Informationsaustausch in religiösen Instituten

Abstract

Die grundsätzliche Bedeutung der Kommunikation für den Menschen als ein soziales
Wesen wird heute nicht bestritten. Zwischenmenschliche Kommunikation und ihre
Grundformen sind so alt wie die Menschheit selbst. Erst das Anwachsen der technischen Möglichkeiten zusammen mit einer verhältnismäßig starken Steigerung der Allgemeinbildung machen aber die zwischenmenschliche Kommunikation zu einer Macht, die als „öffentliche Meinung" alle Lebensbereiche des Menschen erfaßt. Fast überall ist der Mensch heute dem ständigen Einfluß verschiedener Kommunikationssysteme ausgesetzt, und das läßt natürlich auch die Tür für Mißbräuche offen. Das Problem aber scheint heute nicht so sehr die strenge Kontrolle der sogenannten Massenmedien zu sein, sondern eher die Frage der schöpferischen und konstruktiven Entwicklung dessen, was mitgeteilt werden soll. (...)

English

The Council Decree on Social Communications silences dialogue and public opm10n in the Church. But the Church's communication „ad intra" is previous to communication "ad extra", and conditions it. The natural right of members of a society to information and communication also concerns the Church as society. The Church, however is more than a society: the People of God. In the Church, all the members are fundamentally equal in their accepting God's word and the Sacraments, in their living the faith. All are committed to the Church's mission, and only through dialogue and communication the Church-community can continue the Incarnation and Redemption of Christ in this world. This calls for a new style of Christian and a new style of religious. The religious institutes share in the characteristic notes of Church-society and Church-community. Information, communication and public opinion are vital and most necessary for religious institutes. Religious institutes are drawn towards centralization and decentralization at the same time. In each institute a trend towards autonomy, subsidiarity and pluriformity goes hand in hand with the members' search for the common good, and the institute's common mission and scope in Church and world today. A two-way-communication will help to overcome intolerance and pressure which are characteristic of the present profound
and rapid evolution. Communication systems with international centers in Rome,
close to the Generalates, will be of great importance to aid the institutes to find the
proper answers to problems in the world-Church. Freedom of information and communication together with loyalty towards the central government of the institute, openness with regard to new realities and initiatives, should contribute to discover the signs of the times and the answer which each particular institute has to give, inspired by the charism of the Gospel. (Full English text of this article is available through the Rome editor).