| Text: Archbishop George Stack at Communications Day Mass |
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Posted: Sunday, May 20, 2012 12:15 pm
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Archbishop George Stack
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Archbishop George Stack gave the following homily on the World Day of Prayer for Communications Mass at Farm Street in London on 14 May.
Those of us old enough to remember the 1960’s will have happy memories of the music of Simon and Garfunkel. In verse three of their classic “Sound of Silence” they sang:
And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more.
People talking without speaking.
People hearing without listening.
People writing songs that voices never share.
And no one dared
Disturb the sound of silence.
“Silence” might sound a strange concept to reflect on during the 46th World Communications Day, but it lies at the heart of the letter Pope Benedict writes for today. The Pope writes:
“Silence is an integral element of communication. In its absence,words rich in content cannot exist. In silence, we are able to listen to and understand ourselves. Ideas come to birth and acquire depth. We understand with greater clarity what it is we want to say and what we expect to hear from others. By remaining silent, we allow the other person to speak, to express themselves. We avoid being tied to our own words and ideas without them being adequately tested. In this way, space is created for mutual listening”.
Elsewhere, the Pope speaks of a kind of ‘eco system’ that maintains a just equilibrium between silence, words, images and sounds’.
Nature abhors a vacuum, and there is nothing worse than a breakdown of transmission on television,or silence on the radio. Perhaps for some people there is nothing worse than no emails to receive,or no text messages to answer. Is my twitter page to be blank or my thousand imaginary friends not to contact me?
But words and ideas are the business of communication.And it is our job to use words in briefings and position papers,in memos and articles,in interviews and in debates. Surely the challenge facing all communicators, religious and non religious alike, is to agree about the meaning of the words and concepts they use. Essential for the purpose of debate and authenticity to accept a common denominator, an accepted definition of what is meant by this word. Otherwise there is the danger of using the same word,but understanding and meaning different things by those words. The current debate about marriage is just one example. We end up with the belief of Alice in Wonderland when she said: “Words mean whatever I want them to mean”.
Unless there is this common understanding if only for the sake of debate, then words which should be the means of communication, end up being sources of division and confusion. Selective quotations and positions set up in conflict with others without attempting to find the middle ground. We are all familiar with the shorthand labels which categorise so much reporting of religious affairs categorising Catholics as devout. Anglicans as traditional. Methodists as strict. And all too often, Muslims are fundamentalist.
The Scottish poet Edwin Muir describes the distortions of words and language well in his poem “The Incarnate One”
“And God three angry letters in a book,
And there the logical hook
On which the Mystery is impaled and bent
Into an ideological instrument”.
The Word of God made Flesh in Jesus Christ is not merely a word spoken. It is a Word living and loving and sharing his life in communion with us. That communion is enhanced when,as Pope Benedict says: “… people exchange information,they are already sharing themselves,their view of the world, their hopes, their ideals”. But, of course, they have to attempt to understand, if not share, those ideals.
The last words spoken by St David are a call to integrity in word and action in all things:
“Be joyful and keep your faith. Do the little things you have seen me do and heard about”.
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