Bishop Zavala on Catholic Media

Catholic media professionals from the U.S. and Canada gathered in New Orleans for the annual Catholic Media Association convention. Among the highlights of their gathering was a message from Pope Benedict himself at his weekly general audience.

Bishop Gabino Zavala, auxiliary bishop of Los Angeles and Chairman of the U.S. Bishops' Communications Committee, delivered a talk on what it means to be a faithful Catholic media organization today. Bishop Zavala plunged right in to the tough questions and dynamic tensions that define the reality of Catholic media today, and in this writer's humble opinion, he hit it out of the park.

Introduction

I am very happy that we have a chance to have this conversation about what makes for a faithful Catholic media organization. I think this is a crucial question for the Church in North America in this time of unprecedented changes in media and telecommunications. It seems every month there is a new website or technology that appears. No one can keep up with everything. Not even we bishops, known as we are for our technical expertise!

Every 10 years since 1790, the U.S. Census has conducted a nationwide count of every resident in the United States. The U.S. Census is required by the Constitution, and serves as an important tool for allocating resources across the United States.

The 2010 Census will help communities receive over $400 billion in federal funding each year for things like hospitals, schools, job training centers, senior centers, emergency services, and public works projects.

The data collected by the census also helps determine the number of seats California has in the U.S. House of Representatives.  For the first time in the our 160 year history, California may lose an existing congressional seat if we do not have a complete count in 2010.

As the world's media attention begins shifting from Haiti to other news, Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and many other organizations will be shifting as well.  The immediate needs of food, shelter and medical care are still a priority, but the shift to long-term rebuilding efforts has been in the planning stages since shortly after the quake.  Catholics in the United States have been extremely generous in their support for Haiti and what may well be one of the ten deadliest natural disasters in recorded history.

A senior communications specialist for CRS, Caroline Brennan, has written a moving account of the conditions in Haiti and what CRS has accomplished through the generosity of Catholics around the United States.  (Click here to read Caroline's letter.)

From Ken Hacket, president of Catholic Relief Services (CRS):

While roads are starting to clear and food and aid are reaching hundreds of thousands of people, the needs are still enormous in Haiti. Toppled buildings, sprawling camps and tented homes set up on the roadside are sobering reminders of the long road ahead.

New fears loom about the oncoming rainy season and the critical needs for emergency shelter and sanitation. "It's going to turn into Woodstock out there," says Lane Hartill of Catholic Relief Services, as he explains that the grass has all but worn away under the tents in Pétionville at the former golf course turned into a CRS-led organized camp that attracts as many as 50,000 people during the day and up to 80,000 at night. To help prepare for the coming rains, CRS and our partner, Caritas Haiti, have ordered materials for 20,000 temporary shelter kits, and are planning for more.

Nevertheless, we are making strides daily and reaching more people than ever. CRS and Caritas Haiti are distributing an average of 62 metric tons of food per day. In addition to Pétionville, CRS has been designated as lead agency for coordinating relief efforts in the town of Léogâne, as well as for serving around 50 smaller church-identified sites. As a result, CRS and Caritas are anticipating helping hundreds of thousands of people in the next few months.

Internationally, 2.5 million people are currently victims of human trafficking. Their days are spent in forced labor, prostitution or slavery. Trafficking is the fastest growing crime and the third largest crime behind illegal drugs and weapons sales. Each year 600,000 to 800,000 men, women and children are forced or coerced with offers of employment to cross borders, as human trafficking is active in over 127 countries.

Domestically, 15,000 people annually are smuggled into our communities to forcibly work in prostitution, sweatshops, agricultural industries, or as domestic housekeepers. This is compounded with 200,000 American children at risk from trafficking for sexual exploitation.

Mount St. Mary's College, at the Doheny Campus in Los Angeles, will host Justice Symposium 2010: Human Trafficking: The Price We Pay on February 27th, to explore the international and domestic facets of trafficking. The event is sponsored by fifteen religious orders, The Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking (CAST), Los Angeles Archdiocese Office of Justice and Peace and Pax Christi Southern California.