Sunday TV Mass as a Ritual Communication among the youth

Glenn Irwin Cruz Reynon

doi:10.24297/jssr.v8i2.6616

Abstract

Sunday TV Mass (STVM) is one of the Catholic Churchs initiatives for evangelization via media. Primarily produced to spread the Good News, it is specifically for the sick and physically incapable since they cannot go to churches to attend Mass and fulfill their Sunday obligation. However, since the broadcast Mass is communicated through a mass medium and is exposed to a wider audience than necessarily targeted, some people, the adolescents (youth) in particular, make STVM an excuse to forego Mass attendance in their respective churches. This experimental study will focus on STVM on its role as evangelizer and catalyst to ritual formation. James Careys theory of Ritual Communication describes this practice as an enabler to the creation of a community of believers among the youth and George Gerbners Cultivation Theory on how television creates a worldview that unravels ritualistic experience by watching STVM. The respondents of the study are 40 high school students of Angelicum College. Selected purposively, the students were instructed and monitored to watch STVM for four Sundays. These students are top achievers in their Religion subjects and are exposed to different religious activities in their school.

Highlights

It is traditional practice in the Philippines that elders take on the responsibility of honing the youth
The traditional Catholic will see to it that he fulfills his duty of going to mass at least once a week, because it is written in the Ten Commandments, and because he grew up this way
Everything is rooted on the dominance of the influential religion in a Filipino‟s life. This premise may be attributed to the reliance of the Filipino on the Church‟s teachings on the particular pattern by which he should live his life. Part of this is the picture of God, and following what has been required by religion to attain the promise of that particular religion

Summary

INTRODUCTION

It is traditional practice in the Philippines that elders take on the responsibility of honing the youth. People nowadays find it difficult to keep the practice of going to church because of their busy lives, or because it does not serve them a purpose This may be true for the youth, as a substantial body of research has investigated the implications of the vast amount of attention that young people devote to media forms (Bryant & Rockwell, 1994). The advent of STVM is a big help for the Church to inculcate to its audience the importance of continuing Eucharistic celebrations every Sunday, as it fulfills its role as evangelizer and catalyst to ritual formation It fulfills Eucharisticum Mysterium, 77’s teaching that says Sundays should be presented to the people as the primordial feast day, that, when assembled together, they are to hear the Word of God and take part in the Paschal Mystery. This study explores if STVM can be instrumental in unraveling a ritualistic experience and cultivating faith among the youth

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

Findings

CONCLUSION