«Young people want us not to be afraid of the media,» said a communiqué from participants at the European Bishops’ Media Commission (CEEM) plenary assembly, held Sept. 14-18.
«Let us go where people do not expect us; let us enter the arena when the Church is called to take part in society’s debates and encourage those who do,» the panel said in its message, entitled «Do Not Be Afraid of the Media!», to the Churches of Europe.
Some 80 people — bishops, communications experts, representatives for Europe’s 34 episcopal conferences and officials of various Catholic communications agencies — gathered at the Barnabite Fathers’ cultural center in Warsaw to discuss who paints the picture of the world that young people have.
Last Thursday, the CEEM president, Auxiliary Bishop Peter Henrici of Chur, Switzerland, set out the aims of the meeting: to analyse the media culture and to try to understand how young people relate to it, in order to establish pastoral priorities.
