Sharing Faith through Television with 'File Catholic Youth of Good Shepherd Parish of Lusaka Archdiocese
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Date
2007
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Publisher
Tangaza University College
Abstract
It would appear that communication and various forms of media have always been part
and parcel of the human person's existence. Classical Greek literature attests to the intense study
of Rhetoric, Poetry and art witnessed in that epoch. However, today, the media are more
established and pervasive and form an essential component of our society. Also the internet has
become an extremely dominant part of our lives and culture. The media, especially television as
a medium of communication, serve as sources of entertainment, education and information for
different people in their age groups. The youth in particular are avid users of various forms of
media. In many families, it is the youth who know more about television and more likely than
not will persuade the family on the type of television that the family should purchase.
Communication makes demands on our time, or on our culture. It is not uncommon for
the youth to spend many hours in front of television. McQuail writing about subculture and
audience, in his book Mass Communication Theory,
notes that the youth have their own way of
using the media and this can be deduced from the content of what they watch, listen to or read.
He observes that in most cases, the youth will subtly demonstrate their distance from official
school values and the values of their parents' generation by the kind of music that they listen to
or watch.' For young people bordering on adolescence, television has been likened to a modern
grandparent that sits in front of them telling stories of life. It is at the same time a school that
provides education and the youth are very much willing to learn from this school. Television
also acts as a peer group from which the youth adapt to different life styles. This means that
television today stands out as a major agent of socialization which is teaching, shaping and
moulding the young people. It is these same youth that the Christian Church and in particular, the Catholic Church
will consider as the Church of tomorrow. Cardinal Joachim Meisner puts it more aptly when he
says, the youth are "the future of the Church and the future of the world."2 For Ralph Stewart
IV and Stephanie Simic, "the youth are the Church of the present as well as the Church of
future."3
In the tone of the Eastern African Bishops "the youth constitute a treasure of human
resources.' The Church's interest, acknowledgement, and hope in the youth is more than just an
appraisal but a call for all concerned and involved in sharing faith with the young people to pay
particular attention to the emerging challenges for youth evangelization. The call is for the
whole Church to concern itself with growth in faith and welfare of youth.
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Keywords
Sharing faith, Television, Catholic youth, Youth Formation, Parents