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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