Media and Ministry: Examining the Role of Priests in Nigeria in New Evangelisation

Abstract

The society that we live in today is complex. This is because of the myriad of challenges human beings are confronted with on a daily basis. These challenges come with advances in technology especially the explosion of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT). Priests who are involved in active ministry are not immuned from the challenges that the digital world presents. Sadly too, they have not been able to take advantage of the media for ensuring new evangelisation. This has left a large number of nominal Catholics away from the Church. With this motivation in mind, the researcher embarked on a qualitative study titled: “Media and Ministry: Examining the Role of Priests in Nigeria in New Evangelization” to assess the situation. It discovered that lack of being media savvy, fear and playing the ostrich, lack of collaboration as well as lack of a unified National Communication Pastoral Plan are factors militating against the effective use of the media for new evangelisation in Nigeria by priests. It recommended inclusion of media studies in formation, being media savvy and encouraging youth in media-ministry as possible panacea. The study concluded that if priests are conscious of the role of the media as a catalyst for change, they would be better positioned to guarantee the romance between media and ministry towards bringing the lost sons and daughters of the Church back to the faith in Nigeria and beyond.