Pastoral communication
In this century,
the existence and advent of emerging powerful technologies of communication
have transformed the global configuration and way of life. The influences of
communication technologies and computer-generated information flow have
reconstructed the social environment. The communication environment made up of
communication technology transforms the individuals by shaping their opinions,
perception, attitudes, thoughts and values.
Whether it be a mother’s caress, touch, eye contact, a speech, a short
note, a letter, a quick scribble, a computer print-out, a television program or
colors - these are transmitted, received and digested through a mode of
communication.
The Church looks
for ways of multiplying and strengthening the bonds union between her members.
The marvelous communication inventions opened up new insights for our
missionary work and building up the Church.
The shift from industrial to information society led to the emergence of
new and urgent concerns for the Church. Pastoral communication is to understand
the communication technologies and find the ways and means to use of for the
mission of the church.
Pastoral
communication is people centered communication
is defined thus “... a complex, integrated process involving people,
procedure, ideas, devices and organization, for leading the people and mobilizing
for their well-being. Transmitting the faith that believed to be message of
love to all the people.
A
priest is a community communicator is interested in applying techniques of
information and media for managing and leading people for accepting appreciating
Christian values. The principles of
communication will help a priest to become a efficient worker in the modern
world.
He is more than a communicator that he will
communicates what he believes and accepts.
For communicators will do anything for advertising and manipulation the
people, make communication more than a
teacher; he is a manger of the communication situation, performing several
functions. These basic functions of the pastoral communicator are as follows:
Function Examples
1. Analysis of problems in faith and social living Conduction research on
Pastoral communication.
2. Devising of solutions to problems Recommendation,
conceptualization of multi media approach to solve the specific problem
3. Implementation of solutions Presentation
communication plan
4. Evaluation of solutions conducting
pretest and carrying out posttest of media presentations.
5. Management of such solutions Preparing
a budget for conduct of a multimedia approach: organizing and supervising people
to be involved in the project
As can be gleaned from these
functions, Pastoral communication is indeed a “complex” process.
Pastoral communication is a system and process that aims to facilitate
the learning the Faith values of one or more persons through communication.
This system is composed of several elements-people, procedures, ideas and
organization all working in an integrated manner to bring about Faith learning.
Focused on the learning process and on the learner, Pastoral communication has
five basic functions, namely 1) analysis of social problems; 2) devising of
solutions to the problem; 3) implementation 4) evaluation and 5) management of
theses solutions to problems in learning.
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The purpose of Pastoral communication is to make people to accept and
learn to live the faith. Accepting faith and Christian values are process of
learning. But what is learning? Simply
put, learning is any relatively permanent change in behavior. The behavior has
three domains – the cognitive domain, referring to awareness,
knowledge, understanding, comprehension, realization, recognition; the
affective domain or emotions, attitudes, values, aspirations, moods;
and the psychomotor domain, or physical skills. Thus, learning is
a relatively permanent change in any of these three behavioral domains, or in
any combination of the three.
The parallel between the nature of development and the purpose of
Pastoral communication now surfaces,. In essence, development is a process that
involves changing people. Such human change entails learning, because the type
of human change needed in development communication therefore, Pastoral
communication directly helps bring about the development process. It does this
by working towards the changes in peoples’ knowledge and awareness, attitudes
and values, and skills desired in development. As part of the learning process,
these behavioral changes must be held for over a relatively long period of time
by groups of people in interaction. In this way a meaningful and authentic
development can take place.
Berlo defined a process as a dynamic, continues never-ending nor
beginning phenomenon. This implies that in Pastoral communication, what is
learned can change, because learning is continuous. The learning that takes
place inside a church or during a seminar, or as feast celebration contexts.
A system, on the other hand is an entity characterized by its wholeness.
This implies that its various parts are so interrelated, working towards only
one goal or set of goals, such that these parts are perceived in terms of the
whole entity that they make up. Thus, when you come across the terms
“wholistic” or “systems” viewpoint, these refer to a well-rounded point of view
of reality and in problem solving, often times, these terms are used with
reference to a problem or issue. A wholistic viewpoint taken implies that 1)
the problem-solver has his objectives or goals foremost in his mind, and 2) he
utilizes, among all available recourses, those, which can interact towards
attaining his objectives or goals. This is because the problem-solver with a
wholistic viewpoint realizes that any phenomenon can be influenced by not just one
but several factors or causes, and that in turn, it influences other phenomena.
If we were to analyze the communication process as a system, we can
identify its purpose and elements, then consider how each element affects the
other elements and the purpose of communication as a whole. The basic purpose
of communication is to effect change in people’s behavior. The elements of
communication include the interactions, the messages and channels. Each of
these elements affects the others and the outcome of communication as a whole.
In the same way, learning as a system has the following minimum elements:
the learner, the learning outcome and the learning approaches (Davis et al.
1974). Each of these interacts and affect how learning takes place.
In line with the nature of Pastoral communication as a process and as a
system, a second characteristic of the field is that its procedures are well
planned and systematic. In the first characteristic of Pastoral communication,
learning and communication were discussed in terms of systems as entities.
Under the second characteristic, learning and communication are considered
systems as a method. The systems method of solving problems essentially follows
the scientific method, termed as the systems approach (Shrode, 1974). As a
review, the scientific method proceeds through the following steps.
1. A
problem is felt / identified.
2. Tentative
answers / solutions ate sought (setting of hypothesis)
3. Information
is gathered or observations are made.
4. Hypothesis
is tested or an attempt is made to verify the consequences of logical
implications.
5. Conclusions
are made, whether accepting, modifying or rejecting the hypotheses.
Adapting the scientific method to Pastoral communication, the specific
steps in designing learning-communication situations essentially follows these
steps (adapted from Davis et al., 1974)
1. Rationale-setting
2. Learner
analysis
3. Resource
analysis
4. Goal
/ objective-setting
5. Evaluation
planning
6. Learning
task description and analysis
7. Planning
of learning strategies including media materials
8. Implementation
planning
9. Implementation
10. Evaluation
11. Redesign
The third characteristic of
Pastoral communication is that the field utilizes both human and nonhuman
resources combined in a way that will achieve the best results in learning. The
human resources may include trainers, production specialists, and
administrative staff. Nonhuman resources include funds, physical facilities and
equipment, materials or supplies, and time.
A fourth characteristic of the
field is that it applies concepts, theories and research findings on human
learning and communication, with ultimate goal of inducing or enhancing
learning. Further, the educational communicator systematically investigates how
learning may be better enhanced through communication. Such research is
conducted to improve the ways by which he tries to induce learning. The field,
therefore, has a scientific base in learning science or psychology and in
communication.
Fifth, more specifically, the
AECT (1977) lists five educational development functions and two educational
management functions under educational technology as follows:
Educational Development
functions
1. Research-theory
2. Design
3. Production
4. Evaluation-selection
5. Logistic,
utilization and utilization-dissemination
Educational
Management functions
1. Organizational
management
2. Personal
management
The sixth and the last characteristic of Pastoral communication as a major
field in development communication is that it emphasizes non-formal education.
Castillo (1979. p188) defined non-formal education for development as:
“A deliberate, more or
less organized set of activities designed to bring specific messages,
knowledge, skill, new experiences, and even new values to a particular target
population. Such messages and learning experiences are aimed at bringing about
attitudinal and behavioral changes which are defined as desirable by society if
development goals are to be achieved. This educational effort may be organized
by established institutions and agencies, government, private, or voluntary but
its peculiar character is that it is conducted outside the formal system
although the facilities and resources of the school may be harnessed in
carrying out its activities. Unlike the conventional school system, however,
participation in these actives is very much dependent on the willingness of the
intended ‘learners’ to be involved and on their recognition of the benefits
that they will derive from such involvement”.
With this overview of the field, the development communication graduate who
majored in Pastoral communication will find his specific skills and orientation
will-suited to extension, training, technical communication through audiovisual
and other educational media, media communication, teaching, and research or
evaluation in Pastoral communication.
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