PALO, Leyte, Sept. 9, 2011?A priest from the Archdiocese of Palo dared the association of religious women in the archdiocese to be critical in their use of media.
Msgr. Ramon C. Aguilos, STD, a member of the Board of Consultors of Palo archdiocese and Archdiocesan Superintendent of the Catholic Schools has challenged the religious sisters working in the archdiocese to be judicious in their media consumption.
He told members of the Women Religious Association of the Archdiocese of Palo (WRAAP) gathered during their annual assembly on August 28 to be aware of the inherent power of the media of social communications as well as the subtle temptations used by media entities to squeeze profit from their attractions.
But Msgr. Aguilos also stressed the positive use of the media especially the internet, saying that “Internet gained public face with its growing interest for swift communications, email became a common place in sending messages regardless of the distance, revolutionized marketing, commerce, social communications and interconnectedness among individuals and groups worldwide.
He admitted that with the advent of computer he thought there was “non plus ultra”? nothing was beyond it anymore, but when internet dawned varied effects both good and bad enveloped the users.
Themed “The Impact of Mass Media on the Religious”, the assembly was held at the Bishop Gonzaga Hall in Holy Infant College, Tacloban City and attended by 95 Religious Sisters belonging to 20 Congregations.
When asked why the group chose the theme on media for their gathering, Sr. Marian Ladrera, a nun from the Religious Sisters of Mercy and current president of WRAAP, said “even Religious ourselves are being confronted and affected by the globalization of technology.”
“What are we going to do now as Religious so we can use the media [responsibly]? Mga madre nanonood ng tv, no more critical thinking, only just to entertain themselves,” she remarked.
She, however, expressed her gratitude that the Religious Sisters of this generation can evangelize through this technology although other religious are [still] unaware or [even] neglecting the impact of the media on themselves.
Msgr. Aguilos said that the secular culture portrayed in mass media has a powerful influence on the consumers of media.
“As religious involved in the education of the young, you are being challenged into living among the media’s appealing techniques and resisting error of their doctrines,” he told the Sisters during the assembly.
Challenging further the nuns, he added that “unless we act forcefully to challenge mass media influences around us, we may be engulfed in a generation of young people who curse, laugh at double meanings in jokes, divorce quickly, jest indifferently about the sexual matters, and scoff [at hope] as unrealistically naïve.”
“And if indeed this will be the kind of young people, then , will they have the natural disposition for religious and consecrated life?” he asked. (Sr. Gemma Ria de la Cruz, FSP)
