Salesian Social Communication 2020 – Joint meeting of South Asia & East Asia Oceania Regions
A four-day long joint virtual meeting of the Social Communication Delegates, Bulletin Editors, Publishers and Radio Directors of South Asia and East Asia was held from 5th November to 8th November 2020. The meeting was convened by Rev. Gildásio Mendes dos Santos, General Councillor for Social Communication.
The meeting, which is stretched across around seven time zones was chaired by Rev. Fr. Mendes dos Santos, and coordinated by the two regional delegates Fr. Ernest Rosario (SA) and Fr. Peter Chinh (EAO). In this historical joint meeting, there were 35 Salesian media personnel from the two regions of SA and EAO.
“We need to walk with the times,” said the General Councillor for Social Communication quoting Don Bosco. In his opening address, he presented his vision for the media ministry of the Salesians of Don Bosco for the next six years and proposed the methodology to fulfill the same. While briefing about the schedule for the four-day program he specially thanked the two regional councillors Fr. Biju Michael (South Asia) and Fr. Joseph Thinh (East Asia – Oceania) for their support and accompaniment and all the Provincials of these regions for their encouragement and collaboration. He also placed on record his gratitude to his predecessor Fr. Filiberto González for his valuable contribution to this sector of Social Communication in the past years.
Fr. Joseph Thinh, in his address, underlined the important role of media and its impact on the young in today’s context. He stressed the importance of accompanying them in this new virtual reality.
The main agenda of the day was the presentation of ‘‘Instrumentum Laboris (Salesian Social Communication framework)’’. It was well presented by Fr. Ambrose Pereira (PGS), Fr. Peter Chinh (Vietnam), Fr. Bastin Nellissery (INK), and Fr. Francis Xavier (INP). Following the presentation, the participants were divided into four groups to discuss possible additions and enhancements to the document.
On the rest of the days, participants had chance to explore topics such as ‘‘Communication Theology – a Salesian Perspective’’ by Fr. Peter Gonsalves, Faculty of Social Communication Sciences, UPS, Rome; ‘‘Salesian Sacrament of Presence’’ and ‘‘Methodology in Communication – based on GC28’’ by Fr. Mendes dos Santos, General Councillor for Social Communication.
Fr. John Parankimalil (PD), Delegate of Social Communications and Director of Don Bosco Media and Publications, Province of Guwahati, participated in this 4-day virtual meeting.
