media as primarily “mass media,” another important assumption of the ecclesial perspectives comes to light in Communio et Progressio. The latter half of the document outlines the responsibilities of the “civil authorities,” as well as Catholics and other religious people who find themselves in a position to affect media. Coupled with the earlier discussion of “public opinion,” the implication here is that the spheres of the church and the civil authority meet each other in a public space capable of negotiating the interests and values of each party. The insistence on public opinion is particularly telling. What good is a well-informed opinion if there is no place to express that opinion? Such expression seems reserved for an as yet undefined “public.” This comes to light when the Commission describes the role of the so-called recipients:
Recipients can be described as active when they know how to interpret communications accurately and so can judge them in the light of their origin, background and total context. They will be active when they make their selection judiciously and critically, when they fill out incomplete information that comes their way with more news which they themselves have obtained from other sources, and finally, when they are ready to make their view heard in public, whether they agree, or partly agree or totally disagree.44
What exactly defines the social space in which these recipients are “to make their view heard in public”? In addition to complicating the communicator/recipient binary, the internet has also complicated the public/private binary on which so much of the ecclesial commentary on society and culture has relied. Communio et Progressio is often considered one of the most optimistic ecclesial perspectives on communications technology. It is also idealistic when it comes to the structure of society, specifically because of its perception of a neutral “public” or “civil” space in which the church can express its position toward the various media of concern.
Communio et Progressio is a detailed discussion of social communications which flows from not only Inter Mirifica but also from “Gaudium et Spes: Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World.” The document takes its primary task from Inter Mirifica, attempting to provide theological and ecclesial commentary on topics related to social communications that are only briefly introduced at the Council through Inter Mirifica. In at least two ways, however, Communio et Progressio is also a product of the church-world relationship envisioned by Gaudium et Spes. According to the Council fathers as expressed in the Pastoral Constitution, the church “must therefore recognize and understand the world in which we live, its expectations, its longings, and its often dramatic characteristics.”45 Gaudium et Spes addresses many aspects of the modern world, and in so doing, provides an example for subsequent ecclesial texts of creative engagement with the “dramatic characteristics” of the modern world. When the Pontifical Commission drafts Communio et Progressio in 1971, then, they do so in the shadow of both Inter Mirifica and Gaudium et Spes. The effect of the latter is to encourage and even demand of the Pontifical Commission a perspective on this important aspect of culture and human history—the media—that is well informed on its lived realities, both positive and negative.
Communio et Progressio insists that social communications be employed for furthering the common good, specifically through education and informing the public opinion. When read as a particular application of the theological project of Gaudium et Spes, the eschatological implications of the ecclesial perspective on social communications from this period come to light. Chapter 3 of Gaudium et Spes, “Man’s Activity Throughout the World,” argues for the place of all of this “feverish activity” of humanity in salvation history. This section of the document is theologically rich and pertinent to the current project:
[F]ar from thinking that works produced by man’s own talent and energy are in opposition to God’s power, and that the rational creature exists as a kind of rival to the Creator, Christians are convinced that the triumphs of the human race are a sign of God’s greatness and the flowering of his own mysterious design. For the greater man’s power becomes, the farther his individual and community responsibility extends.46
This perspective applies to any number of human activities; Gaudium et Spes is not referring just to art or labor or technology, but appears to put the entirety of human activity within the “realization in history of the divine plan.”47 When taking on the specific activity of social communications, then, Communio et Progressio applies this perspective to the various and increasing number of media in the twentieth century. In addition to the relative optimism of Gaudium et Spes, Communio et Progressio also adopts the language of rights and responsibilities, a persistent theme in Catholic social thought since Rerum Novarum. Gaudium et Spes discusses the rights of humans in the modern world; Communio et Progressio asserts the particular rights to information and expression. Gaudium et Spes argues that the common good and the absolute inviolability of human dignity should guide all of human activity, even and especially in light of such rapid change and progress; Communio et Progressio, as noted above, maintains that “the right to information is not limitless,” and that these limits are dictated by a respect for the common good and for the dignity of all human life.
Here the document reflects the aforementioned emphasis on communion. The documents from the Second Vatican Council from which Communio et Progressio takes its cues include human solidarity and the global common good as a way of extending the standard of true communion to the whole world. While the sacramental life of the church instituted by Christ is the performative means of communion for the baptized, all human beings share the image of God, which gives each person an inherent dignity as well as the innate desire for true relationships with other people and with the divine. Again, as social communications become the focus of these mid-century- and late-twentieth-century documents, they are discussed within the context of building communion both within and outside of the church that is grounded in the relationship to the divine which all human beings share in Christ’s redemption.48
Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.
Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».
Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.
Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.
