In a ReligionEnLibertad.com article, the School of Church Communications of the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross was described to be a “lamp that lights up the work of a great number of communicators”. One of the ways in which the Faculty has been at the cutting edge of communication especially on the Net is the creation of several Web sites and blogs that have become a point of reference for faith and society matters.  We share here what the religionenlibertad.com article highlighted:

La Iglesia en la Prensa: On the Catholic Church, Journalism & More (http://www.laiglesiaenlaprensa.com/. In Twitter http://twitter.com/dcontrerasluzon). This is Professor Diego Contreras’ blog. He is the current Dean of the Faculty, and an extraordinary professor on Analysis and Practice of Information. His blog on Church and journalism, presents “short notes, which don’t try to get to the bottom of a sometimes very complex reality.” This blog began in 2005 and is currently a reference on the frequently conflictive relationship between journalism and information on the Catholic Church. Diego Contreras also wrote «La Iglesia católica en la prensa. Periodismo, retórica y pragmática (The Catholic Church in the press. Journalism, rhetoric and pragmatics» (Eunsa, Pamplona, 2004).

«Family and Media» (http://www.familyandmedia.eu/). Norberto González Gaitano, Vice-Dean for Communications of the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, and ordinary professor of Public Opinion, and Ethics and Press Legislation, is the promoter of the Family and Media website, where “an international research group focuses on the family from the point of view of social communications under a double perspective: how the family is presented in the media (both as entertainment and as information), and how family associations get their message across and contribute to create a proposal for the family in the public sphere.”

The project began in 2005, and now includes professors from several European and Latin American universities. Among other publications by González Gaitano, who acted as Dean of the Faculty of Social and Institutional Communications from 1999 to 2007, two are: Public Opinion and the Catholic Church (EDUSC, Rome 2010) and El deber de respeto a la intimidad (The duty of respecting intimacy) (EUNSA, Pamplona 1990).

«Scriptor». Juan José García Noblejas is professor of General Communication Theory, and Screenwriting for Cinema and Television, and he is probably the most prolific and “restless,” being also the oldest blogger of the Faculty (his blog, http://www.scriptor/org began in August 2003, and he also has a Twitter profile: http://twitter.com/noblejas): His topics can be understood when you visit the variety of his proposals. Apart from the initial blog on “public communication, practical truth and civic humanism,” he also launched http://epluribusunus.com, http://paraescritores.com, http://patologiascomunicacion.com and http://postwikileaks.net –the latest of his blogs–, and wrote, among other books, Medios de conspiración social (Social Conspiracy Media) (EUNSA).



Finally, among blogs, there is Bruno Mastroianni’s (http://brunomastroianni.blogspot.com), in Italian. Mastroianni teaches “Media relations.”

All these blogs have links to share contents through social networks such as Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn, among others. More “personal” is Rhetoric professor Rafael Jiménez Cataño’s page (http://www.rafaeljimenezcatano.net).

Other professors have projects in their own specialty areas, which support other existing initiatives, outside the Internet – or they focus their collaboration on  spreading research through books and articles.

This is the case of:

-          Jorge Milán Fitera, professor of Introduction to Audiovisual Communication, Television and Radio Communications;

-          José María Laporte, a priest, professor of Foundations of Institutional Communications;

-          Daniel Arasa, professor of Information Structure, and Digital Communications (as an expert in the area, he took part in the Catholic Press Congress organized by the Pontifical Council for Social Communications in 2010). He also promoted and contributed to the Picture Project http://www.pictureproject.info;

-          Alfonso Bailly-Bailliére is the director of http://www.religionconfidencial.com and coordinates the Vatican Information Service Spanish sectionl;

-          Marc Carroggio, professor of Institutional Communications, and director of the International Press Office of Opus Dei;

-          Yago de la Cierva, current press director for the Madrid World Youth Day and former director of RomeReports;

-          Giovanni Tridente,  professor of Information Ethics, and Press Legislation (he wrote Attaco all’informazione. Un approccio etico a la copertura mediatica del terrorismo (Attack on Information. An ethical approach to media coverage of terrorism), Apollinare Studi, and La morte di Giovanni Paolo II nella stampa italiana (The death of John Paul II in the Italian press), Libreria Editrice Vaticana, Città del Vaticano 2009.

Of course, each author would require a longer individual presentation, as their work merits. In this partial presentation (the complete list of professors of the Faculty of Social Communications of the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome can be found here), we present just some of the pioneering work of these professionals, which are a light and roadmap for so many media persons and journalists.

The book «Vosotros sois la luz del mundo» [Explicando a los jóvenes la vocación al Opus Dei] published by RIALP (“You are the Light of the World: Explaining Opus Dei to Youth”) by Fr Martin Rhonheimer is out in English!, published by Sinag-tala Publishers.

The book explains: what the vocation to Opus Dei consists in, the life of Opus Dei members, what their obligations and tasks are, etc. The book likewise awakens in the reader an increasing desire to live out his Christian life more fully.

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Another publication of Fr Martin in English:

• Changing the World: The Timeliness of Opus Dei

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In his July letter, the Father suggests: “On your desk or in some inconspicuous place that nobody notices, you perhaps place your CRUCIFIX to awaken in you a contemplative spirit and to act as a textbook for your mind and soul where you learn the lessons of service.” (Friends of God, 67)

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In several news channels, we’re told the sad news that the European Court of Human Rights “found that the exhibition of a crucifix in the classroom of a public school violated the rights of (secularist) parents to educate children according to their own philosophical convictions, as well as the religious liberty of those parents’ children”.  :-(  ”What we are again seeing is a monolithic European court overreaching into the sovereign affairs of a nation that simply wants to manage cultural issues according to its own laws. … That reason together with the considerable concerns over the protection of religious liberty from outside courts are why Italy’s case is so important and why its appeal, currently in motion, should prevail.”

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A friend of ours has gone around encouraging his friends to put up the Cross once again, especially in places where it’s been taken away. You might want to join him in doing the same…

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Other related or interesting items:

• Pontifical University of the Holy CROSS

• “The Crucifix” Facebook group
• Points in the works of the Founder referring to the Cross

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• Benedict XVI appointed Archbishop Salvatore Fisichella, president of the Pontifical Academy for Life, as president of the recently created Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization.
• Benedict XVI appointed Cardinal Marc Ouellet, archbishop of Quebec, as prefect of the Congregation for Bishops and president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America.
• Bishop of Basel Kurt Koch has been named as president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. He takes the place of Cardinal Walter Kasper at the helm of the Vatican’s department for ecumenical outreach.
• The Holy See announced the nomination of priest, medical doctor and philosopher Msgr. Ignacio Carrasco de Paula to the presidency of the Pontifical Academy for Life on Wednesday, 30 June. Msgr. Carrasco de Paula served as the rector of the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, 1984-1994, and director of its Moral Theology Department, 1994-2002.

For more up-to-date Catholic news and info, please bookmark Catinfor.com.  Also, if you’re on Facebook, please sign up for Catinfor English.  You might also want to bookmark Vatican Information Service news.

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We share here a video of the song/music “You are a Priest forever…”, shared with us by Fr. Piotr (Polish Priest):

We hope you’d like it…