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Catholic Journalists in Kenya Urged to be Conveyers of Hope During the 2025 Jubilee Year

Members of the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB) have urged Catholic communicators to be at the forefront of disseminating the message of hope to the people of God in the East African nation during the Church’s 2025 Jubilee Year.

In their messages to the media on Tuesday, January 21, the Bishops also urged Catholic communicators to familiarize themselves with the liturgy during the entire Jubilee year.

Speaking about the role of media in the Jubilee celebrations, Bishop Wallace Ng’ang’a Gachihi who serves as the Chairman of the Commission for Social Communications at the KCCB emphasized the importance of truthful dissemination of information.

“One overall invitation is for the communication team, communication coordinators, and all people within social media to use this Jubilee to disseminate the message of hope,” Bishop Wallace said.

The Local Ordinary of Kenya’s Military Ordinariate urged communicators to leverage social media to invite others to embrace hope and participate in Jubilee activities.

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Bishop Wallace challenged Catholic media practitioners to actively engage in Jubilee events, saying, “Let us not give the information and it is not benefiting us. Let us also be the first beneficiaries of this particular message.”

Highlighting the role of media in evangelization, the Kenyan Bishop encouraged collaboration with agents of evangelization at all levels, from parishes to the universal Church.

“One thing we need to do in communication is that we are invited to enhance evangelization using the media, especially in this Jubilee year,” he said and urged media practitioners to ensure that all Christians are informed about Jubilee activities and to organize local events such as pilgrimages for media professionals.

The Bishop also addressed the challenge of misinformation in modern media. “We are living in a world where there’s a lot of misinformation and falsehood. Let us disseminate the truth to give hope to those who read and watch what we communicate,” he said.

He called on Catholic and secular media to prioritize truthful reporting that gives hope to the people, and to avoid focusing solely on negative and sensational news,

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Pope Francis officially launched the 2025 Jubilee Year on the Eve of Christmas 2024 with the opening of the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica.

Announcing the start of a Year of Prayer on 21 January 2024 in preparation for the Church’s 2025 Jubilee Year, the second in his Pontificate after the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy in 2015, the Holy Father said that the yearlong initiative will be “dedicated to rediscovering the great value and absolute need for prayer in one’s personal life, in the life of the Church, and the world.”

In his message on January 21, the KCCB vice chairman, Archbishop Anthony Muheria explained what the Jubilee Year is all about, stressing the need for media professionals to understand the liturgical aspects of Jubilee celebrations.

“Familiarize yourself with the rite and with what is going to happen. Familiarize yourself with the symbolism so that, as you also explain and commentate on what is happening, you are making the people desire to be there and to be united,” Archbishop Muheria said.

The Archbishop of Kenya’s Nyeri Archdiocese added, “There is a lot more happening there than what we see, and your camera should capture it, and your voice commentary should capture it only if you have done your groundwork to understand the rites or to understand what is expected.”

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In his message, Bishop Joseph Mwongela of the Diocese of Kitui who also serves as the Pastoral and Lay Apostolate Chair of KCCB highlighted the importance of focusing on good news during the jubilee year to give hope rather than focusing on negative news.

“When you look at the newspapers headlines, and when you look at breaking news, everywhere is about the war. They tell you about robberies, they tell you about all the bad things. But the good news which Christ came to proclaim, the good news of hope, is missing,” Bishop Mwongela said.

He added, “This is why we now want to enter into dialogue with communicators in the digital age. How can we reverse this, so that now it is written there at the door of hope? Once you enter there, you find hope, you find bliss, you find fulfillment of the things that you expect.”

Bishop Mwongela urged communicators to seek positivity in their reporting, and to highlight celebrations, hope, and fidelity within the Church.

He called for a paradigm shift in communication, urging media professionals to celebrate the good happening within communities and the Church. The Bishop urged media professionals to give hope to people who are suffering and inspire joy which he said is, “a celebration of the Messianic age, where there is bliss, where we get the very best.”

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Bishop Mwongela also urged Church leaders and Christians to embody hope in their actions, challenging them to address issues like corruption and societal despair with optimism and faith.

Silas Mwale Isenjia is a Kenyan journalist with a great zeal and interest for Catholic Church related communication. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Linguistics, Media and Communication from Moi University in Kenya. Silas has vast experience in the Media production industry. He currently works as a Journalist for ACI Africa.