(From left) Archbishop of Bengaluru, Most Rev Peter Machado with the new PRO Mr J A Kanthraj and Pontifical Mission Organisation national director and PRO for the Church in Karnataka Fr Faustine Lobo
In a significant move, the Archdiocese of Bangalore appointed a lay person as the Public Relation Officer (PRO). The official announcement of Mr J A Kanthraj as the Archdiocese’s PRO was made by the Archbishop of Bengaluru, Most Rev Peter Machado, at Palana Bhavan on Monday. He takes over from Fr Anthony Swamy, chancellor who was overseeing as PRO for the Archdiocese of Bangalore.
The Archbishop offered words of wisdom to Mr. Kanthraj. “While the church is not keen to be seen in the media limelight, however, at the same time the PRO should play an active role of being the eyes, ears and mouth of the archdiocese. In other words, people should be able to form, inform and reform whenever there’s an act misrepresentation or misinformation being hawked against the church,” Archbishop Peter Machado said.
In today’s surcharged atmosphere, he advised extreme caution while disseminating news and views to media and public at large. “Utmost care should be taken to form a correct assessment and provide the right clarification. He also urged to draw inspiration from the shepherds who went around to share the goods news of Jesus’ birth.
Pontifical Mission Organisation national director and PRO for the Church in Karnataka Fr Faustine Lobo, who has had decades of administrative experience with stints in different organizations and international level NGOs, and has also appeared on many TV panel discussions to defend the Church, said, “As PRO, we must alert the church as to what is happening outside and also present the church in the right perspective to the outside world.”
In his acceptance speech, Mr Kanthraj said he was humbled by being appointed as the first PRO of Bangalore Archdiocese and said he would strive to uphold the church in the eyes of the people and media. Coming from an insurance background where he covered risks of people, he said he would take those learnings and cover the risks of the church as well.
Welcoming the gathering, Monsignor C Francis, Parish Priest, St. Patrick’s Church had a humorous take, “In earlier days, people did not have watches but had time. Today, people have watches but no time. In that context, he said it was time that the Bangalore Diocese had its own PRO to handle the media-related matters of the church and that the Archbishop has empowered a lay person to be the PRO.”
On this occasion, the archbishop flanked by Fr Anthony Swamy and Monsignor C Francis also released a directory of Bangalore Archdiocese.
Others who were present were Fr. Jayraj, Fr Anthony Prasad, Fr. Ambrose, Fr Sagaya John, director of NBCLC, besides others.