Communications efforts are the Church's most visible means of conversing with the culture catechizing her members and bringing souls to Christ (cf. Christus Dominus, 13). In order to be effective in those tasks the Catholic means of communications must be directed toward a "clear and unequivocal proclamation of the person of Jesus Christ" (Ecclesia in America, 66). This effort is made more difficult if secular attitudes and actions are adopted.
It is the Church's super-ordinate goal of the Universal Call to Holiness along with the fundamental understanding of Christological/anthropological nature of man that must serve to guide all Catholic communications planning (action follows upon being). Unfortunately, because of the ubiquitous nature of secular and christian media it has become commonplace to simply ape commercial and religious practices and add Catholic window-dressing. This results in employing means not directed toward the accomplishment of the goal, the wasting of scarce resources, and the ineffectiveness of the Church to meaningfully engage the culture.
It is helpful in communications planning to keep in mind that equating a Catholic media platform, for example radio, to its commercial or religious counterpart is like comparing a horse to a donkey. They are similar, yet different animals. Both stations belong to the genus - radio, yet the species are different.
This presentation will compare and contrast the principles, practices and assumptions involved in Catholic, secular and christian media and provide real means to identify, evaluate and integrate them into strategic communications planning.
