8th PROFESSIONAL SEMINAR FOR CHURCH COMMUNICATION OFFICES
(in order of appearance)
Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli (Rimini, Italy) was appointed President of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications by Pope Benedict XVI in 2007, and currently serves as President of the Vatican Film Library. In 2009 he was also appointed President of the Vatican Television Center’s Board of Directors. Ordained a priest in 1965, Archbishop Celli earned a degree in both Theology and Canon Law. In 1970 he joined the Vatican Diplomatic Corps and worked with the Apostolic Nunciatures in Honduras, the Philippines and Argentina. In 1990 he became the Holy See’s Undersecretary for Relations with States, and in 1995 he was appointed both Titular Archbishop of Civitanova and Secretary for the Patrimony of the Holy See. He was ordained a bishop by Pope John Paul II in 1996. Among other honors, Archbishop Celli has received the chair of Ecclesiastical Diplomacy from the School of Law at the Pontificia Università Lateranense in Rome.
Armando Fumagalli (Milan, Italy) is a Professor of Semiotics and Director of the Master Program in Screenwriting and Production for TV and Cinema at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan. He is a script consultant at the Lux Vide Production Company, and has contributed to several well-known, international TV mini-series such as John Paul II (with CBS, starring Jon Voight) and the European 4-episode War and Peace. Armando is also a Professor and member of the Board for the Master program in Screenwriting at the Universidad de los Andes in Chile, and the raduate program in Audiovisual Management and Marketing at the LUISS Guido Carli University in Rome. He has authored several books such as I Vestiti Nuovi del Narratore concerning the adaptation from literature to cinema, and Scegliere un Film, an annual collection of cinema reviews appearing every year since 2004, co-edited with Luisa Cotta Ramosino.
Mark von Riedemann (Canada) is Managing Director of the Catholic Radio and Television Network, a production facility based in Königstein, Germany that creates documentaries addressing Christian persecution around the world. He is the program host for a weekly TV and radio program called Where God Weeps (www.wheregodweeps.org), and the founder of an international Catholic program distribution network (www.crtn.org). He is also co-founder of SIPCATV - a distribution network of Catholic programming for continental Latin America (www.sipca.tv). Mark is additionally Chairman of Blagovest Media, a production and distribution network of Catholic and Orthodox programming for Russia (www.blagovestmedia.org).
Monsignor Domenico Pompili (Rome, Italy) is Director of the Italian Episcopal Conference’s (CEI) National Office for Social Communications. He also serves as the Conference’s Spokesman and Undersecretary. In 2005 he became assistant to the Secretary General, taking assignments at the former SAT 2000 (now TV 2000) and Radio inBlu. He is Secretary of the CEI Communication and Culture Foundation, and a member of the Italian Committee for the support of Youth Ministry Initiatives (CISIP). From 2000 to 2006 Msgr. Domenico had a three-fold role as Episcopal Vicar for Pastoral Care in the Diocese of Anagni-Alatri, Director of the Diocesan Office for Social Communications, and Assistant to the local unit of Catholic Action. He is additionally a journalist and lecturer in Moral Theology at the Istituto Teologico Leoniano, Anagni, an academic institute affiliated with the Pontifical School of Theology “Teresianum” in Rome, where he has taught since 1990.
Matteo Calabresi (Rome, Italy) is Head of the Italian Episcopal Conference’s Service for the Promotion of Economic Support of the Catholic Church. He is well known for creating and coordinating the “8x1000” web project and campaign, Ask them Yourself. Since graduating with a Degree in Political Science from the LUISS Guido Carli University of Rome, he has been a researcher at the London School of Economics. He is currently working on a joint project with McKinsey concerning comparative industrial productivity. An expert journalist in covering Arab countries, he worked for three years as an associate for the UT Phoenix Foundation in London. While in Italy, Matteo was the Responsible for external relations at the Maltese Link Campus University based in Rome. He has additionally served as Director of Marketing Communications at Micromegas (2008-2009), a leading European organization of events.
Jorge Milan (Barcelona, Spain) is an Associate Professor in Audiovisual Communications (Radio and TV, theory and practice) at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross. He holds a Degree in Journalism from the Universidad Complutense of Madrid, and in 2004 he obtained his Ph.D in Communications at the Universidad de Navarra, Spain. He is the author of Religión en TV: Argumentación y Representación en los Documentales de la RAI (2009) and the coordinator of several documentaries about Church-related institutions. Most recently he worked as one of the program directors for the Web TV of World Youth Day 2011 in Madrid.
Ioana-Adriana Azamfirei (Romania) is currently an intern with the Holy Cross School of Church Communications in Rome. A native Romanian, she has been studying in Denmark for the past two years, following a Master degree in Corporate Communication at one of Europe's oldest business schools, the Aarhus School of Business (Aarhus University) Previously she earned a Bachelor’s degree in Communications and Public Relations from the School of Political, Administrative and Communication Sciences at the Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca (Romania). Her experience includes internships with both the Vitrina Advertising Agency in 2007, as well within the Greek-Catholic Diocese of Cluj-Gherla in 2008.
Patricia Karen Thomas (Boston, USA) is a journalist and producer for Associated Press Television News, covering Italy and the Vatican since 1994. She follows events for television, radio and the AP on-line video service. Patricia covered the papacy of John Paul II from 1993 until his death, and continued with coverage of Pope Benedict XVI’s election. In her work she has traveled to Africa, throughout Europe, South America, and the Middle East. Prior to moving to Italy, Patricia worked at various news organizations including CNN in Washington and ABC News in New York. She holds a Master in International Affairs from Columbia University in New York (1991) and a Bachelor of Arts in History from Haverford College in Pennsylvania (1986).
Marina Ricci (Rome) graduated with a Degree in Literature with a dissertation on Contemporary History about Giorgio La Pira. Her career as a journalist began in 1982, writing for the News section of the weekly magazine Il Sabato. In 1986 she started working for the international monthly magazine 30 Days, specializing in the Church’s situation within the communist countries of Eastern Europe. When the TV channel TG5 was founded in 1992, she was called to serve as Vaticanologist. She covered the pontificate of John Paul II, and currently follows that of Benedict XVI. In 2002 she was among the 14 journalists charged with writing the texts of the Via Crucis at the Colosseum. Marina is also the ideator and curator of The Space of Wisdom-Santa Sofia in Istanbul exhibition, promoted by the Rimini Meeting (2007). In 2011 she edited the DVD and book series A Walk in the Mystery, a collection of six Christian testimonies. She is married and has five children.
Javier Martinez-Brocal Ogayar (Mexico), graduated in Journalism from the Universidad de Navarre, Spain. He is now Editor in Chief for Rome Reports TV News Agency, which from 2003-2011 he served as a senior correspondent. Between 2007 and 2011, Javier also worked for TV Azteca.
Mary Shovlain (Florida, USA) has been living in Rome and covering the Vatican for 14 years. She began at Vatican Radio and eventually made her way to television in 2003 when she went to work for EWTN (Eternal Word Television Network). Inspired by the mission of EWTN, Mary came back to Rome and founded Lucem Communications to make quality programming for various Catholic media outlets. Mary has also collaborated on programs that have aired on: National Geographic, History Channel Canada, PBS (Public Broadcasting Station), Canadian Broadcasting Company (CBC) and RTE (Ireland) and continues to provide live commentary of papal events for Vatican Radio. She received the Lumen Gentium Award from the Franciscan University of Steubenville in 2007 for her extensive work in Church communications and obtained a Licentiate in Moral Theology from the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in 2004. Her articles have appeared in Our Sunday Visitor, the Irish Catholic and Zenit.
Norberto Gonzalez Gaitano (Alcaraz, Spain) is a Professor of Public Opinion at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross. He has a Degree and a Ph.D in Communcations from the Universidad de Navarra, Spain and has served as professor of Ethics of Communication at both the Universidad de La Laguna, Spain (1990-1996) and the Universidad de Navarra, Spain (1981-1990). He was a Visiting Research Scholar at both the University of Chicago (2008-2009) and the Catholic University of America (Washington, 1995), and presently directs a research project on the formation of public opinion in the Catholic Church. Norberto is currently Vice-Rector of Communications at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, and a Consultant of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications. He is author of several articles and books, such as as Famiglia e media: Il detto e il non detto (2008), Comunicazione e luoghi della fede (2000), La interpretación y la narración periodísticas (1997) and El deber de respeto a la intimidad (1990).
Msgr. Juan Ignacio Arrieta Ochoa de Chinchetru (Vitoria, Spain) has been Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts since 2007. He was ordained a priest for the Prelature of the Holy Cross (Opus Dei) in 1977 and received episcopal ordination in 2008. He holds PhDs in both Law and Canon Law, and has served as professor of Canon Law at the Universidad de Navarra, Spain as well as in Rome and Venice. Previously, Msgr. Arrieta Ochoa de Chincetru has held the positions of Canon Prelate of the Apostolic Penitentiary, Legal Secretary of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, and Judge of the Ecclesiastical Tribunal of the State of Vatican City. He has also served as a Consultant for the Congregation for the Clergy, the Pontifical Council for the Family and the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts
Stephan Gajdosik (South Carolina, USA) has been President of the Catholic Radio Association since 2002. He was Director of Media Relations in the Diocese of Charleston, South Carolina between 2005 and 2011, and was the founder of Divine Mercy Radio, which he served as President from 1997 to 2001. He has a Master’s Degree in Theology from Ave Maria University, Florida and a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice from Mount Scenario College, Wisconsin.
Marcus Vetter (Stuttgart, Germany) is an award winning documentary-filmmaker. His most important works include the autobiographical Mein Vater, der Turke (2006), Trader’s Dream (2007) – a 2007 documentary about the phenomenon of eBay – and Das Herz von Jenin which won the German Film Award for Best Documentary in 2010. Marcus later founded a nonprofit organization called Cinema Jenin which aims at rebuilding a theater closed in Jenin, West Bank in 1987. Since 2008, he regularly travels to Jenin to follow the project. His last documentary, Hunger (2009), deals with the struggle for solving one of the worst social, political and economic problems of our time.
Jack Valero (London, United Kingdom) is the Finance Director of the Saint Thomas More Institute in London. In 2006 he was Coordinator, with Austen Ivereigh, of the Da Vinci Code Response Group, a team of Catholics who made themselves available to the media in the run-up to the DVC film. In 2010 he was also Press Officer for the Beatification of Cardinal Newman. Co-founder of Catholic Voices, he is author of the book Who Know Where They Stand – Catholic Voices and the Papal Visit to the UK. After an undergraduate Degree in Civil Engineering and a Master Degree in Transportation Planning, Jack worked in the software industry, managing a company for several years before moving on to work for the Netherhall Educational Association and other non-profit organizations. His expertise lies in business development, finance and corporate communication.
Fabrizio Paschina (Milan, Italy) has a Degree in German Literature from the Università di Torino, Italy. He has been involved in Business Communication for over twenty years, and is currently Head of Advertising and web-design at Intesa Sanpaolo bank, which he also served as Corporate Image Manager from 2002 to 2007. Previously, Fabrizio was the Head of Advertising for Alfa Romeo Communication at Fiat Auto (1989 to 1996), Head of Communication for Mondadori (between 1996 and 1998), and Head of Marketing Communication for the telephone company, Wind (1998-2001).
Mario Calabresi (Milan, Italy) is Director of the daily newspaper La Stampa. He graduated in Law and History from the Università di Milano, where he attended the Carlo De Martino School of Journalism. In 1998 he worked as a parliamentary reporter for Agenzia Nazionale Stampa Associata (ANSA), the main Italian news agency. Since 1999 he has worked for some of Italy’s major daily newspapers, starting at La Repubblica in the politics department, and moving to La Stampa where he covered the 9/11 attacks as a special correspondent (2000-2002). In 2002 he returned to La Repubblica as Assistant Editor, and from 2007 worked as a correspondent in New York covering the 2008 U.S. presidential elections. In 2009 he was appointed director of La Stampa. Mario is the author of Spingendo la Notte Più in Là: Storia della Mia Famiglia e di Altre Vittime del Terrorismo (Mondadori Strade blu, 2007), a book dedicated to the victims of terrorism. In 2002 he was honored with the Angelo Rizzoli award in journalism and in 2003 with the Carlo Casalegno award.
Andrea Tornielli (Rome, Italy) is Coordinator of Vatican Insider, a news service of La Stampa newspaper. He graduated in History of the Greek Language in December 1987 from the University of Padova, Italy and was a Vatican correspondent for the daily newspaper Il Giornale for 15 years. Since April 2011 he has worked as a columnist for La Stampa. He contributes to many international publications and writes the blog Sacri Palazzi, which specializes in providing information on the Vatican (www.andreatornielli.it). He has published more than 50 titles, including books and essays on Church history, many of which have been translated and distributed abroad.
Markus Kurz (Nuremberg, Germany) is the consultant and owner of MK Consulting. He specializes in communication with opinion leaders, especially with public authorities and mandate holders at all levels. He also consults organizations and politicians in Public Relations and Public Affairs. His particular expertise lies in understanding the relationship between the economy, politics, administration and the communications media. Markus was Press Spokesman and consultant for delegates coming from the German and European Parliaments, as well as for African and Eastern European politicians. He is also a consultant for some of the biggest and most prominent German law firms in matters of lobbying and media relations. He has held seminars for executive personnel and press spokesmen of larger organizations, amongst them members of fractions in the German Parliament Bundestag.
Don Ivan de Maffeis (Rome, Italy) has been Assistant Director of the National Office for Social Communications of the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI) since December 2009. As of November 2000 he also became Director of the diocesan weekly Vita Trentina. He taught at the Accademia Teologica di Trento, Italy and was the Diocesan Delegate for Social Communications, as well as Responsible of the Diocesan press office. He has a Degree (1993) and a Ph.D (1997) in Communications.
Monica Vy’vodová (Czech Republic) currently works as Director of Communications for the Episcopal Conference of the Czech Republic. She holds a Degree from the School of Church Communication of the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome. Previously, Monica served as Spokesperson of the Archdiocese of Olomouc, and was also the Responsible for the media component of the Holy Father Benedict XVI’s visit to the Czech Republic in September 2009.
Pierre Durieux (Lyon, France) is Director of Communications for the Diocese of Lyon (since September 2007), where he coordinates the Diocese’ media, and keeps track of media relations. He was previously Head of Communication for the Christian Office for the Handicapped (OCH) and for Maxym, a communication agency in Paris. He holds a Master’s Degree in Philosophy on Reason and Faith and a postgraduate Degree in Political and Social Communication from the Sorbonne.
Giuseppe Gracia (Switzerland) is Director of Communications for the Diocese of Chur since 2011. Until 2010 he served as Spokesman for the Diocese of Basel. Beginning his career as a journalist, he later graduated from the Institute of Public Relations of Zurich (SPRI) in 1999, and followed by working as the Head of Corporate Communications and a Consultant for international companies. He specializes in mass-media and Crisis Communications and is the author of several books.
Federico Lombardi (Saluzzo, Italy) is Director of the Vatican Press Office since 2006. After graduating in Mathematics, he studied Theology in Germany and became a Jesuit priest in 1972. He worked for the Jesuit-run magazine, La Civiltà Cattolica, and served as superior of the Jesuits' Italian province until 1990. In 1991 he was named Program Director (1991) and later General Director (2005) of Vatican Radio. He was also made General Director of the Vatican Television Centre in 2001. In July 2006 Pope Benedict XVI appointed him Director of the Vatican Press Office.
Juan Martín Ezratty (Argentina) has a degree in Communications with a specialization in Audiovisual Communication from Universidad Austral, Buenos Aires, where he also followed a postgraduate course at IAE Business School. He is the founder of Digito Identidad Visual production, being also the author of several documentaries shot in Europe and Latin America. He worked in Communications companies, NGOs and media agencies such as LAN Airlines, Firmenich, Kimberly Clark, Medical Channel and Fundación CONIN.
He is director of Sentir la libertad, a videoclip aimed to help the victims of sexual abuses, and was writer and director of several documentaries including Inspirados para Amar, Construir la Familia and 10 preguntas a un sacerdote.
Gustavo Entrala (Madrid, Spain) is the Founder & General Director of 101RPM Marketing and Advertising Agency, one of the leading new marketing agencies in Spain. He graduated in Communications from the Universidad de Navarra and IESE Business School. He was one of the pioneers of the Internet in Spain since 1994, and as a consultant for COPE Group (2007-2009) and Diageo (2005-2007), as well as a marketing consultant for Yahoo! España (2005), has extensive experience on the creation of digital media and marketing. Gustavo is also a member of the Board at Buzz and Viral Marketing Association.
Matthias Matussek (Münster, Germany) is a writer and journalist for Der Spiegel. He worked as a special correspondent in East Berlin during the Communist era until the Day of German unity, for which he was awarded the Egon Erwin Kisch Prize in 1991. Matthias continued by heading the offices of The Mirror in New York (1992), Rio de Janeiro (1999) and London (2003). From 2005 to 2008 he headed the culture section of The Mirror and between 2006 and 2011 he published the weekly blog Matussek Culture Tip on Spiegel Online. In 2007 he was made an honorary member of the German Language Club, and in 2008 he was awarded the Golden Prometheus Award for Online Journalist of the Year by the Responsible Media magazine.
Card. Raymond Burke (Wisconsin, USA) is Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura. Previously he served as Archbishop of St. Louis (2003–2008) and Bishop of La Crosse (1994–2003). He studied at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. as a Basselin scholar and received the Bachelor of Arts (1970) and Master of Arts (1971), both in Philosophy. In 2006 Pope Benedict XVI appointed him as a member of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, the highest court in the Catholic Church. Archbishop Burke was the first non-European named to head the Tribunal within the Roman Curia.
ORGANIZING COMMITEE
José María La Porte (Madrid, Spain) is Dean of the School of Church Communication at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross. He has a Ph.D in Communication from the Universidad de Navarra, Spain and in Theology from the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross. He also holds a Master of Science in Integrated Marketing Communications from the Northwestern University of Chicago. He has advised several non-profit organizations in communications. Among his publications are Internal Communications and Nonprofit Management (Franco Angeli, Milan 2003), Communicating the Invisible: Comunicación de Instituciones Religiosas (VVAA. Manual de Comunicación Institucional, 2004), and El Plan de Comunicación: La Estrategia en movimiento (MORA, J.M., Introducción a la Comunicación Institucional, 2007).
Bruno Mastroianni (Rome, Italy) is Professor of Media Relations at the School of Church Communication of the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross. He works in the Press Office of the Prelature of Opus Dei in Italy. He is also responsible for the non-profit Iscom Association’s Italian projects, advising educational and social institutions on communication. He directs the section Recensire Ratzinger for the weekly Tempi, and the section Ecumenica for the monthly Formiche. He occasionally writes for both Il Tempo and Metro on ethical issues and themes related to the Church. He is director of the website www.documentazione.info, a database of useful material to tackle controversial issues in public debate.
Jorge Milan (Barcelona, Spain) is an Associate Professor in Audiovisual Communications (Radio and TV, theory and practice) at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross. He holds a Degree in Journalism from the Universidad Complutense of Madrid, and in 2004 he obtained his Ph.D in Communications at the Universidad de Navarra, Spain. He is the author of Religión en TV: Argumentación y representación en los documentales de la RAI (2009) and the coordinator of several documentaries about Church-related institutions. Most recently he worked as one of the program directors for the Web TV of World Youth Day 2011 in Madrid.
Sergio Destito (Rome) is Secretary General for the Schools of Theology, Canon Law, Philosophy and Communications at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross. He graduated in Law from the Università La Sapienza of Rome, and holds a Master Degree in both Management and Business Strategy and Marketing Management. Before starting his experience at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, he worked in several national and multinational companies.