World Communications Day 2021

‘Come and See’ (John 1, 46):
Communicating, Encountering People As and Where They Are

Selected by Pope Francis, this 2021 theme is from the Gospel of John. Pope Francis writes in his papal message, “The invitation to ‘come and see,’ which was part of those first moving encounters of Jesus with the disciples, is also the method for all authentic human communication.”

DeSales Media is proud to have presented the Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn’s 28th Annual World Communications Day on May 26. This virtual event for pastors and principals from the Diocese of Brooklyn was designed to give them the tools they need to better serve and reach their audiences. Learn more about this year’s event here.

About World Communications Day

What is it?
World Communications Day was established by Pope Paul VI in 1967 as an annual celebration that encourages us to reflect on the opportunities and challenges that the modern means of social communication (the press, motion pictures, radio, television and the internet) afford the Church to communicate the gospel message.

Where did it come from?
The celebration came in the wake of the Second Vatican Council, which realized it must engage fully with the modern world. This realization is expressed in the opening statement of the Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et spes on “The Church in the Modern World”, which says: “The joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anguishes of the people of our time, especially of those who are poor or afflicted in any way, are the joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anguishes of the followers of Christ as well.”

Why is it celebrated every year?
In setting it up on Sunday, May 7th, 1967, less than two years after the Second Vatican Council, Pope Paul VI, knowing that the Church is truly and intimately linked with mankind and its history, wanted to draw attention to the communications media and the enormous power they have for cultural transformation.

Source: CatholicIreland.net