Third Talk
The third talk was delivered by Maryknoll Priest, Fr Robert Astorino, MM, the very-reknowned expert in social communications. His talk pertained to social communications and the Church.

In making mention of some Church documents, Fr Bob had demonstrated that the way in which the perception of the Church towards media had changed over the decades from something to be “vigilant” about into something that was “magnificent”.

He highlighted that people born into eras which employed certain communication technologies shaped the way they grew up and became.

In speaking of the internet today, Fr Bob explained that the internet changed people and the way they understood things. So did equipment like iPods. All these new communication technologies had caused a major crisis to printed newspapers. All this showed that we were today in a period of transition, and the world as we knew it was going to change fundamentally in ways beyond our imagination. He felt that the Church had not truly kept up with these changes as yet. In Fr Bob’s literal words, “You’d better take the internet seriously, because if you don’t, you’re talking to the wall!”

Fr Bob had also directed our attention to the message of the Holy Father for the 43rd World Day of Communications in May 2009, entitled “New Technologies, New Relationships: Promoting a Culture of Respect, Dialogue and Friendship”. He summarised this message as being that the world had changed partially because media had changed. As a result, the Holy Father had called upon the Church to pay attention to the young because it was now their world. This must have been one of the most dramatic changes in the world.

The speaker gave very practical guidance about what to do if we had to communicate in speech to a graphic-oriented generation. He said it was important that we told good stories, because that was what worked. Fr Bob emphasised the importance of taking Jesus as an example of a good storyteller. He said the reason that the telling of parables worked well was quite obvious, as people connected with stories by forming images in their minds as characters came alive to them.

The pertinent implication from these realities must surely be that the religious of the world, in this case, Asia, have to be sensitive to modes of communication prevalent among the younger people today. This would affect the awareness of people regarding the existence and roles of the various religious orders and the effectiveness with which people are inspired towards consecrated life.