YOU Will Receive Power

I just received my copy the July issue of The Word Among Us and was about to browse through it when the headlines stopped me completely: You Will Receive Power.

A Special World Youth Day issue in conjunction with the WYD Celebrations in Sydney, Australia culminating on 20 July, this print is loaded with articles, resources, messages and testimonies from a diverse group of people, ranging from John Paul II, Mother Teresa, to other common folk.

I would recommend getting this issue at all costs, if you are a "young" person (age 15-35) and if you're like me, way over that - to do the dutiful thing: getting this as a gift or souvenir either for someone young whom you know or even for yourself. We can all remain young at heart, even if the grey on the top of our heads suggest otherwise!

You may get your copy at your local church store (if your parish has one) or you may try these places:

Catholic Information Services, 50E & F, Penang Road, 10000 Penang
tel: 04-2617249email: catis@streamyx.com

Daughters of St. Paul (Paulines Sdn Bhd)
162, Jalan Gasing, 46000 Petaling Jaya, Selangor
tel: 03-77851915
email: paulineskl@yahoo.com
website: http://www.paulines.ph

or contact the Singapore distributors directly at:

The Word Among Us
The Catholic News
2 Highland Road
#01-03 Singapore 549102

*Price per copy (Pen. Malaysia): RM4.50
p.s. Do this ASAP cause they are notoriously sold out early!

The Problem With Communication

I went to mass yesterday at St. Anne's Parish in Bukit Mertajam. Later, after the service, while at breakfast back home I asked my better half what she thought of the sermon. She said, "I didn't understand what Father was saying". Which was surprising because I thought I had listened to a good homily! Annie, my wife, continued, "Maybe it's because you really tried to listen. I tried but I couldn't." Classic communication problem. One message two different results.

This morning, I logged on to the Catholic News Agency and found that the Cardinal of Sydney had launched the Catholic Social Networking site - Xt3.com, to help connect young people ahead of next month's World Youth Day. It's similar to other popular social networking websites like Facebook and MySpace. The chief reason being, in the words of Cardinal George Pell, "....ensure that young Catholics who cannot travel to Sydney for the event would be able to experience it in real time". Wow! Read the full article here.

I was at the 1995 World Youth Day in Manila and all we had then was e-mail! Handphones were still at the 1st generation stage. SMS was just beginning to happen. Now everyone can SMS!. And, Xt3 has arrived. Surely, as time goes by, such communication devices will evolve. But will our communication have improved in tandem? Most likely not. Because it's not the devices that are at fault, rather the people who use them.

"The problem with communication is the illusion that it has occurred." -- George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) Irish playwright and essayist said once. Which is what probably happened to me in church that day. And I liked this explanation from www.fastcompany.com:

Communication occurs when someone understands you - not when you speak. Don't mistake speaking for communication. Words are merely the tip of the iceberg. They're what the world gets to see. What they don't get to see is the thinking that lies below the surface of the water. And as such, they don't always understand where you're coming from even if they hear your words

John Paul II in his last message for World Communications Day in January 2005 addressed communicators in this way:

"Modern technology places at our disposal unprecedented possibilities for good, spreading the truth of our salvation in Jesus Christ and for fostering harmony and reconciliation" and goes on to say, "the model and pattern of all communication is found in the Word of God himself. The Incarnate Word has established a new covenant between God and his people - a covenant which also joins us in community with one another. For he is our peace, who has made us both one, and has broken down the dividing wall of hostility" (Eph.2:14)

May we all then become better communicators, drawing from the example and life of Jesus himself, at home, in schools, our places of work, in our churches (and pulpits!), organizations, in society, wherever and whenever the occasion calls for.

Go here for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' Catholic Communication Campaign.