The Centre for Media Development, Catholic Arch diocese of Lagos, organised a seminar to keep nuns abreast with recent developments in media.

The event, which took place at the Catholic Church of Ascension, Lagos, with the theme 'The Catholic Nun in a Digital Age.'

In the Keynote address delivered by His Lordship, Most Rev Dr. Emmanuel Badejo,Bishop of Oyo Diocese, he urged nuns to engage the social media because of the freedom of expression that exist therein; charging nuns to take advantage of this liberty to bring about a positive change in the media.

Badejo said:“The digital world is a democratic environment. It is a forum like other media platform where attitudes are being formed, cultures are being shaped and consciences are being tinkered with. It is a space that often defies regulation, so there is ample space for us all, even for nuns who are used to being told what to do and how to do it.

“To infuse the new media with positive and moral values is a task that must be done, but we need skilled and interested people who understand and are committed to the values of the gospel. Nuns are capable of doing this and even of leading the way as the recent history of the church indicate.”

A guest speaker at the event, Mr Cletus Ilobanafor, founder, CEOFRICA , he spoke on engaging the tools of social media for effective apostolate, he  cited the misconception by nuns and priest that the social media is for sinners , therefore refuse to engage it.

He said: “If you must be effective in evangelisation, you must engage the social media. The social media has come to stay and it’s an integral part of our system. The new media is the future of communication. The church needs social media to evangelise in today’s world. If you must be very effective in your apostolate, you must understand what social media means and how you should use it for better apostolate."

The guest speaker took time to analyse the numbers of monthly visitor on major social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google and LinkedIn as well as the large coverage the church can get from such platform.

“The social media is a platform with estimated monthly visitors running into billions; it presents a veritable platform to evangelise.My dear sisters and fathers in the lord, for us to be effective in evangelism; we must keep abreast with happening on the social media.  Different people engage the social media for different purposes like updating their profile pictures, but the social media offers more than that and what you use social media for is what it will represent to you. The world is changing and we must move with the times, we must also evangelise with the times. We must adapt to modern technologies for evangelisation,” he said.

Another guest speaker, the Very Rev Fr. Mark Obayi who, spoke on fundamentals of human communication highlighted means through which communication can be used for proper evangelism.

“We can use communication to enhance people’s lives by talking about mercy, forgiveness and preaching the gospel. Communication cannot be said to be good or bad but in the way communication is engaged."

The priest highlighted various models of communication and the advantages and disadvantages that are inherent in each model.

The convener of the programme, Rev. Fr. Michael Umoh, grouped the nuns for a practical workshop. Presentations were made by each group. The seminar came to an end with questions from nuns.