Old Media, Dead Ends and New Media Openings

Fake news, deep fakes, alternative truths, your truth versus my truth, and “if it ain’t in the news, it didn’t happen” – we are getting too used to these terms and many like them. Many of you reading this newsletter had years of training in philosophy, a simple tenet of which is that there is a Truth and that we are called to seek and to live by that Truth.

In the last 120 years or more, the objective nature of truth has been locked in a battle with subjectivity. This has always been so, for even Pontius Pilate dismissed objectivity: “What is truth?” What has made this struggle far more immediate is the complete change of how truth is communicated to the vast majority of people today. Social media and mass media organizations have taken subjectivity as their guiding principle under the guise of objective reporting and reality. Decades ago, when the Global TV Station first started, its first anchorman used to sign off his broadcasts with the tag line, “That’s news, but, it too, is reality.” How ironic it was, as he was signing off after having given an editorial, which is by definition an opinion. Opinions necessarily are the epitome of subjectivity.

For us who are engaged in the prolife battles, it has become not just a choice of words and terms, but also of access to a multitude of platforms, media outlets and sources of information. If I can control what people know, see, hear on a daily basis, I can control on a very large basis, not only what they know, but what they believe. For generations, we have been working to bring to the forefront of people’s minds, the hard but necessary reality of the nature of abortion and mercy killing and the sidelining of the weak and vulnerable. As bishops, priests and deacons, we need to look deeply at how we speak to the people of our time.

First, certainly we need to speak in homilies and to speak well. I would not be the first to urge all of us to have clear concise, comprehensive, collaborative catechesis in our preaching. Priests For Life Canada has worked for years now to formulate and distribute homily notes and ideas so that we can have that consistent prolife message in new and engaging ways for our people. We continue to update and reformulate these homily aids and if you have any suggestions, please contact us and share them.

Second, many of you may underestimate the social media reach that you and your parish have. The 20th century media monoliths have shattered into constantly shifting, rising and falling, social media platforms. You are using these platforms and I would encourage you to reach out to a much larger audience than you may think you have to bring the prolife message to them.

Third, as bishops, priests and deacons, we have many other opportunities to teach - schools, Sacramental Preparation classes, particular letters, and a multitude of lay organizations – are all opportunities to speak and disseminate the prolife message. Finally, prolife organizations such as Priests For Life Canada are using numerous platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and other methods. Please link your platforms to ours so we can reach that wider audience with the true, lasting, indubitable Truth.