BISHOP-IN-CHARGE Most Rev. Chacko Thottumarickal SVD Bishop of Indore Add : Bishop's House, Post Box 168, Indore - 452 001. Madhya Pradesh Tel (O) : (0731) 24 92 203 Fax (O) : 24 94 630

MEMBERS Most Rev Henry D'Souza Bishop of Bellary Add : Bishop's House Bellary - 583 104. Karnataka Tel (O) : (08392) 24 03 15, 24 52 55 Fax (O) : 24 03 08 E-mail : bphousebly@hotmail.com Most Rev Thomas Chakiath Auxiliary Bishop of Ernakulam-Angamaly Add : Major Archbishop's House Post Box No. 2580 - Ernakulam, Cochin - 682 031, Kerala Tel (O) : (0484) 23 52 629, 23 52 906, 23 63 664 Fax (O) : 23 55 010

SECRETARY Fr George Plathottam SDB Add : CBCI Commission for Social Communications, CBCI Centre 1, Ashok Place, New Delhi - 110 001. Tel (O) : (011) 23 34 44 70 Fax (O) : 23 34 84 23 E-mail : cbciscom@gmail.com Website : www.cbcimedia.org

History
The Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI) established the Commission for Social Communication in 1993 in order that the church may make its presence felt in the mainstream media. The objectives of the Commission included animation, information and coordination of the media ministry of the church in India. The General Body of the CBCI in 2004 at Trichur deliberated on the theme: Church and Social Communications, and came out with a statement, Called to be a Communicating Church” which stressed the importance of social communications in the mission and ministry of the church. The Commission published a national survey, developed a series of course for formation in social communication called “Communication for Pastoral Leadership for seminaries and religious formation centres in India.

The CBCI Office for Social Communications works in close collaboration with the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, Rome, the FABC Office of Social Communications (FABC-OSC), the Regional centres/ offices and Secretaries of Social Communications established under the Regional Bishops’ Councils, the national organizations in the church like Signis-India, Indian Catholic Press Association, and other media organisations. The Office of Social Communications has also initiated the establishment of a network of Indian Christian Artists’ Forum, a network of Media Departments of Catholic Colleges and Universities in India.

Vision
To build a community of communities of all people in the spirit of Jesus Christ through social communications.

Mission

• To proclaim the Good News through social communications.
• To train Church personnel and laity in social communications.
• To foster a culture of interactive communications at all levels.
• To cultivate media/public relations.
• To advance advocacy to uphold dignity and human rights of all, particularly the marginalized by creating public opinion.
• To promote universal media education.
• To publish/ produce people’s need based programmes.
• To promote alternatative media.
• To celebrate World Communications Day meaningfully.
• To mobilize and allocate human and financial resources.
• To promote accountability and transparency.
• To coordinate communication activities, programmes and projects of the church at diocesan, regional and national levels.
• To assist regions and dioceses to plan and implement effective programmes for pastoral communications.
• To empower media consumers, especially the youth to be appreciative, critical and discriminative users of mass media.
• To identify, train and promote young talents for Church's communications work and for the mainstream media.
• To dialogue with the media professionals and participate in deliberations on issues related to communications.
• To train personnel among the Church personnel and the community for creative interaction and participation in media.
• To coordinate the activities of the various media organizations for better networking and launching of new initiatives.
• To assist the other Commissions of the CBCI by providing communications assistance through consultancy and training.