Romana

More than 300 people took part from April 20 to 30 in the 9th Professional Seminar on Church Communications. Entitled “Creative Strategies for Promoting Cultural Change,” it was organized by the School of Institutional Social Communications at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome. The seminar was aimed at directors of offices of communication, diocesan spokespersons, and other Church communications professionals.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the Archbishop of New York, inaugurated the seminar. In his address he said that “we have moved beyond a time when the bishops were the best spokesmen for the Church. Today the Church needs competent lay people to represent it.” Speakers included Cardinal Philippe Barbarin from Lyon; Helen Alvaré, professor of law at George Mason University; and Austen Ivereigh, co-founder of Catholic Voices. The seminar closed with an address by Joaquin Navarro Valls, former director of the Vatican Press office. In the context of the approaching canonization of Pope John Paul II, he spoke about the Pontiff’s personal holiness and communication skills.