Representatives of RISU and CREDO take part in Belarusian Congress of Catholic Journalists

On August 26, the First Congress of Belarusian Catholic Media came to an end in Grodno, Belarus. The forum was organized on the initiative of Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz, Metropolitan of the Minsk and Mahilyow Diocese of the Roman Catholic Church. “Catholics – We Are Here” was the slogan of the congress, which brought together more than 100 participants from Belarus and abroad. Among them were journalists and clergy of the Roman and Greek Catholic Churches. The forum was also attended by representatives of the press service of the Belarusian Orthodox Church.

Experts from Latvia, Poland and the Vatican came to the congress. Among the speakers were representatives of Ukrainian media: Fr. Mykola Myshovskyi, chief editor of the socio-religious Catholic periodical CREDO, and Olena Kulyhina, head of PR School of the Religious Information Service of Ukraine (RISU).

Honored guests were Thierry Bonaventura, media officer of the Council of European Bishops’ Conferences, and the famous Polish film director Krzysztof Zanussi.

Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli, the head of the Pontifical Council of Social Communications, Father Federico Lombardi, director of the press service of the Holy See, and Father Jozef Kloch, spokesman for the Polish Episcopal Conference, sent video addresses to the Belarusian journalists. Also, a report by Father Andrzej Koprowski, program director of Vatican Radio, was read out, the official portal of the Roman Catholic Church in Belarus catholic.by reported.

In his video address, Archbishop Celli said that Catholics should be present in the mass media, not for propaganda or proselytism, but for “the testimony of Christ, which is the source of our life and joy.”

Krzysztof Zanussi also noted that “people want testimony, not preaching.” “I believe that people, despite their weaknesses, can rise high,” Zanussi said.

Media expert in the field of online media Pavlo Levushkan shared practical advice for increasing the presence of Catholics online. He stressed the need to create online versions of print publications; to adapt layout for iPhones; to create applications for Android phones; for information visualization; to understand what the audience needs; for authors to participate in discussions in social networks; to develop a strategy of interaction with the audience.

Father Mykola Myshovskyi made a presentation called “New Media: A Chance for Evangelization” and was a moderator of a roundtable, during which people who work in the Catholic print media discussed prospects for development.

RISU editor Olena Kulyhina discussed PR and whether it is needed in the church. She stressed that with the help of the media, the church can provide answers to the problems and needs of society. The representative of RISU shared with her Belarusian colleagues her experience in holding similar conferences and trainings for church press services in Ukraine, as well as training opportunities for religious journalists who are at the Ukrainian Catholic University and other educational institutions of Ukraine.

Thierry Bonaventura urged Belarusian Catholic journalists to think globally and be open to the world: “You are not just reporters ... your work affects the whole church in Europe.” The media officer for the Council of European Bishops’ Conference also called “to move from the media institute to real contact with the people,” to understand the modern person, what fears and hopes he has.

At the end of the congress awards to Catholic journalists in Belarus were presented.
Archbishop Kondrusiewicz, who is responsible for overseeing media coverage at the Conference of Catholic Bishops in Belarus, is concerned about the presence of the voice of the church in mass media. Over the course of three days of the forum, the hierarch was with representatives of the media to listen to suggestions from experts and to share his thoughts on the subject.

Also, the Metropolitan of Minsk accepted an invitation from RISU to be a guest at a media conference “The Church in the Information Society,” which will be held in Ukraine in May 2013.