Media training off with a bang

taken from Catholic News Mar 25, 2007 page 10

The Archdiocesan Commission for Communications (ACC) started the first of its three-cycle programme entitled Communicating for Success with a bang on Saturday, March 17, at the St Charles’ Parish Hall in Tunapuna.

Over 40 persons from mainly the Suburban and Northern vicariates came together to learn the intricacies of media team development, with the intention of returning to their own parish communities to build effective communication teams.

Steven Taylor of Bourg Mulatresse parish has his say.

Fr Jason Gordon addresses the crowd.

The training session began at 9.00 a.m. with a scintillating talk by Fr Jason Gordon on understanding communications.

He questioned whether we were putting the Church at risk by not keeping up with technological changes. He shared that the real challenge lay in both keeping everyone in the loop and getting the word out. 

He advised the mixed group of males and females, of varying age groups, that, “the world is in great need of imaginaires of the gospel of the 21st century” and encouraged all participants to follow the mandate of the Church which is to go out and proclaim the good news to all people.

His session was followed by another invigorating session entitled “Give Jack his Jacket” by Vicar for Communications Monsignor Cuthbert Alexander who spoke about the evolution of the media and the influence of the media on society.

The very participative crowd shared their views on the concept of the medium as message and the advantages and disadvantages of the various types of media.

The last session of the day was done by Karen Attzs who spoke about understanding your audience and gave solutions for dealing with various groups that make up the parish community.

This programme continues Saturday 24 at the Parish Hall and then continues on April 14 and 21 at the Curepe pastoral facility. The ACC will take the training programme to venues in the South and the East in the coming months.