ZAGREB, April 22 (Hina) - On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of Catholic News Agency Zagreb (IKA) an international symposium called "Agency Journalism and Christian Message" was held in the Croatian capital on Tuesday. The event
gathered about a dozen of eminent experts in theology and communication regarding Church issues.
ZAGREB, April 22 (Hina) - On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of
Catholic News Agency Zagreb (IKA) an international symposium
called "Agency Journalism and Christian Message" was held in the
Croatian capital on Tuesday. The event gathered about a dozen of
eminent experts in theology and communication regarding Church
issues. #L#
After the opening, Ika director Anton Suljic read Pope's message to
Ika.
Zagreb Archbishop and the president of the Croatian Bishops'
Conference (HBK), Josip Bozanic, said in his message that since its
beginning the Church had been an expert in using communication
means.
The Church in Croatia, devoted to its mission in the spirit of
Gospel and council's teaching, has established, cultivated and
monitored its own means of sociatal communications, with primary
objective to contribute to the Church and unity among people, the
Archbishop said in his message.
The chairman of the HBK Media Committee, Rijeka Archbishop Ivan
Devcic, advocated greater openness of the Church and the media
which is a guarantee that the Church would be more present in both
Croatia and the world.
Church media still face challenges of faithfully spreading and
interpreting activities of the Church and this is why Ika was
founded, Devcic said.
The president of the government's Commission for Relations with
Religious Communities, Goran Granic, pointed to the significance
of Ika's activities in the development of Croatia's society.
Suljic reminded that Croatian bishops established Ika in 1993 with
a clear aim to contribute to intra-Church communication and the
communications between the Church and the Croatian society. He
added that the aim was to expand horizons towards other churches and
peoples and tackle wider social issues - i.e. European integration
or new challenges in the promotion of the Christian teaching
today.
Ika deputy editor-in-chief Suzana Vrhovski presented the summary
of the agency's 10-year work and added that Ika was some sort of a
school of Catholic journalism and that it became a credible,
respectable and often cited source of information on the life of the
Church.
The Croatian News Agency (Hina) director, Mirko Bolfek, spoke about
religious issues in the media, stressing the importance of
information on religious issues, namely Ika's credibility and
expertise in informing the public.
The symposium was also attended by foreign experts in Catholic
agency journalism who spoke about relations between Catholic
journalism and European integration, as well as spiritual
challenges for Catholic journalism.
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