The Catholic community is massively important and the reason why that it is, is because community is the engine that drives and encourages the members to be active participants of the church. Since very young ages, Catholics are highly encouraged to be active members of their respective communities. Kids usually take catechism to learn about the sacraments and the basics of the religion. Teenagers go on mission trips to put their beliefs in action and adult members/parents of the community help serving as catechists, musicians or spiritual guides to help enlarge the faith of other members. All this could not be done had families not played their part in encouraging young children to take up on the call of faith from the church. In the article "Inter Mirifica at 40" Robert Bonnet further elaborates on the importance of formation and development where he states, "A beautiful aspect of the Catholic faith is our grand sense of a tradition to which we are faithful but within which there is constant development. (90)" The following two photographs represent how important the aspects of family, community and participation are. The first picture was taken after my first "Search" spiritual retreat. This retreat not only allowed me to grow as a believer, but it also allowed me to strengthen my ties with my fellow Catholics through participating/taking part in something bigger than myself. This experience was truly memorable and both of these images embody how important are the values of family and community towards building a stronger faith and a stronger media presence for the religion as well. By attending events like spiritual retreats, us Catholics, remind ourselves of keeping each other accountable so that way we avoid doing non-benevolent actions. Paul Soukup emphasizes this point in his article "Church, media & scandal" in which he describes that in order to preserve our community is through taking on "the obligation to avoid things that would lead others astray. (224)" Furthermore, the way in which Catholics reinforce their faith and make a stronger impact not only in their community, but also in the media is through family encouragement and active participation.
