austraLasia #2270


SIGNIS Media and a Salesian presence

BRUSSELS: 4th October 2008 -- Almost certainly, to begin mentioning some names here will leave others out, but since austraLasia is largely read in the EAO-AS regions, one or two names of Salesians contributing in a major way to SIGNIS, the official Catholic worldwide media organisation, jump out: Fr Peter Gonsalves, now lecturing at the UPS, Fr Ambrose Pereira, Rector in Honiara, Solomon Islands, and Fr C.M. Paul, Kolkata Province but currently completing YAD (Yet Another Doctorate, I suppose you could say) at the UPS.
    Which brings us to the quarterly production of SIGNIS Media and 3/2008 in particular, just out (and viewable on SDL if you wish).  As a matter of interest I ran a search on 'Salesian' in this 28 full-colour pdf version of the Quarterly.  It demonstrates rather well that Don Bosco's desire to 'spread good books' has become much more than books. Them too, but also a strong presence in today's media of every kind.
    Page 2: Best journalist - Fr. Paul Cheruthottupuram, Salesian, received the award for best reporter. In May 2008 during the XIV National Journalists Conference held in Bangalore, India, the Indian Catholic Press Association (ICPA) presented the Salesian from the Calcutta Province (INC) the award for best reporter of the South Asia Religious News. The award was presented by Fr. Rosario Sunsil, the editor of “The Herald Kolkata”, the oldest Catholic weekly in India. It is the first time that the “John Barret” Award named after the Jesuit founder of the ICPA, has been given to a Salesian.
    Page 22: ...the Archdiocese of Madras-Mylapore has announced its initiative to plan, produce, and carry out the making of a film on Saint Thomas. The local Archbishop Malayappan Chinappa (a Salesian), has presented the project to the Bishops of Kerala and those of Tamil Nadu, who have expressed their support for the idea. Kerala and Tamil Nadu are precisely the lands where Saint Thomas preached and later became a martyr.
    Page 25: Radio Salesiana en La Paz volvió al aire Radio Salesiana con más de 15 años de vida y después de un corto período de suspensión volvió al aire, esta vez como parte de la Universidad Salesiana de Bolivia (USB), con el propósito de dar difusión al evangelio y la cultura en un trabajo compartido entre los ex-alumnos de Don Bosco, la Comunidad Salesiana y el equipo de trabajo de la USB. Radio Salesiana tiene ahora nuevas instalaciones y está siendo equipada paulatinamente para cumplir una labor comunicativa acorde a los principios por los que fue creada. Asimismo, se anunció que se está constituyendo un equipo humano con el que se desarrollará una programación novedosa que incluirá la participación de las diferentes carreras de esa casa superior de estudios, animados fundamentalmente por el servicio a la población. La nuevas instalaciones fueron bendecidas por Mons. Luciano Suriani, Nuncio Apostólico, acompañado por las autoridades universitarias y la Directiva del
Centro de Ex-Alumno Don Bosco. (Basically telling us that the high Andes city of La Paz's Radio Salesiana is now broadcasting under the aegis of the Salesian University of Bolivia in an enterprise which closely involves the Past Pupils of Don Bosco, and is working in with the various departments of the University to provide an all-encompassing service of evangelisation and culture. La Paz is about as high as you can get for city on the globe without actually being branded as a satellite, so the coverage might be pretty good!)
    Of course, 'Salesian' is but one search term. Try 'Bosco'.
    Page 15: “Hemos tratado de traducir en bits el mensaje del Evangelio y las palabras del Papa”, añaden. Los medios católicos que han participado en el proyecto por son: Afriradio, Catholic.net, Centro Televisivo Vaticano, DonBoscoLand, H2Onews, Inside the Vatican Magazine, Korazym, La Croix, Le Jour du Segneur, MISNA, Movimiento de los Focolares, One o Five live, Pj Online/San Pablo, Radio Renascença, Radio Vaticana, Reuters, Salt and Light Televisión, SIR,Telepace y la agencia Zenit. (The groups which came together to provide multimedia global coverage of the WYD in Sydney and have continued their collaboration now in other fields.)
    There are also the non-search 'virtual' terms where one just happens to know that Salesians are involved but neither of the above terms will quite tell you that. The story on RIIAL (Red Informatica de la Iglesia America Latina), for instance, heavily supported by Salesians SDB and FMA at every level throughout Latin America. Or the story on Catholic Radios in Brazil (noting an earlier austraLasia #2263 on Radio São Gonçales, Campo Grande). Or the story on Children's TV Programs, and the news that just a fortnight ago, the Slovak Province signed a deal as one of the three major partners for a Catholic TV Station in the country. Not to mention the Ugandan Salesian Moses Wanjala who runs a thoughtful blog at http://www.wanjalamoses.blogspot.com
    Not a lot of doubt, really, of Salesian involvement in media evangelisation today!
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 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 2008 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 2270
Subject and key words: SDB General, EAO General: media involvement
Date (year): 2008
ID: 2000-2099|2270