Journalists urged to promote family values

Director of Social Communications at the Nigerian Catholic Secretariat, Fr. Christian Anyanwu has said that media practitioners need to respond positively to the call of Pope Francis and protect the integrity of the family.

Fr. Anyanwu said this recently when he celebrated Mass to mark this year’s World Communications Day at Our Lady Queen of Nigeria, Garki, Abuja.

Outlining the importance of the media in the world and the significance of this year’s “World Communications Day” in the life of the universal Church, Fr. Anyanwu, premised his homily on the message of the Holy Father for 2015 titled, "Communicating the Family: A Privileged Place of Encounter with the Gift of Love."

Pointing out that the Pope has emphasised that promoting the family should be a priority for journalists and media practitioners all over the world, the Communications Director declared that the Pope is concerned about the image of the family in the contemporary world for obvious reasons.

“First and foremost, the family is under serious attack in our contemporary society. Second, the image of the family that is being promoted in the media today appears to be distorted,” Fr. Anyanwu said. He added, “The family as a special gift of God to humanity is gradually being destroyed through what may be regarded as a media campaign against the family,” he emphasised.

Fr. Anyanwu, who spoke extensively on the importance of the family in all facets of life, used several references to buttress his points including that of the Holy Family of Nazareth – Jesus, Mary and Joseph.  He noted that there is hardly anything more important in the world than the family because it is the root and source of all humanity.

Dwelling further on the Pope’s message, Fr. Anyanwu noted that the family is the cradle of communication with the “contact between the mother and her unborn baby in the womb as the beginning of sharing, which is the essence of communication.”  Paraphrasing Pope Francis, Fr. Anyanwu further stated that the family is a community where we learn to understand and accept differences, learn to give because we have received and where we are taught to know God and the value of worshipping him

Fr. Anyanwu, stressed the need to return to a family communication model and outlined how journalists and other media practitioners could use their talents and tools of work to facilitate this realignment as advocated by the Holy Father.

He stated, “The media can communicate the family better when journalists, media practitioners, producers, editors and even film makers by becoming more professional in their career,” he said.

“This,” added Fr. Anyanwu, “is a clarion call on the ethical use of the media”.

(Catholic News Service of Nigeria)

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