Catholic News Publication Editor’s Roundtable 2.0: A Brief Report
Manila, Philippines, 20th October, 2025:
Editors and senior journalists from around South Asia, South East Asia and East Asia met in Manila, Philippines to participate in a roundtable discussion on the future of Asian Catholic news media in the next five years. Organised by the SIGNIS ASIA Journalism Desk, 24 persons attended the session at the Manila Prince Hotel with nine joining online.
The programme kicked off in the evening of Oct 19th with an introduction and invitation to dive into an exercise on ‘What is the future of Asian Catholic Journalism’ by Augustine Anthuvan, media trainer and consultant based in Singapore. This was followed by the first session the next morning Oct 20th by Martino Tan, managing editor of Mothership.sg. He shared his experiences in starting up a two-person socio-political blog and its evolution into a digital media company with more than 60 staff. He also spoke about modern technological trends that affect society, and Generative AI that is shaping the world and the Church. Martino also encouraged the participants to know their target audience, and adopt a Socials-first strategy that will capture their hearts and minds.
Presenting on ‘Where do we preach? Finding Catholic Voice and Visibility in the Digital Wild’, Paterno R Esmaquel II from Rappler highlighted on finding God in the intersections of religion and secular, as well as in media and communities. He emphasized that evangelisation is also about showing up and building relationships and connections with people, and not just about storytelling. He urged editors and journalists not to be in their silos but to collaborate and share, especially via the digital media system.
In the third session, Monsignor Pedro Quitorio, editor of Catholic Bishops’ Conference Philippines (CBCP) News and Bishops Conference Philippines (BCP) Monitor, presented his insights on “Bridging the Divide: Keeping faith alive in an increasingly secular and screen-soaked Asia”. Monsignor suggested to editors and journalists to “newsify” the Magisterium by broadening the meaning of “church news”. He reiterated to digital missionaries and Catholic influencers that success is not necessarily measured in numbers, and to be the “salt, light and leaven” to all. He then invited young guest Catholic online influencers from the Philippines who participated in the recent Jubilee for Online Missionaries in Rome to share their experiences. Using a “Fishbowl activity”, the participants and guests reflected on the sharings that they heard.
The final session of the Roundtable was led by Dr. Peter Rachada Monthienvichienchai, LiCAS NEWS Asia Executive Director and SIGNIS World Secretary-General, who deliberated on the topic “Stronger together: Building a Collaborative Catholic News Network in Asia”. He reflected on the reasons for the insufficient collaboration in Catholic news media agencies in the region, and stressed the need for interdependence. He added that listening is important for collaboration, and that the Synodal journey is possible by building a collaborative network with a realistic deadline and outcome.
At the end programme, a few participants shared their takeaways and proposals for future actions in their respective Catholic news media agencies.
Reported by Sumit Dhanraj
Edited by Dr Pauline Leong
