E. Media at the service of a new evangelization

11. Along with traditional means such as witness of life, catechetics, personal contact, popular piety, the liturgy and similar celebrations, the use of media is now essential in evangelization and catechesis. Indeed, "the Church would feel guilty before the Lord if she did not utilize these powerful means that human skill is daily rendering more perfect".²⁵ The media of social communications can and should be instruments in the Church's program of re-evangelization and new evangelization in the contemporary world. In view of the proven efficacy of the old principle "see, judge, act", the audiovisual aspect of media in evangelization should be given due attention.

But it will also be of great importance in the Church's approach to media and the culture they do so much to shape always to bear in mind that: "It is not enough to use the media simply to spread the Christian message and the Church's authentic teaching. It is also necessary to integrate that message into the “new culture” created by modern communications... with new languages, new techniques and a new psychology".²⁶ Today's evangelization ought to well up from the Church's active, sympathetic presence within the world of communications.

PAUL Vl, Evangelii Nuntiandi, n. 45, in AAS, LXVIII (1976), p. 35.

JOHN PAUL II, Redemptoris Missio, n. 37, in AAS, LXXXIII (1991), p. 285.