence for the encouragement of social
relations. These means serve to build new relationships and to fashion a new
language which permits us to know ourselves better and to understand one another
more easily. By this, we are led to a mutual understanding and shared ambition.
This, in turn, inclines people to
justice and peace, to good will and active charity, to mutual help, to love
and, in the end, to communion (CP 12).
These technical advances should
serve the purpose of bringing people into closer contact with one another. A
Christian estimate of the contribution that the media make to the well-being of
mankind is based on this fundamental principle. (CP 6)
2. Contribute to unity, brotherhood and the advancement
of people.
In the Christian faith, unity and
brotherhood are the chief aims of all communication (CP). The media of social communication can contribute a great deal to
human unity. Too often, we have to watch social communications used to
contradict or corrupt the fundamental values of human life. The Christian
considers these evils evidence of our need to be freed from sin (CP 9).
3. Improve the conditions of human living and cooperate
in God’s work of creation and conservation.
People everywhere are at work on improving the conditions for human living. The Christian vision of man, of his motives and of his history, sees in this development a response to the divine command to master the world. It also sees it as an act of cooperation in the divine work of creation and conservation (CP 7).
V. SOCIAL ETHICS
1.
Communication must be truthful.
Communication must always be
truthful, since truth is essential to individual liberty and to authentic
community among persons (EC 20).
At
the heart of ethics in the media are: serving the human person, building
up human community grounded in solidarity and justice and love, and speaking
the truth about human life and its final fulfilment in God (EC 33).
2.
Media news, culture and entertainment should meet the growing needs of society.
Media news, culture and entertainment should meet the growing
needs of society (CP 16).
3.
Communication is related to structural and systemic social issues.
The ethical dimension (of social
communication) relates not just to the content of communication (the message)
and the process of communication (how the communicating is done) but to
fundamental structural and systemic issues, often involving large questions of
policy, bearing upon the distribution of sophisticated technology and products (who shall be
information-rich and who shall be information-poor?) (EC 20).
4. The
person and the community are the measure of the use of the media
In all three areas—message, process,
structural and systemic issues—the
fundamental ethical principle is this: The human person and the human community
are the end and measure of the use of the media of social communication.
Communication should be by persons to persons for the integral development of
persons (EC 21).
5.
Communication has economic and political implications.
Other
questions arise with economic and political implications for ownership and control.
At least in open societies with market economies, the largest ethical question
of all may be how to balance profit against service to the public interest,
understood according to an inclusive conception of the common good (EC 20).
6. The
media must develop the person fully.
Integral development requires a sufficiency of material goods and products, but it also requires attention to the human spirit. Everyone deserves the opportunity to grow and flourish in respect to the full range of physical, intellectual, emotional, moral, and spiritual goods. Individuals have irreducible dignity and importance, and may never be sacrificed to collective interests (EC 21).
VI. THE EFFECTS OF THE MEDIA ON CIVIL SOCIETY
1. Indispensable for the functioning of modern society.
The channels of social communication
are indispensable to the smooth functioning
of modern society with the continual and often close consultations this
involves (CP 6).
2. Help share knowledge and unify man’s creative work in
building the earthly city.
The means of social communication
help people share their knowledge and unify their creative work. By creating man in his own
image, God has given him a share in his creative power. And so people are
summoned to cooperate with one another in building the earthly city. (CP 7).
3. Multiply contacts within society and deepen social
consciousness.
Social communications tend to multiply contacts within society and to deepen social consciousness. As a result the individual is bound more closely to his fellows and can play his part in the unfolding of history as if led by the hand of God (CP 8).
VII. THE DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF CHRISTIANS
1. Work together to ensure that the media contribute to
the brotherhood of man under the fatherhood of God.
All persons of good will, then, are
impelled to work together to ensure that the media of communication do in fact
contribute to the pursuit of truth and the speeding up of progress. The
Christian will find in his faith an added incentive to do this. And the message
of the Gospel thus spread will promote
this idea which is the brotherhood of man under the fatherhood of God (CP 13).
2.
Exercise free choice in the use of the media.
Contact and cooperation among people
depend, in the last resort, on their
free choice which, in its turn, is affected by psychological,
sociological and technical factors. And
so the importance and ultimate significance of the media of communication
depend upon the working of one’s free choice in their use (CP 13).
3. Judge the media by the contribution they make to the
common good.
The total output of the media in any
given area should be judged by the contribution it makes to the common good (CP
16).
4. Develop a proper understanding of man and our dignity
as members of the family of adopted children of God.
Whoever wants to see the media take their
allotted place in the history of
Creation, in the Incarnation and Redemption, and to consider the morality that governs their use, must
have a full and proper understanding of man (CP 15).
Since it is man himself who decides
how the available means of communication shall be used, the moral principles at
issue here are those based on a true interpretation of the dignity of man. And
man must be accounted a member of the family of the adopted children of God (CP
14).
5.
Communicators to come to understand their vocation and mission
Human communication has in it
something of God's creative activity, calling us to share in his creative
power. In coming to understand this, artists and communicators come to a full understanding of themselves, their vocation
and their mission (EC 31).
The Christian communicator in
particular has a prophetic task, a vocation: to speak out against the false
gods and idols of the day — materialism,
hedonism, consumerism, narrow nationalism, and the rest — holding up a
body of moral truth based on human dignity and rights, the preferential option
for the poor, the universal destination of goods, love of enemies, and
unconditional respect for all human life from conception to natural death; and
seeking the more perfect realization of the Kingdom in this world while
remaining aware that, at the end of time, Jesus will restore all things and
return them to the Father (EC 31).
6. Communicators are conscience-bound to make themselves
competent in the art of social communication.
We must also have a sound knowledge
both of the true nature of social communication and of the tools at its
service. "Communicators" are
all those who actively employ the media. These have a duty in conscience to
make themselves competent in the art of social
communication in order to be effective in their work (CP 15).
7. Communicators should comply with the requirements of
sincerity, honesty and truthfulness.
Every communication must comply with
the requirements of sincerity, honesty and truthfulness. A communication must state the truth. It must
accurately reflect the situation with all its implications. The moral worth and
validity of any communication does not lie solely in its theme or intellectual
content. The way in which it is presented,
the way in which it is spoken and
treated and even the audience for which it is designed must be taken
into account (CP 17).
8. Recipients are to learn how to interpret the messages
of the media accurately, in order to benefit from them and to contribute to
life in society.
"Recipients" are those
who, for their own purpose, read, listen to or view the various media.
Everything possible should be done to enable them to know about the media. So
they will be able to interpret their message accurately, to reap their benefit
in full and play their part in the life of society (CP 15).
9. The
ethical question: good or bad use of the media.
Great good and great evil come from
the use people make of the media of social communication. Choices are made not
only by those who receive communication but especially by those who control the
instruments of social communication and determine their structures, policies,
and content. For them, the ethical question is: Are the media being used for
good or evil? (EC 1).
10.
Reflection, discussion and dialogue are needed.
It is not always clear how to apply
ethical principles and norms to particular cases. Reflection, discussion, and
dialogue are needed, among communication policy makers, professional
communicators, ethicists and moralists, recipients of communication, and all
others concerned (EC 20).
11.
Jesus is the model and the standard of our communicating.
For those involved in social communication, whether as policy makers or professional communicators or recipients or in any other role, the conclusion is clear: "Therefore, putting away falsehood, let every one speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members of one another... Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for edifying, as fits the occasion, that it may impart grace to those who hear" (Eph 4:25,29). (EC 33).