Hosted by Chicago NetOne facilitators Tom Masters, Jady Giaccobe, and Betsy Dugas, seven local communications professionals met at the men’s Focolare house for an evening of lively dialogue. John Chesser, Midwest coordinator for New Humanity, joined via videoconference from his home in Des Moines, Iowa.

After getting to know one another over an informal meal, they listened to an excerpt from Chiara Lubich’s 2001 talk, “The Spirit of Brotherhood in Politics, Key to the Unity of Europe and of the World,” and read together Michele Zanzucchi’s “Dialogue and the Media,” from the May 2010 issue of Living City.

The Vocation of the Media
The concept of the media having a vocation to promote universal brotherhood through genuine dialogue provoked thoughtful, even heated exchanges about the possibility of true reciprocity in the competitive world of contemporary media. Each of the participants offered specific experiences to illustrate the obstacles and possibilities of generating unity among fellow workers, and with public consumers of media.

Practical Responses to Today’s Challenges Gerardette Hearne, television news producer and author, commented, “Trying to change ‘the media’ from the outside is harder to do than creating something positive and loving from the inside.” She offered some practical suggestions for local NetOne authors to publish “positive” news.

Fr. Thomas Loya, pastor of Annunciation Byzantine Catholic Church and well-known radio personality noted, "The media seems to enjoy dusting off and presenting some ‘scandal’ concerning the Church, " and found in the NetOne approach a real possibility for generating frank, open, and honest dialogue about issues such as clerical sexual abuse.
Author and journalist Judy Valente suggested that the Focolare continue to host conversations such as these for professionals in media, but also for those in a variety of other fields. The next session is planned for September.