It is significant indeed that the theme for the 26th National Convention of Christian Journalists (NCCJ) on December 1, 2021 is ‘Hit the Streets: Listen, Encounter, Engage’. The theme is based on the wider canvas given to the world by Pope Francis as his message for the 55th World Communications Day 2021 which focuses on “Come and See” (Jn 1:46): Communicating By Encountering People Where and as They Are.

The message of Pope Francis is unambiguous. He throws a challenge to Catholic communicators saying, “in order to tell the truth of life that becomes history, it is necessary to move beyond the complacent attitude of we ‘already know’. We need to go and see the life of people ourselves, spend time with people, listen to their stories and confront reality, which always in some way surprises us”. 

In the opening paragraph he sets the tone of what Christian communication is and should be: “This year, then, I would like to devote this Message to the invitation to ‘come and see’, which can serve as an inspiration for all communication that strives to be clear and honest, in the press, on the internet, in the Church’s daily preaching and in political or social communication. ‘Come and see!’  This has always been the way that the Christian faith has been communicated, from the time of those first encounters on the banks of the River Jordan and on the Sea of Galilee”.  His underlying message is loud and clear ‘Hit the Streets: Listen, Encounter, Engage’. Let us then try to explore some dimensions of what ‘hitting the streets’ should be to so-called Christian communicators.

Hitting the streets is getting out of our comfort zones. It is not easy to do so: to have the smell of the sheep by being in the midst of them. We can no longer remain ensconced in our comfortable air-conditioned rooms, in our fortified structures, weighed down with complicated and sophisticated gadgets. I am not saying that they are not needed or do not play a role in the world of communications today. Getting out means being in the crib where there is only squalor and smell; suffering the arrogance and brutality of an exclusive society which sent the family to the periphery. Getting out means standing at the foot of cross – reviled and humiliated by the rest – but convinced of one’s stand!

Hitting the streets is getting bruised and battered. Pope Francis in his Apostolic Exhortation ‘Evangelii Gaudium’ (The Joy of the Gospel)says,  “I prefer a Church which is bruised, hurt and dirty because it has been out on the streets, rather than a Church which is unhealthy from being confined and from clinging to its own security. I do not want a Church concerned with being at the centre and which then ends by being caught up in a web of obsessions and procedures. If something should rightly disturb us and trouble our consciences, it is the fact that so many of our brothers and sisters are living without the strength, light and consolation born of friendship with Jesus Christ, without a community of faith to support them, without meaning and a goal in life”. Getting bruised, dirty or hurt is certainly not a preference for most communicators today!

Hitting the streets means being courageous! Courage is not the ‘false bravado’ – to either think that ‘nothing will happen to me’ or ‘I-will-show-them’ kind of stuff. True courage stems from one’s faith; what Jesus tells us “Fear no one.” Pope Francis refers to the courage of some communicators saying, “Journalism too, as an account of reality, calls for an ability to go where no one else thinks of going: a readiness to set out and a desire to see. Curiosity, openness, passion. We owe a word of gratitude for the courage and commitment of all those professionals – journalists, camera operators, editors, directors – who often risk their lives in carrying out their work. Thanks to their efforts, we now know, for example, about the hardships endured by persecuted minorities in various parts of the world, numerous cases of oppression and injustice inflicted on the poor and on the environment, and many wars that otherwise would be overlooked. It would be a loss not only for news reporting, but for society and for democracy as a whole, were those voices to fade away. Our entire human family would be impoverished”.

Hitting the streets means to side with truth. We live in a world in which fake news, rumours and gossip, prejudiced news and views gain precedence because we are not able to deal with the truth. When we hit the streets, we are able to grasp the truth of things and the concrete lives of people, and more important the serious social phenomena or positive movements at the grass roots level. We do not become aligned with ‘godified’ paid media! Pope Francis laments how the original investigative reporting in newspapers and television, radio and web newscasts – which involved sticking one’s neck out – is today replaced by ‘tendentious narrative’. Hitting the streets would imply meeting people face-to-face to research stories or to verify certain situations first hand; Pope Francis emphatically states that, “unless we open ourselves to this kind of encounter, we remain mere spectators” 

Hitting the streets means being prophetic. In Evangelii Gaudium, Pope Francis is unequivocal, “Nor does true peace act as a pretext for justifying a social structure which silences or appeases the poor, so that the more affluent can placidly support their lifestyle while others have to make do as they can. Demands involving the distribution of wealth, concern for the poor and human rights cannot be suppressed under the guise of creating a consensus on paper or a transient peace for a contented minority. The dignity of the human person and the common good rank higher than the comfort of those who refuse to renounce their privileges. When these values are threatened, a prophetic voice must be raised”.

Hitting the streets means collaboration. Communicators must collaborate with all men and women of goodwill. In an address to the Meeting of Popular Movements on 16 October, Pope Francis referred to those who are engaged in the struggle for human rights and justice as ‘blessed’ – the people of the Beatitudes -- saying, “You are, as I said in the letter I sent you last year, a veritable invisible army; you are a fundamental part of that humanity that fights for life against a system of death. In this engagement I see the Lord who makes Himself present in our midst, to give to us His Kingdom as a gift. When He offered us the standard by which we will be judged (cf. Mt 25: 31-46), Jesus told us that salvation consists in taking care of the hungry, the sick, prisoners, foreigners; in short, in recognising Him and serving Him in all suffering humanity. That is why I wish to say to you: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they shall be satisfied” (Mt 5: 6), “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God” (Mt 5: 9). We want this beatitude to expand, to permeate and anoint every corner and every space where life is threatened”. 

Hitting the streets is running the risk of being framed and even killed. There is no doubt about it. Human rights defenders like Fr Stan Swamy (whose death was an institutional murder), the other BK-15 incarcerated, the hundreds of others arrested (recently Muslim Youth from Tripura) under the dreaded Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) were very visible and vocal in their stand for justice. False cases have been foisted upon them. Several journalists like Gauri Lankesh, rationalists and writers like Narendra Dabholkar, Govind Pansare and M.M. Kalburgi have had to pay the price with their lives. 

If we are serious then of Hitting the Streets:  we must Listen, Encounter, and Engage. There is no doubt about that. We need to do some soul-searching first, to examine ourselves and our approaches as communicators, by responding to some uncomfortable questions:

•    Are we, as Catholic Communicators, ready to hit the streets? To be visible and vocal in the context of what is happening in the country today? How many of us have the prophetic courage to take a stand for justice and truth? To stick one’s neck out?

•    How many of us, Catholic Communicators, have taken a stand against the callousness, the corruption and the complacency of the Government during the pandemic which ravaged the country? How many have written about it, or done video presentations, or preached about it? What about the lack of primary health care facilities or for that matter the plight of the migrant workers and the daily wagers during this time?

•    How many of our editorials have taken a stand against the ‘love jihad’ laws of certain Governments, the wanton destruction of the environment, or for that matter against the Central Vista project? What stand have we taken against the Citizenship Amendment Act, the New Education Policy, the three anti-farmer laws, the labour codes, the UAPA and other draconian laws and policies? 

These and several other crucial questions must be responded to – if we are sincere about making Catholic Communications relevant and meaningful in today’s fast changing world.

Hitting the streets ultimately is internalising the message of Pope Francis and actualising it in our ministry of communications. In his concluding statement he says, “The challenge that awaits us, then, is to communicate by encountering people, where they are and as they are”; with that final prayer,

“Lord, teach us to move beyond ourselves,
and to set out in search of truth.
Teach us to go out and see,
teach us to listen,
not to entertain prejudices
or draw hasty conclusions.
Teach us to go where no one else will go,
to take the time needed to understand,
to pay attention to the essentials,
not to be distracted by the superfluous,
to distinguish deceptive appearances from the truth.
Grant us the grace to recognize your dwelling places in our world
and the honesty needed to tell others what we have seen”.

Do we have the courage, the candour and the commitment to hit the streets: listen, encounter and engage?

(Fr Cedric Prakash is a human rights, reconciliation and peace activist/writer based in Ahmedabad.  He can be contacted at: cedricprakash@gmail.com)