Bangladesh-Catholic Church in Communications

Brief Introduction: Bangladesh is situated in the North-Eastern part of the Indian subcontinent, bordered in the west, north and east by India,in the southeast by Myanmar and in the south by the Bay of Bengal. The area of the country is 14, 77,570 square kilometres (56,779 squaremiles). The country is covered with a network of rivers and canals forming a maze of interconnecting channels. The capital and the largest city of Bangladesh is Dhaka.With a unique communal harmony, Bangladesh has a population of about 162.51million. Over 98% of the people speak Bangla or Bengali. English, however, is also widely spoken. It is a Muslim majority country, about 90% of Bangladeshis are Muslim. Hinduism is practiced by about 8% of the population. There are significant number of Buddhists and Christians in Bangladesh. Among the Christians Catholics are majority. Presently the Catholic population is about 3, 43, 104, in 7 dioceses have more than 94 Parish Churches, 356 Priests, 101 Brothers, 1,061 Nuns and many educational, healthcare and welfare institutions and organizations.
     There are 12 Episcopal Commissions of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Bangladesh (CBCB) and one of them is Episcopal Commission for Social Communications (EC - SC) formed in 1974, only two years after the CBCB was founded. Thus it is evident that Church in Bangladesh has given importance on Social Communication. As it is stated in Aetatis Novae “Social Communications  have a role to play in every aspect of the Church’s Mission (AN 17). Church in Bangladesh could realize that one of the missions of the Church is communication, therefore CBCB established this commission very beginning. Aims and Objective of this Commission are: (a) To present and promote the Good News of Christ and Churches social teachings through the social communications media; (b) To stimulate, develop and awaken the spiritual, social, civic, and economic consciousness and conditions of common man, esp. the Christians (Catholics) through these media, and (c) To inspire and train Church personnel to use Social Communications Media. As a member of World SIGNIS to cooperate directly. There is a Christian Communication Centre in Dhaka. Affiliated sections of this center are: (a) Protibeshi’ (The National Catholic Weekly) (b) Protibeshi Prokashani (Religious books Publication Section) (c) Jerry Printing Press (Multi-purpose Printing Section) (d) Banideepti (Audio-visual and cultural sections) (e) Radio Veritas Asia, Bengali Service (Short Wave Radio) (f) Jyoti Communications (Information Desk). Outside of Dhaka there are social communications activities in other Diocese too.
     There are representatives from all seven Dioceses in the EC for Social Communication. There are social communication commissions and programmes in all the Dioceses. Besides the Christian Communication Center in Dhaka, the pastoral centers in different Dioceses work as communication centers. The Khristajyoti Communication Centre in Rajshahi Diocese is well equipped including a sound studio and production facilities. Programmes and activities are conducting by Social Communications Commission (EC– SC) and Communication Centres in Parish, Diocese and National levels: (a) The long cherished Website for Christian Communication Centre `www.thecccbd.org’ has become a reality. Weekly Pratibeshi and radio Veritas Asia Bengali Program can be heard and read now on online. It was really an unavoidable need of the time. The Catholic Directory and the Bible are also available now in this website. (b) World Communication Day observed at the parish and diocesan level (c) News writers’ seminar and journalism trainings (d) Christmas and Easter programmes in Radio and TV channels (e) Different publications including books, journals, newsletters, Calendar, Catholic ORDO and Ponjika are published in time. (f) Several CD for liturgical hymns and documentaries are produced from our sound studios. (g) Awareness of communication media workshop training for the youth and teachers (h) Communication seminar for the seminarians, young priests and nuns. Most Rev. Gervas Rozario, Bishop of Rajshahi, is the Chairman and Fr. Joyanto S. Gomes is Secretary of the Commission. Bishop Gervas is very enthusiastic and energetic about social communications and media. He is a man of good communication, so he gives much importance to communication. Commission of Social Communication has been conducting many education and training seminars and awareness programs on social communication.

Sr. Edlin