Bishop Obanyi calls on Church communicators to promote Kenya’s reading culture

Rose Achiego  - Nairobi, Kenya

Bishop urges improvement in the reading culture

Addressing diocesan coordinators, radio managers and print editors at the JJ McCarthy Spiritual Centre in Nairobi, this week, Bishop Joseph Obanyi who is also the Bishop-Chair of the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops – Commission for Social Communications, observed that Kenyans have a poor reading culture. He said there is the need for communications offices in the dioceses, through the coordination of the national office, to teach the love for literature in the people. 

“Kenyans have a poor reading culture. Help them to embrace reading of books. Many of them just read social media, which does not have rich content. Form groups and motivate people to read, to have a basis of discussion on well-thought issues.” Bishop Obanyi said.

Extend training to more dioceses

Bishop Obanyi thanked the National Office lead by Br. Elias Mokua SJ, for piloting the training of parish communication agents in seven Kenyan dioceses as a way of building a strong Catholic Communication News Network. The Bishop said the training exercise should be extended to more dioceses.

“I thank the Commission for Social Communication for empowering parishes and small Christian Communities by training parish communication agents who are now helping our radios and print in content generation and giving people information that enriches them spiritually,” he said.

Use social media for evangelisation

Bishop Obanyi further told participants to boost the growth of the Church by being relevant in using the tools of social media for evangelisation. He urged them to highlight sensitive issues affecting the Church objectively without shying away from telling the truth.

Bishop Obanyi encouraged participants to highlight social issues in the community like the importance of child protection in order to bring about change and healing to society.

KCCB General Secretary, Fr. Daniel Rono and Association of Member Episcopal Conferences in Eastern Africa (AMECEA) – Communication Department Coordinator, Fr. Andrew Kaufa, also graced the meeting that brought together over 30 communicators from the various dioceses and media houses.