Archbishop Celli

President of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications (PCCS) Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli will be the keynote speaker at the Australian Catholic Communications Congress, to be held from 4-6 May at the Rydges Hotel in Sydney.

Early-bird registration for the communications congress ends at midnight tonight, so those seeking the cheaper rate of $335 are encouraged to register this afternoon.

Speaking on the theme What is our voice, Archbishop Celli will encourage Catholic communicators, educators, pastoral workers, bishops, priests and religious to use their prophetic gifts to evangelise, and to listen to others in the way they tell stories.

Archbishop Celli is credited as being the President of the PCCS at a time when the Popes have entered the Twittersphere, YouTube, and effectively harnessed the power of social media for good.

“It’s absolutely necessary that the Church establishes a presence in the digital world. We are always fishing in the aquarium…The majority of fish are outside the aquarium.”

“The high rate of retweeting of the Pope’s tweets means that the Church is reaching an ever-wider community.”

“People no longer pay attention–if they ever did–simply because a church leader is speaking. Unless we engage digital media, we will wind up talking to ourselves.”

“Our media is directed not just to Catholics, but to all people. They don’t exist only for–or are directed only to–people who already belong to the Church, rather they should also give careful attention to what exists in the soul of man, in his heart, where sometimes there can be distance from God, or many times, a deep nostalgia for God.”

Archbishop Celli is expected to cover a wide range of practical issues around media and evangelisation, as well as providing encouragement to those working in this area.

For media enquiries, please contact Aoife Connors on 4050 348 597 or media@catholic.org.au