Heads of Catholic media houses ended a full day of discussion on Friday, September 7 at Vianney House, Belmont, resolved to find fresh ways to grow together for the good of Catholic communication in the Archdiocese.

Archbishop Edward Gilbert opened the workshop, “Developing Strategies for Change”, and took part in its deliberations. In his opening remarks he expressed his gratitude to the participants for their contributions to the Church and the media, and for the initiatives that had made the consultation possible.

The consultation brought together the management teams of the Catholic News, Catholic Communications Studios (CCS) and Trinity Communications Network, members of the Archdiocesan Commission for Communications (ACC) and other Catholics in media to forge a way forward for the main agencies in Catholic communication and to get their commitment to the necessary process of change.

The meeting was organised by the Archdiocesan Office of Administration and management consultants PriceWaterhouseCoopers, and held under the auspices of the ACC.

In the morning session, participants identified the stakeholders of Catholic media and sought to identify their needs, but only after intense debate on how the consultation ought to proceed if all parties were to derive the greatest benefit from the day.

At the end of the day’s proceedings, having accepted the principle of solidarity as defined in the Pastoral Letter, “Deepening the Spirit of Solidarity in the Archdiocese of Port of Spain”, participants agreed that:

1. The three media houses should take steps to grow together spiritually and socially in formal and informal ways, understanding that it will require identification of specific tasks, dialogue and times of reflection;

2. Support be given to the initiative of the three media houses to meet and develop a proposal regarding the way forward on governance, training and development, and on identification and maximisation of resources (human, financial and other assets);

3. Dialogue should continue on an archdiocesan media resource centre, in consultation with the various Catholic media houses;

4. The Vicars for Communication and Administration meet with the Catholic News Board (Printing Services Ltd) and the CCS management to formulate a proposal regarding governance;

5. The ACC review the consultation’s findings regarding the stakeholders of Catholic communication to develop definitions, objectives and strategies for communication in the Archdiocese.

It was not the first time that the media houses sat down to plan for the future. Since 1993, five communication plans have been developed but little implementation has followed.

And, while each of the plans has shown an awareness of the one that preceded it, no real assessment was done to ascertain why the one before was not implemented – or poorly implemented. Participants were therefore wary of yet another plan.

Rather than a discussion about purpose and mission, they wanted to enter into particular strategies within a reasonable time frame that would allow the communication bodies to work better together and so be of even greater service to the Archdiocese.

The meeting agreed that recurring themes in former plans which are not among the present proposals - involvement with the secular media, media advocacy and the public forum - should be pursued through the ACC.

It ended with a commitment to discuss at another session the reasons for the lack of implementation of earlier proposals but with an awareness that it will entail a frank sharing on resources – human and financial.