The SIGNIS World Congress 2005 in Lyon , France , was attended by almost 200 members from 65 countries. SIGNIS is the World Catholic Association for Communications which was formed in 2001 when Unda and OCIC merged (Unda, for radio and television; and OCIC, for cinema and audiovisual, both created in 1928).

The Congress in Lyon was held to assess SIGNIS's first four years, discuss its plans and review its priorities and work.

Although the Antilles Episcopal Conference (AEC) is a member of SIGNIS under the Latin American region OCLACC, the Caribbean has no SIGNIS delegates.

Each region is allowed six delegates and each delegate has a vote. Our hope is to form a Caribbean organisation of Catholic communicators and to be recognised as a region separate from Latin America .

A member from Santo Domingo and I were the only Caribbean voices at the congress, and I attended in the capacity of an Observer.

A conference on the theme Media at the Service of A Culture of Peace was held on the first two days. An in-depth presentation was made on a SIGNIS/WACC (World Association of Christian Communicators) publication on the topic, and there were responses from various regions of the world.

The discussions raised some very relevant questions and touched on possible solutions. For example, one region explored whether the media played a role in promoting terrorism. It was argued that terrorists depended upon the media to deliver their message and that the media actually promote it when they broadcast it.

But another region pointed out that people became fundamentalists because they felt excluded and that the Christian response should be inclusion -- giving a voice to the voiceless.

The SIGNIS Advocacy Team has taken part in many meetings of the United Nations system and the Council of Europe, offering peaceful solutions to problems like terrorism and religious conflicts, and speaking out against injustices.

The team sees a danger in trying to solve “misguided interpretations of sacred texts” through “the ballot box or bullet” rather than through encouraging dialogue.

Lisa Bhajan in the crypt at Taizé after the commissioning ceremony

They believe people prefer to restrict their diagnosis of a problem to being political, social or economic, rather than admit it is a religious one. The team urges that “religious leaders should not be let off the hook”.

At the end of the conference, a declaration on “Media for a Culture of Peace” was agreed upon by the participants.

On the following two days, there was a series of professional workshops on Radio, Television, Media Education, Cinema and Internet.

This was a unique opportunity to network; to share programmes, ideas and experiences; to learn from each other; and, most of all, to spend time with people from different parts of the globe who shared a common interest.

The SIGNIS Congress was also attended by representatives of the International Union for Catholic Press (UCIP), the World Association for Christian Communications (WACC), the International Lutheran Federation and Interfilm. Archbishop john Foley, President of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications blessed the gathering in the name of Pope Benedict XVI.

We were treated to a visit to Taizé (a deeply spiritual experience), where in a special ceremony we were commissioned to spread the gospel message of peace and love.

Peter Malone MCS, President of SIGNIS World, and Robert Molhant, Secretary General, were given a grand farewell, with emotional speeches and somewhat unusual cultural gifts. They both served the work of media and the Church unselfishly for over 25 years.

Augustine Loorthusamy (fondly known as Augy), from Kuala Lumpur , Malaysia , is the new president, and Marc Aellen of Switzerland , the new secretary general. Peter Thomas of Australia and Gustavo Andujar of Cuba are Vice-presidents

The next SIGNIS World Congress will be in 2009.

Catholic communicators of the Caribbean , including from Belize , Suriname and Guyana , have begun the dialogue to form a Caribbean communications organisation.

SIGNIS, in its 2004 Report and in meetings and discussions with officials, has indicated a sensitive awareness of the need to have the Caribbean as an independent sub-region so as to make “their voices heard in a world that is too often unaware of them”.