By C.M. Paul
Sonada: The death of Divine Word Father Franz Josef Eilers, is the end of an era in pastoral communication in Asia,.
The German missionary died January 13 at the age of 89 in Manila, his base in Asia.
A great communication luminary, author and teacher, Father Eilers served as the second executive secretary for the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences’ Office of Social Communication. He held the post for 15 years from 1995.
As director of Catholic Media Council (Cameco) in Aachen, Germany, and a member of the Pontifical Council for Social Communication, Fr Eilers contributed richly to the communication ministry of the Church globally and Asia in particular, says Father George Plathottam, the current executive secretary of the FABC office.
Father Eilers has authored several books and scholarly articles, led the Radio Veritas Asia (RVA) and served as director for Asian Research Center for Religion and Social Communication.
In 2015, Father. Eilers received Titus Brandsma Leadership in Social Communication Award in a ceremony held at the Carmelites’ Titus Brandsma Media Center (TBMC) in Quezon City, Philippines.
The Philippine-province of the Carmelite Order (OCarm) conferred the award for this category for the first time to recognize Father Eilers’ broad involvement in social communication.
Father Eilers was conferred Asian Media, Information and Communication Centre (AMIC) award June 8, 2018, at Manipal ‘Academy of Higher Education’ in Karnataka, India “for his outstanding contributions in the field of Church and social communication.”
He had written extensively on human and social communication and developed the concepts of pastoral and evangelizing Communication which is reflected in an academic program at the Pontifical University of Santo Tomas in Manila.
His several books on pastoral communications are considered as standard in the field, including a 632-page commented edition of all official Vatican documents on Communication from 1936 to 2014 (Logos, Manila).
Since the 1970s, AMIC is the only professional continental organization for Asian communication scholars and professionals which in 2006 began giving the only annual award to outstanding figures in the field.