S AFRICA: Bishop Urges Formators to Embrace Digital Communication

PRETORIA, JULY 28, 2015 (CISA) – Bishop Bernadin Mfumbusa of Kondoa Diocese in Tanzania has urged heads of seminaries and houses of formation to embrace digital communications as they prepare the future leaders of the Church, AMECEA Online News Reported.

Making reference to the Great Commission of Christ to His disciples, ‘Go therefore and make disciples of all nations’ Matthew 28:19 Bishop Mfumbusa said, “This call of Christ demands us to apply proper skills befitting to our times.”

The bishop, who is the Chair of Social Communication of the Tanzanian Episcopal Conference (TEC), was speaking during the Inter-Regional Meeting of Bishops of Southern Africa (IMBISA) in Pretoria, South Africa on July 23, 2015.

Bishop Mfumbusa made a presentation on ‘Evangelization in the information Age’ where he reiterated his advice to Bishops of Association of Member Episcopal Conferences in Eastern Africa (AMECEA) during the 18th AMECEA plenary that the “Church Online presence is no longer optional”.

He observed that formators and African theologians need to research on emerging problems facing the Church in Africa and publish their work on-line.

“The Absence of catholic content on-line leaves a vacuum that allows non catholic content to dominate the cyber space,” he said.

According to the bishop, the message of Christ remains the same but the means of conveying the message changes according to age and demands of the times.

During the same conference, the Archbishop of Pretoria, Most Reverend William Slatter, called on formators to apply practical skills to allow their students adopt the usage of modern means of communications, which are very helpful in the new evangelization strategies.

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