KRAKOW/YOKOHAMA
--
We talk so much about young people in the 'digital continent'
and how
certain skills and ways of expressing themselves come
naturally to
them. An interesting proof of this is the activity which the
Salesian
theologate in Krakow gave birth to several years back. It goes
by the
name of ART. 43 (the
key
article on communications in the SDB Constitutions. Check it
out!).
Art 43 has already produced some very good quality
documentaries, and
has spread well beyond Krakow. They have run workshops in
Ghana, have
producved any number of radio programmes, work in with Missioni
Don
Bosco, Turin, and now a special documentary is being
planned for Japan,
focussing especially on Salesian Polish missionary Fr Michal
Moskwa,
the 'patriarch' of Yokohama, where he is currently based and
still, at
96 years of age, remarkably active and alert!
How ART.43 sees itself (as
expressed by Roman himself):
"So then we became aware
that one
of our greatest duties as Salesians is to use mass-media to
evangelise.
We certainly consider all mass-media, not just press, also
cinema,
radio, television, and today, especially, in a privileged
way,
Internet. It would seem that these media are not yet
sufficiently
valued. However in recent years they have become basic tools
for social
communication, since they have much greater impact than the
“written
word”, especially for the young. This should urge us to
develop the
most modern media, while obviously not forgetting about
print.
Armed with this belief, in
2006, at
the Theological studentate in Krakow, a group of young
confreres
founded a movement called : “ART. 43”. This gave rise to the
“ART. 43
Salesian Movement”, which aims to popularise awareness
amongst
Salesians and young people of the challenge of mass-media so
it can be
employed in the Salesian mission field of evangelisation. So
far 4 core
groups of ART. 43 have been founded. One is in the
studentate in
Krakow, another within the Mission Volunteer Movement “Young
people for
the world”, the third in the studentate in Ląd and the
fourth in Piła.
This last one was the initiative of young people. In 2010
the first
ART. 43 workshop was set up in Ghana.
Our hope is that this
movement will
grow in the Salesian world in the future, including in poor
countries.
It promotes: radio, television, Salesian web sites. If
someone invents
new ways of being present in the mass-media, we Salesians
will be the
first to use it to proclaim the Word of God. These are the
“new
areopagi” as termed by John Paul II in his Encyclical
Redemptoris
Missio. We are all invited to be part of this mission".
The
planing for the Japan documentary is still in the making, but
likely to
take place later in the year. But having seen some of ART 43's
work
already, I can assure you that it will be a quality
production,
suitable for TV (their products are already in demand on
Polish
television).
And while we are at it, it might be worth mentioning that
today on SDBwebTV (http://www.sdb.org/en/SDB_webTV/Provinces)
we published a documentary put together by the Slovenian
province. It
is worth taking a look at. They have produced it with an
English and
Italian voice-over as well as Slovenian.
Are you aware of other material of this kind in your province?
If so, please send a link along to us.
