Among its activities, the Faculty of Communication organizes, in collaboration with the ISCOM Association, several refresher courses for journalists dealing with religious informationWe have been able to offer these courses, both in the form of intensive weeks and on a weekly basis. All of this is increasingly necessary, since greater communication on the web has changed the perception of the Church in certain environments, especially after the pandemic phenomenon, which has led to communication through screens.
There are several distance learning courses for journalists, including 8 professional sessions organized by the Faculty in collaboration with the Mediatrends observatory and the aforementioned Iscom Association.
One of the journalists who attended these distance learning sessions, in particular the Introduction to Institutional Church Communication Course, is Rodrigo Luiz dos Santos, from Brazil, who is a lay missionary of the Catholic movement Canção Nova, a Catholic charismatic community, founded by Father Jonas Abib and recognized by the Pontifical Council for the Laity as a private international association.
This institution is made up of women and men, young and old, single, married and celibate, priests and deacons, who assume the most radical experience of consecration to God made in Baptism and Confirmation, in function of the apostolate, in a life in community, according to the state of each one. The association has the Gospel as its foundation: to live and communicate it in an integral way, through meetings and, preferably, but not exclusively, through the media.
Luiz was born and lives in São Paulo, Brazil, where the association's headquarters are also located. He is 40 years old and is currently director of Journalism at Canção Nova de São Paulo and a presenter.
And last but not least, I am a happy husband and father of two children: Tobias (7 years old) and Serena (3 years old).
Nice to meet you, Luiz... The truth is that it was a case to know about you, since you do not attend the classes of the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross here in Rome, but on the internet...
Yes, and for that I am very grateful to the University of the Holy Cross for making the course available online for free, a very rich content for everyone and to spread the message of the Church.
This content is available not only to students and alumni, but also to all journalists who wish to continue their training in this great task of Church communication...
Of course! And besides very practical issues, such as the class on communication planning, what I most enjoyed were the reflections of several professors, such as José María La Porte, who stated, during a class, that "journalism should not simply be a witness of what happened, but a person who analyzes, who offers an explanation, who proposes a vision of the facts as objective as possible, even if it is subjective". And that is precisely what we try to present in our journalism.
"I was born and raised in the interior of São Paulo and received the faith thanks to my family. We are a large and united Catholic family. But it was an experience in my adolescence, right during a youth retreat at a Brazilian carnival, that awakened a new way of living the faith based on a personal encounter with Jesus Christ and a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit."
Rodrigo Luiz dos Santos, from Brazil, is a lay missionary of the Catholic movement Canção Nova. He is 40 years old and is currently the director of Journalism at Canção Nova de São Paulo and a presenter. He is married and father of two children. He worked in Rome as a Missionary for the Community to which he belongs since 2000 organizing materials for the Film Library of the then Vatican's Pontifical Council for Social Communications and covering daily events at the Holy See as a cameraman and producer.
"I had the good fortune to follow the pontificates of John Paul II and Benedict XVI. All this contributed to my knowledge of the ecclesial reality and to a great love for the history, present and future progress of the Church," he says.
And I imagine that, as your association and movement, Canção Nova, is dedicated not only to evangelization but to the communication of all the contents of the faith, this reflection of Professor La Porte must be very important in the task of the journalist, as well as the experience of studying in a Pontifical University....
Yes, it has a huge significance! Besides, I was already living in Rome for a while, between 2002 and 2007.
Is that how you got to know the University of the Holy Cross?
Yes, I met her at that time, because I was working in Rome as a Missionary for the Canção Nova Community, to which I have belonged since 2000.
And you were already in charge of communication?
Precisely... And I had the grace to work organizing materials for the Film Library of the then Vatican's Pontifical Council for Social Communications and covering daily events at the Holy See as a cameraman and producer.
¡How interesting! And I find it wonderful this perpetual contact, in your life and in the lives of many of our students and former students, between the heart of the Church, which is Rome, and all the countries of the world....
I was fortunate enough to follow the pontificates of John Paul II and Benedict XVI. All this contributed to my knowledge of the ecclesial reality and to a great love for the history, the present and the future progress of the Church.
...and in your particular case we can truly say that life is a carnival, as Celia Cruz sang, right?
Of course I did! As I was telling you, I was born and raised in the interior of São Paulo and I received the faith thanks to my family. We are a large and united Catholic family. But it was an experience in my adolescence, during a youth retreat at a Brazilian carnival, that awakened a new way of living the faith based on a personal encounter with Jesus Christ and a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
So you decided to dedicate yourself completely to God, being a husband and a father. There are people who think that it is not possible to be a missionary and a layman at the same time....
On the contrary! For us, my wife and I, it is a grace to invest our lives in the evangelizing mission. My wife and I joined Canção Nova when we were very young, ready to give our lives. We met there, precisely in a mission... It all started with God: we fell in love and got married. We have been married for 9 years and we have two wonderful children. My wife also works in Communications as editor-in-chief and presenter of the "Jornal da Manhã", the morning news on our TV station.
The whole existence in function of the mission...
Well, of course! You see, being a husband, a father, a missionary... These are three demanding and challenging realities. But, I always seek balance in dialogue with my wife, whom I always try to support and from whom I receive support. As a father, I believe that spending a lot of time with them, playing with them is something very necessary and I make an effort to be with them. In Canção Nova, we learned the importance of organizing life according to the mission. In this way, for me, in spite of the demands, I feel very fulfilled in living as a missionary, communicator, husband and father.
"For us, my wife and I, it is a grace to invest our lives in the evangelizing mission. My wife and I joined Canção Nova when we were very young, ready to give our lives. We met there, precisely in a mission... It all started with God: we fell in love and got married. We have been married for 9 years and we have two wonderful children."
In addition to his work as a religious information journalist, Rodrigo Luiz dos Santos is also a writer. He has just launched a book on grief, mourning and loss.
"The title in Portuguese is "Overcoming the pain of losing someone you love"(overcoming the pain of the loss of the person you love). It is a book that deals with the theme of overcoming grief. I wrote it together with the priest Licio de Araújo Vale, a specialist in grief and suicide. The book is based on scientific studies, Catholic Doctrine and the Word of God, as well as the testimonies of those who lost their son or the priest who, at the age of 13, lost his father to suicide", he explains.
And you told me that this is something for which you are very grateful to the University of the Holy Cross?
Well, yes... As you can imagine, being a missionary, communicator, husband and father - as I told you before - does not give me much time for personal formation... However, the concrete and precious contribution that I received from the University of the Holy Cross was the possibility of attending the online course available for free, being able to follow it here in Brazil, according to my schedule.
Something we didn't tell you until now is that you are also a writer and you have just released a book about the mourning of grief and loss?
Precisely... The title in Portuguese is "Overcoming the pain of losing someone you love"(overcoming the pain of the loss of the person you love). It is a book that deals with the theme of overcoming grief. I wrote it together with the priest Licio de Araújo Vale, a specialist in grief and suicide. The book is based on scientific studies, Catholic Doctrine and the Word of God, as well as the testimonies of those who lost their son or of the priest who, at the age of 13, lost his father to suicide.
A work that can help a lot of people...
It is something that one never thinks about, until it happens to himself... I myself had never thought of writing about this topic, but given the loss of my mother-in-law, when it was our turn to live the mourning, the grief in our family, in 2019, and then with the tragedy of the coronavirus pandemic, with so many people who lost their loved ones, I realized that something had to be done and I felt the inspiration to write something that could help many people in this process of overcoming grief, transforming it into a sweet memory.
Rodrigo, thank you very much for your testimony and for your book that will help many people. Also for your other book to help parents to participate with their children in the Holy Mass.
Rodrigo Luiz dos Santos is a layman who also benefits from the support of the benefactors of the CARF Foundation - Centro Academico Romano Foundation, support that allows to continue the formation of former students from all over the world, for the good of the Church and society.
Gerardo Ferrara
BA in History and Political Science, specializing in the Middle East.
Responsible for the student body
University of the Holy Cross in Rome
