1 3 November 2014

3 November 2014

1

Challenges Facing Print Media In India Today!

(A PERSPECTIVE)

Dear Friends,

It is good to be here at this National Convention of the
Indian Catholic Press Association (ICPA). I want to thank Fr. Alfonso Elengikal, the President of the ICPA, Mr. Jose Vincent, theSecretaryofICPAandallothersconcernedfor inviting me to share with you some perspectives on the challenges facing the print media today. I will of course focus on the theme of this Convention, “PROPHETIC

CHALLENGES BEFORE MEDIA TODAY”.

At the outset, I would like to emphasize two points:

i. that the printed word plays a significant and defining role in the Indian sub-continent today ii. that being engaged in the print media is no longer an option for us, but a mandate

CHALLENGES

Having said this let me focus on some of the challenges that the print media faces in the changing context of India today. (In order to ensure an economy of words, I will in the remainderofthissharingusetheverygeneralterm‘media’ even though this Convention focuses on Catholics engaged in the print-media)

Fr. Cedric Prakash sj, delivering the talk on
'Challenges Facing Print Media In India Today!'

will easily reveal that they belong to one or the other of the big corporate houses. Corporations (be they national or multi-nationals), we are all aware, have their own agenda. They are determined by the ideology of that particular corporation, by profit-making and in most instances, they would not want to disturb the ‘status quo’ or to rock the boat. When media is taken over by such houses, the endgame is blatantly clear: our minds, our thought-processes are determined in a particular way.

What then are some of the major challenges which the media in India faces today?

· The Corporatisation Of The Media

If there is one single major concern which the media in India faces today, it is the way it has been corporatised. A systematic study of all the big newspapers in the country

Royal Christian Family

GET-TOGETHER

of Brides and Grooms

· The Commercialisation Of The Media

In our Centre ‘PRASHANT’, we focus on human rights, justice and peace and a key dimension of our work is the scanning and documenting from eighteen major daily newspapers in English, Gujarati and Hindi. It is simply unbelievable that these past few days, in several newspapers five and even seven pages are devoted to full-page advertisements. The advertisements are varied: of major sales and discounts; the announcements of brand new productsandofcourse,thepropagandaofpoliticalparties (mainly the BJP). These advertisements certainly cost a pretty sum; when one gives importance to such crass commercialisation,thenthenewspaperlosesitsveryheart and soul. Remember the big talk of “black money?”

for Details Contact:

99, Perin Nariman Street, 1st Floor, Near GPO.,
Fort, Mumbai 400001

· The Co-option Of The Media

Corporatisation and commercialisation of the media have plenty to do with its co-option. So in a way, this becomes

Tel.: 022 - 22693578, 22654924

Email: [email protected], [email protected]

(Contd.. on p. 7)

3 November 2014
2

Advt. Tariff

Over all size 21.5 cms x 27cms O Print area 18 cms x 25.5 cms

Full pg. back Colour (19 cms x 24 cms) Center spread colour(39 cms x 23.5 cms Full pg. inside Cover colour(18 cms x 24 cms) Full pg. inner colour (18 cms x 24 cms) Half pg. Colour (18 cms x 12 cms)

Full page B/W (18 cms x 24 cms) Half page B/W (18 cms x 12 cms)
Rs. 15,000 Rs. 15,000 Rs. 10,000

A WEEKLY FAMILY FAVOURITE

Vol.23 No.44 November 3, 2014

Rs.5/-

Rs. Rs.
8,000 5,000

99, Perin Nariman Street, Fort, Mumbai - 400 001.
Tel: 2269 35 78 / 2265 49 24 : 2264 0996
E-mail : [email protected], [email protected]
Website: www.sezariworld.com

Rs. Rs,
5,000 3,000

www.secularcitizen.com

Small Size Ads B/W

Editor-in-chief : LAWRENCE COELHO Editor: PHILIP MYABOO

12 x 12cms Rs. 2000 18 x 6cms Rs. 1500

OO

6 x 24cms Rs. 2000 6 x 12cms Rs. 1000

‘Thought for the week’

6 x 6cms Rs. 500

An apology doesn't mean you were wrong and the other person was right. It means your relationship or friendship is more valuable than your ego.

Matrimonial Classifieds:

O Rs. 500 per insertion (for 35 words) (includes box no.)

O Rs. 1500 for 12 insertions. (1 year The Secular Citizen FREE)

Couples seeking

Contents

Media In India Today! pg. 3 - Couples seeking annulments should not be 'held hostage' to the past. pg. 6 - Reader's Views pg. 8 - Eucharistic Miracles Justify
Faith And Belief pg. 2 - Challenges Facing Print

annulments should not be
‘held hostage' to the past

major dispute at the recently concluded Extraor dinary Synod on the Family, described by Tokyo

A

Archbishop Peter Takeo Okada as "white hot", pg10-ThankyouCM, forRejecting
Somashekara Inquiry Commission Report concernedtheChurch'spracticeofdenyingtheEucharist to those who have remarried following a divorce.
In a commentary sent to the Katorikku Shimbun,
Japan's national Catholic weekly, the archbishop said that "the participating bishops demonstrated one of two orientations. One was the desire to be pastoral, providing pg 11 - Views on News pg 15 - Understanding The MBA pg 17 - Know the Glossary of Economic Terms pg 19 - Inspiration! pg 20 - Matrimonials

BY FR WILLIAM GRIMM

comfort, encouragement, help and hope to families worn down by pain.... On the other hand, some stressed the necessity of deepening the commitment to and conveying the teaching of Christ."
Those who opposed relaxing the rule cited the command of Jesus (Mark
10:10-12, modified and softened in Matthew) saying that remarriage following divorce is adultery.
Among those hierarchs who most vehemently insist upon literal observance of Jesus's words (though Jesus is never recorded to have spoken at all ofeitherallowingordenyingpeopleaccesstotheEucharist)aresomecardinals whose photos can be found on the Internet showing them wearing the cappa magna, a red cape with a hood lined with ermine or silk that was shortened from 15 meters to seven (49 feet to 25 feet) in 1952 and generally disappeared from ecclesiastical haberdashery after Vatican II. Originally, the great length was intended to cover the rear end of the horse as a bishop or cardinal rode. Reportedly, such a cape costs several thousand dollars — a far cry from swaddling clothes.
Clearly, those cardinals have found a way to reconcile their fashion sense with Jesus' stern warning against ostentatious garb for religious leaders who impose burdens on others (Matthew 23:2-7).
Apparently, they think that while some verses of Scripture must be taken literally, others may be pursued as optional ideals for the heroically holy, some

Subscriptions Rate:

One year (anywhere in India) Rs. 250 Three years (anywhere in India) Rs. 700 Five years (anywhere in India) Rs. 1000

One year (outside India) Rs. 2500

E-paper Edition

sent anywhere in the world (by email)
One year Rs. 600 or US $ 15 Two years Rs. 1000 or US $ 25

Cover : Thank you CM, for Rejecting

Somashekara Inquiry Commission Report

(Contd.. on p. 4)

(Letter on pg. 10)

3 November 2014

3

(Contd.. from p. 3)

Pope calls for abolishment of capital punishment, life imprisonment

can be entertained as mere suggestions and some should be ignored. Theypresumablyreservetothemselves the authority to decide to which category a particular Scriptural injunction belongs.
Some who seek to allow people whose marriages have failed to once again share fully the life of the Catholic community point to the practice of the Orthodox Church, where a period of penitence may be followed by a second or even third marriage.
However,thisignoresthefactthat sometimes marriages fail without anyone being at fault. Rather than repentance, what might be needed is a period or even a ceremony of mourning for the hopes that have evaporated, for the shared life that has for whatever reason come to an end.
Menandwomengrowandchange throughout their lives, and the couple that spoke vows in the past can — and do — become different people from those who were joined together in matrimony.
Any real relationship is constantly reaffirmed. A marriage is no different. Eachdayandinmyriadways, spouses renew their vows. But, sometimes that renewal becomes impossible, or even ill-advised, as when domestic violence in one form or other becomes part of their shared existence.
In spite of their best efforts, their union might no longer be a sacrament of love, but instead an ongoing experience of frustration, anger, pain and hopelessness. Sometimes, their life together has become an arena of spiritual, psychological, social and even

theirliberty. Andthis, Iconnectwithlife imprisonment,"hesaid. "Lifeimprisonment is a hidden death penalty."
The pope noted that the Vatican recently eliminated life inprisonment from its own penal code. ope Francis called for abolition of the death penalty as well as life imprisonment, and de-

P

nouncedwhathecalleda"penalpopulism" that promises to solve society's problems by punishing crime instead of pursuing social justice.
According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, cited by Pope Francisinhistalk,"thetraditionalteaching of the church does not exclude recourse to the death penalty, if this is the only possible way of effectively defending human lives against the unjust aggressor," but modern advances in protecting society from dangerous criminals mean that "cases in which the execution of the offender is an absolute necessity are very rare, if not practically nonexistent."
"It is impossible to imagine that states today cannot make use of another means than capital punishment to defend peoples' lives from an unjust aggressor," the pope said Oct. 23 in a meeting with representatives of the InternationalAssociationofPenalLaw.
"AllChristiansandpeopleofgood will are thus called today to struggle not only for abolition of the death penalty, whether it be legal or illegal and in all its forms, but also to improve prison conditions, out of respect for the human dignity of persons deprived of
The pope said that, although a

(Contd.. on p. 5)

Instead of simply searching the past, why not look at the present to see ifthepeoplethattheyhavebecomeare able to live the marriage covenant? Musttheybeheldhostagetotheirpast, to people (their younger selves) who no longer exist?
In other words, as it is now possible to declare a marriage annulled because it never really took place, it should be possible to make a declaration of nullity based upon the fact that a relationship that may have been a marriageatonepointinthepasthasceased to be so.
Just as the physical death of a spousemaybefollowedbyremarriage without affecting one's ability to share in the sacramental life of the Church, such should be the case when the spousalrelationship,themarriage,has died. physical torture. Can God have joined them and kept them joined for this?
Without so intending, the Church can present marriage as shackles that chain people together whether it be to their benefit or not, to others’ benefit (for example, their children) or not.
Thisweakenstheproclamationof marriage as a sacrament of Christ's relationship with the Church, casting a shadowoverthosemarriagesthatcontinue to mature and grow. Such marriages can be better signs when there is no doubt about the freedom in which the sign, the relationship, is lived.
The current practice in declaring an annulment is to engage in marital archeology, looking back to the time when a marriage began in order to excavate evidence that one or both of the parties was unable or unwilling to contract a marriage once upon a time. It depends upon the not-always-given and not-always-possible cooperation of various people — the couple themselves, family, old friends, etc.

Wedding Invitation, Christening, First Holy Communion, Mortuary
Cards & Religious Goods

Contact:

David & Company

Sharaf Manzil, 1st Floor, 650, J.S.S. Road, 2nd Dhobitalao Lane,
Mumbai 400002

Tel.: 22019010 / 2205 7394

Fax: 2206 0344

Maryknoll Fr William Grimm is publisher of ucanews.com, based in Tokyo.
Source: ucanews

Emails:[email protected] / [email protected]

3 November 2014

4

The pope said criminal penalties

Usingtechniquessimilartothose

should not apply to children, and of racist regimes of the past, the pope should be waived or limited for the said, unspecified forces today create elderly, who "on the basis of their very "stereotypical figures that sum up the errors can offer lessons to the rest of characteristics that society perceives society. We don't learn only from the as threatening." numberofcountrieshaveformallyabolished capital punishment, "the death penalty, illegally and to a varying extent, is applied all over the planet," because "extrajudicial executions" are often disguised as "clashes with offenders or presented as the undesired consequencesofthereasonable, necessary and proportionate use of force to apply the law."

virtues of saints but also from the fail-

Pope Francis concluded his talk

ings and errors of sinners."

by denouncing human trafficking and

Pope Francis said contemporary corruption, both crimes he said "could societiesoverusecriminalpunishment, never be committed without the compartially out of a primitive tendency to plicity, active or passive, of public auoffer up "sacrificial victims, accused of thorities."
The pope denounced the deten-

tion of prisoners without trial, who he said account for more than 50 percent ofallincarceratedpeopleinsomecountries. He said maximum security prisonscanbeaformoftorture, sincetheir "principal characteristic is none other thanexternalisolation,"whichcanlead to "psychic and physical sufferings such as paranoia, anxiety, depression and weight loss and significantly increase the chance of suicide."
Healsorebukedunspecifiedgovernments involved in kidnapping people for "illegal transportation to detentioncentersinwhichtortureispracticed." the disgraces that strike the community."
The pope said some politicians son,whomhedescribedasconceited, and members of the media promote unabletoacceptcriticism, andprompt "violence and revenge, public and pri- to insult and even persecute those vate, not only against those respon- who disagree with him.
Thepopespokescathinglyabout the mentality of the typical corrupt per-

sible for crimes, but also against those under suspicion, justified or not."
"The corrupt one does not perceivehisowncorruption.Itisalittlelike
He denounced a growing ten- what happens with bad breath: somedency to think that the "most varied one who has it hardly ever realizes it; social problems can be resolved other people notice and have to tell through public punishment ... that by him," the pope said. "Corruption is an means of that punishment we can ob- evilgreaterthansin.Morethanforgivetain benefits that would require the ness, this evil needs to be cured." implementation of another type of so-

Courtesy: CNS

cialpolicy,economicpolicyandpolicy of social inclusion."

3 November 2014

5

Inconclusive synod
Don't Waste,
Feed The Poor

The extraordinary synod of over
200 bishops which came to a close on October 19, 2014, on an inconclusive note, failed to reach a consensus on some pressing X-Spam-Subject: YES X-Spam-Subject: YES issues such as same- sex unions, and divorce and remarriageofCatholiccouples. Wewill now have to wait for another year for pastoral guidelines to be formulated during the Synod of 2015 , which will hopefully cone as good news to those families and couples living in crisis situations and not in full communion with the church. However, it is difficult to visualize a Catholic church reconciled to couples in live-in relations and same sex-unions as well as families of gays and lesbians as part of God’s loving design , when all along such relationshipsweretabooandsinfuland violative of the sanctity of marriage and
A lot of money in India is spent in the bursting of crackers on all the five days of the Deepavali festival. Why don’tthepeoplespendthesamemoney to feed the poor and the underprivileged people of our country? In India, there are millions of people who are poor and keep starving. They don’t even get decent clothes to wear and a morsel of food to eat. Instead of wasting money in the bursting of crackers and other unnecessarily things, the money can be donated to an orphanage or Home for the Aged. At least these people who have no one to be taken care of can get a morsel of food to eat and decent clothes to wear. Give it a thought! It will make others happy and God will bless you abundantly. its Trinitarian dimension through the sacramentofmatrimony.Nevertheless, the words of Pope Francis that “ God is not afraid of change” and “ Who am I to decide” seem reassuring and a sure indication of the positive direction in which the church is moving and a sign of the changing times.

—A. F. Nazareth,
Alto Porvorim
— Jubel D'Cruz,
Dombivili

Renew your subscription for

Required

before it expires.
Call: 022-22693578, 22654924

O Office Staff cum computer operators O Free-lance writers O Space Booking Executives O Magazine Layout Designers

O

Freelance Promotional Personnel

READ

O Area / Parish-wise Representatives O Delivery cum Office assistants

Be a Representative of The Secular Citizen & DIVO and promote our other services in your area, parish and known circle in your own free time and earn handsome income

The Only Weekly from Mumbai with Largest Konkani Readership having print edition as well as e-Paper edition

Contact :

THE SECULAR CITIZEN

99, Perin Nariman (Bazargate) Street, 1st Floor,
(Above Dr. Kothari Clinic),

A sister publication of The
Secular Citizen

Near CST & GPO., Fort, Mumbai 400001

3 November 2014

6

years ago in January 2004, the Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI) at their meeting in Trichur gave to the ChurchinIndiaplentyoffoodforthought and action in their statement “Called to be a Communicating Church”.
As ICPA and others involved in the media, we are challenged to reflect and act urgently on many critical dimensions of this all-pervasive ministry. These include:

Challenges Facing Print Media In India Today!

· The communalisation of the media

In India, we are seeing this as never before. We need to glance through almost any daily newspaper to realize this. On careful analysis of a news story, it is so blatantly obvious that a Dilip Shah who kills another is not referred as a ‘Hindu’ murderer; but if it is a Javed Sheikh, he is then very carefully painted as Muslim or someone belonging to the minority community! Look at the way “love Jihad” hogged the headlines for several weeks! There are very subtle and direct attacks on minorities.Whatismeticulouslypropagated is the well-being of the majority community. Communalisationthrough the media is able to orchestrate the dividebetweenthemajorityandminority communities of the country. a logical outcome of the first two. Cooption essentially means losing your ability to think for yourself; you have to toe a given line, you have to ensure the banner headlines (even if they are lies) are done to suit the wishes and the fancies of the bosses; you have to carefully avoid instances / events or news which might put those who control you, in poor light. We have hundreds of examples in and around us to exemplifyhowmediagetssoeasilycooptedtoday. Weareallfamiliarwiththe term “paid media!”

Have we, as Church, taken Social Communications(sp.theprint-media) seriously? Have we understood its power and potential in our works of evangeli- zation?