ROME: 18 June 2010 -- Having just come away from a lengthy
exchange with a number of Provincials, including two from our own
region (in Rome for their so-called 'new' provincials course), and
noting the good things being achieved, each in their own way, in
communications matters, it seems a good moment to comment on something
we note, at least from a 'birdseye' point of view, if a Roman
department could be said to have that. Over the past year or two,
many provinces and many Salesian activities in those provinces are
moving from a purely paper communication to an online one - and the
intermediate step is the range of quality pdf-attached newsletters.
Some have gone further with a fully digital version.
Just this week three of the pdf items arrived from
two separate provinces (AUL and THA-Cambodia), and while we know that
they exist in many other provinces in the region it is only possible to
comment when we actually receive them, obviously. A comment on
the three, then, as they highlight different aspects.
One that regularly arrives from the Cambodian part
of THA is called FfF for short or Frontpage for Friends.
The big 'plus' for this attachment is that it is only ever just a page.
No wasted words, colourful, lots of pics a brief message or two and
that's it! It is largely the work of a Volunteer. Cynthia
deserves congratulations for it. It is subtitled as a 'Salesian Youth
Missionary Animation Newsletter'.
From AUL two items came in; one stands out because
it is a first, the first Salesian newsletter from a presence in a
country that only came into being this year in Auckland, New
Zealand. Fr Mathew V (my spell check gets confused with his
surname!) has produced a classy information bulletin, six pages worth,
which do what such a bulletin must for a new presence: explains who the
Salesians are, (in general, but also in particular in the parish
setting in suburban Auckland); introduces classic 'Salesian' themes
including information about the Past Pupils which reaches out the the
Salesian presence in the city long before the Salesians came there
permanently; Mary Help of Christians, the Rector Major's Strenna. There
is as yet no Salesian Bulletin produced in the New Zealand context and
that may be some way off - but the first 'bulletin' noted here, is a
step in that direction.
And the third item is not the sort of attachment you
would normally be hoping for at nearly 4 MB, (in its favour it is
actually available online at the Boys Town Engadine
website), but it's true 'weight' lies elsewhere. This is a 'classic'
item in very sense of that word, joining the past and the present with
a very clear vision of the future as well. Its contents are of
historical interest far beyond Australian shores - anybody who knows
anything about some of the great Salesian characters in the
'anglophone' world of yesteryear will want to read material which deals
with Fr Joseph Ciantar, or Fr Edward (Neddie) Power, or if you are
interested in how to really draw the interest of 'old boys' (Past
Pupils). The Good Ol'Town is also an excellent example of how a
traditional newsletter from way back can be reinvented in today's
setting.
As indicated earlier, there will be many, many more
of these items around the Provinces. Why not send them in? We
will be delighted to read them and from time to time comment on them. _________________ AustraLasia is an
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for the Salesian Family of Asia Pacific. It also functions
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agency for ANS based in
Rome.
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