austraLasia #2473
De Sales and Social Media
ROME (or should it be THORON?): 7th August 2009 -- While there
is a lull in receiving news from around the region it may be worth
drawing attention to an anniversary. Don't worry, it's not a 150th and
not quite a 500th! I refer to the birthday of St Francis de Sales on
21st August 1567. We will draw attention to this principal Patron
of ours, and after whom we are named (C. 4, 8) on sdb.org via a FOCUS
to be published on 15th and which will be available until the end of
the month. The photographic work for this Focus is the result of a
member of our Region, Bro Hilario Seo from Korea.
But I would like to draw particular attention to a
letter Francis wrote on 25th January 1595, to the councillors in
Thoron, the 'capital' of the Chablais region. A few months earlier the
Calvinist political authority in the city had made the decision that
anyone who listened to Francis' preaching would be severely punished.
Francis' letter in January 1595 simply said: "Gentlemen, I have been
preaching the word of God for some time now in your city. Your people
can hear me only seldom and then only partially and in secret. For my
part, in order not to overlook anything, I have seen to it that some of
the more important fundamentals have been written down, fundamentals
that I had chosen as the main theme of my sermons and talks in defense
of the faith of the Church", and with that he set about producing
85 pamphlets which he posted at people's doors, or distributed through
coffee houses and other public places.
Texts that I have read have placed the beginning of
'social media' as we know it today as 1776, when Thomas Paine, an
English emigrant to the American colonies wrote an influential pamphlet
called 'Common Sense'; in many ways he could be responsible for
American independence and a nation-wide government structure. But
there is little doubt that, as influential as 'Common Sense' was,
Francis de Sales 'Controversies' predate Paine's 'Common Sense' by a
long shot, and with more instant results. By 1598 the Duke of
Savoy had written to the Papal Nuncio noting that in all the Chablais
there was 'now no village or hamlet that was not Catholic'!
We Salesians, with the added support of a later
pamphleteer of note (Don Bosco's 'Catholic Readings' were published as
monthly pamphlets) have social media in our blood! Social media
takes many forms, no need to list them all here - they are well known.
And 'austraLasia' is part of the range of possibilities too.
Benedict XVI's term, 'digital continent', was either
divinely inspired he was extremely well-advised, but he got in before
John Blossom published his [[Content Nation]] (and yes, the square
brackets are part of the title). There is little chance that the
two were ever chatting about the subject! Blossom works out that if 27%
of people who use social media do so to influence other people - his
statistics are based on authoritative studies and polls - that would
make a 'nation' that would fall in the top 10 most populated nations in
the world!
All good reasons, from our own Salesian pedigree to
a Papal shove forward, not to slacken our efforts, ever. And you
may wish to comment on this item on one of our own EAO social
media efforts to keep the conversation moving!
Click
here to comment on this item, or here to
assist with Glossary. You will need
to enter 20eao02 when asked for a password.
_________________
AustraLasia is an
email
service
for the Salesian Family of Asia Pacific. It also functions
as an
agency for ANS based in
Rome.
For queries please contact admin@bosconet.aust.com
.
Use Bosconet-wiki
to be interactive. RSS feeds - just go to Bosconet, click on
austraLasia
2009 in the sidebar. You will see the RSS orange icon in your browser
address bar - add it from there. Avail yourself of the Salesian
Digital
Library
at http://sdl.sdb.org
Title: australasia 2473
Subject and key words: EAO General Social Media
Date (year): 2009
ID: 2000-2099|2473
