austraLasia 874
Social Communications: key intervention by RM - 'think with the Church'.
ROME: 10th Sept '04 -- Although quite some time has elapsed since the meeting of the World Advisory Body for Social Communications, a group of around 30 confreres from across the world, including the EAO region, your correspondent was at that time (end of July) physically unable to write! This is one case of catch-up.
The Rector Major, at that time in Kenya, was personally unable to attend the meeting, so he wrote what almost certainly will be the content for a future letter to all confreres - he says as much at one point, namely that his recent predecessors have felt social communications to be so important that they have addressed the issue via a letter to confreres, and he will almost certainly do the same. His written intervention, then, to the Advisory Body, could be seen as a prelude to this.
The RM begins by inviting Salesian confreres to 'think with the Church'. Three great documents trace out the ecclesial 'magna carta' in Social Communications since Vatican II: Inter Mirifica, Communio et Progressio, and Aetatis Novae. But then, some episcopal conferences have taken their own steps. In Italy a new Directory for SC has been introduced this year. The RM urges Salesians to follow the directions and invitations of their local Church, indeed, he says 'breathe with the Church's own breath' in these matters.
On the Salesian home front he reminds us of the major steps taken first to establish ISCOS, a centre for Social Communications, at the UPS and then more recently to turn it into a Faculty. The Faculty has the task of offering an adequate preparation in SC to the Salesian Family around the world. By implication, provinces have the duty to consider making this offer available and encouraging men and women to benefit from the Faculty.
The RM reminds us of the two programmatic letters of Fr Vigano and Fr Vecchi: 'Social communications challenges us' and 'Let the deaf hear and the dumb speak', respectively. He then asks all provinces (to be reminded by the members of the Advisory Body) to put in place programmes for education to media and for formation of educators to media. Additionally he requests that provinces as well as the departments of Formation and Social Communications, take up the 'Ratio' again and study what it has to say about this area, then form personnel for the task!
Finally, he asks Salesians and particularly those involved in some form of SC enterprise, to look again at the quality, the cultural depth, and the level of team-work we are capable of striving for - as a practical example, he says, does a theological centre in a province or region offer its consultation or assistance to the province or region in the area of Social Communications?
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