North East Catholic Bishops Appoint New PRO

Guwahati: In a significant move, the Bishops of North East India have appointed a new Public Relation Officer (PRO). Rev. Fr. Felix Anthony, the Social Communication Secretary of Miao Diocese in Arunachal Pradesh, has been appointed as the PRO at the recently concluded North East Regional Bishops’ Council in Tura, Meghalaya.

The Social Communication in-charge of the North Eastern Bishops’ Council, Most Rev. George Pallipparambil, SDB, offered words of wisdom to the new PRO. “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 region.”

In today’s surcharged atmosphere, Bishop George 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 said, urging to draw inspiration from the shepherds who went around sharing the goods news of Jesus’ birth.

In his acceptance speech, Fr. Felix said he was humbled by this appointment as the PRO of the Bishops in North East India. “I express my sincere gratitude to all the Bishops in North East India,  especially to the Chairman Bishop George, for reposing trust and confidence in me and I hope to be useful to the Church in this region as much as possible with this responsibly”, he said.

In today’s context of fake news and false narratives and silence of national media on the stories concerning the North East India, the new PRO has a huge task cut out with this responsibility.