By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK
As I write this, the Holy Father’s apostolic voyage to Sri Lanka and the Philippines is underway. His ride in an open car from the airport to his first stop after landing, at a distance of only 17 miles, took twice as long as expected because, as should have been expected, he stopped frequently to greet the faithful and well-wishers along the way.
His resulting exhaustion was cited as the reason for canceling a visit with the country’s bishops. They will have to wait for their next ad limina apostolorum to Rome, which every bishop makes to see the Holy Father every five years, to meet personally with him. As is normal in “Pope Francis style,” the emphasis on meeting and greeting the faithful was given higher priority.
It should be said here that Pope John Paul II laid the groundwork for these visits and Pope Benedict followed his lead, both of them providing precedent for these so-far successful pastoral visits by Pope Francis to the faithful around the globe.
The current visit to Asia highlights the explosive growth and potential for the Church to provide leadership in the struggle for peace, justice, and the common good in this part of the world so often fraught with sectarian violence.
In his remarks at an interfaith gathering, Pope Francis stressed that there can be no interfaith dialogue without truth. As reported by Catholic News Service, he said:
“For such dialogue and encounter to be effective, it must be grounded in a full and forthright presentation of our respective convictions. Certainly, such dialogue will accentuate how varied our beliefs, traditions, and practices are. But if we are honest in presenting our convictions, we will be able to see more clearly what we hold in common. Men and women do not have to forsake their identity, whether ethnic or religious, in order to live in harmony.”
World outrage reached fever pitch following the brutal murders of satirist-blasphemers and police at the Paris office of Charlie Hebdo, crescendoing in a huge public march in the city led by a generous representation by the leaders of several countries, though glaringly not of the U.S. Many around the world are in agreement quite rightly that what these people were in the habit of frequently doing on the pages of their journal, which was intentionally insulting, did not call under any circumstances for the sin of murder.
On Twitter, @fathertedmartin pointed out helpfully:
“What happened in France was a tragedy and is rightly condemned. Where is the uproar over the 2,000 killed in Nigeria? No more murder!”
He calls to our attention the inequity in the amount of attention paid to protesting and condemning the murders in Paris while at the same time there was evident a near-total media blackout on atrocities of a much greater nature in Nigeria. Some media reported the murders of 25 people more recently following the ethnic cleansing elsewhere of 2,000 persons at one time. Inquisitr.com referred to Fox News in reporting the event as the action of Boko Haram, and informing that nine days after the event in northern Nigeria, dead bodies still littered the area. The bodies of some persons were hidden in the bush, it also reported, having been shot while trying to flee.
Why is journalism so uneven in reporting the news? I was asked this question recently and in answer put it down to the fact that most of what we call “mainstream media” is a business, driven by dollars, and that, like any business, they have paying customers upon whom they depend to stay in the business.
Return customers always account for a large portion of what keeps companies in business week to week and the media are no exception. Also, media outlets are struggling for a shrinking portion of users who actually pay for their news as so much is now provided free. The advertising dollars that make so much free content possible drive what is chosen for coverage. Most media customers are in Europe and the U.S. and the Charlie Hebdo story made for better copy than Boko Haram’s latest outrage in Nigeria.
Catholic news outlets, bloggers, and Tweeters like Fr. Ted Martin can make a difference in the face of this unjust neglect of some aspects of human rights and religious freedom by reporting consistently on the more ignored areas of the world and the Church.
The ministry of the Body of Christ throughout the world includes the effort for justice simply by doing what we call in the military “keeping their heads on a swivel” or practicing “situational awareness.” Every part of the universal Church is part of the Body of Christ, none able to live without the other. We can all work together to pointedly report the neglected and forgotten portions of humanity; that which is neglected by the greater number of voices is all the more so “news” for those who truly seek it.
A recent post on my Facebook page got an overwhelming response, an image of an outdoor church sign in Canada that read, “We are still open between Christmas and Easter.” As of this date it has received over 370 “likes” and over 48,000 saw the post — that and numerous “shares” indicate that both humor and timeliness can help to get the word about the Church out on the street through social media. This applies to something even as basic as our weekly Sunday worship, a staple of Catholic obedience to the Ten Commandments on the Lord’s Day every week.
Thank you for reading.
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(Follow Fr. Cusick on Facebook at Reverendo Padre-Kevin Michael Cusick and on Twitter @MCITLFrAporism. Father blogs occasionally at mcitl.blogspot.com and ApriestLife.blogspot.com. You can email him at mcitl.blogspot.com@gmail.com.)
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