Port Moresby: January 24 marks the feast of St. Francis de Sales, the patron saint of journalists and writers whose role as a priest and bishop helped bring thousands of Protestants back to the Catholic Church.
(Panelists from the first segment representing the voice of the Church: SOCOM Secretary Sr Daisy Anne Lisania Augustine MSC, CBC General Secretary Rev. Fr Giorgio Licini PIME and CBC President Most Rev. Bishop Otto Separy)
To commemorate the occasion, the Social Communications Commission of the Catholic Bishops Conference had a panel discussion. The St. Francis de Sales Feast Day celebration was guided by the theme “Bringing the Children to Jesus for a fully human communication” and the main topic of discussion “Bringing the voice of children and their issues to the society”.
The theme and topic of discussion for the day’s program was centered around children to go in line with the Bishop’s Pastoral Letter for 2024 focusing on Children.
Activities in the program included a panel discussion with the first segment covering the voice of the church and the second segment focusing on the voice of the laity.
Presenting during the first segment was SOCOM Secretary Sr Daisy Anne Lisania Augustine MSC, CBC General Secretary Fr Giorgio Licini PIME and CBC President Bishop Otto Separy giving the keynote address. Sr Daisy presented the brief history of St. Francis de Sales and the World Communication theme, Fr Giorgio spoke about the pastoral letter and reflected on the issues of Children today and CBCPNGSI President and Bishop of Bereina Most Reverend Otto Separy reflected on the Conference Pastoral Plan and the Pastoral Letter and how it can help to avoid troubles like the black Wednesday stating that children must not be seen as a problem but a blessing and should be formed at an early age.
Topics presented during the second segment included the importance of formation within families by the Archdiocese of Port Moresby Family Life Coordinator Mrs Lucy Lavu and Radio Talkback Host and Director for Radio Programs at the National Broadcasting Cooperation Mr Peter Sindra shared his experience as a broadcasting personnel and the challenges he has encountered throughout his career on covering stories related to children without putting their lives at risk.
Following the in-depth presentations was an open discussion where the media personnel shared their views on the topic of discussion.
The event was held as a way to appreciate and challenge the work of journalists in the secular media and church media to be like St. Francis de Sales and had media personnel from different media organizations like Post Courier, The National, NBC, Tribe FM, TV WAN Loop PNG, Wantok Niuspepa being acknowledged for their tremendous contributions to the Media Industry.
To end the activities for the day, the SOCOM team made a visit to the West Papuan Refugee Camp at Rainbow organized by the Migrants and Refugees Desk with some clothing items for donations that were well received by the community leaders.
The program was sponsored by SVS, Lae Biscuit Company and the Catholic Professionals Society.
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