Fr Mariusz Jawny SDB, the Coordinator of the School of Communication of the region, in his inaugural comments remarked: “It’s been a great effort to create a communication community that has helped to share the Gospel through media in many creative and effective ways”.
Br. Jean Paul Muller, the Economer General of the Salesian Congregation in his message to the participants affirmed that Salesians today need to be well informed and formed on all the essential and current aspects of Communication as it influences our Pastoral ministry and Mission. He spoke on how Salesians are involved in promoting advocacy, working in secular environments and establishing partnerships on projects connected with the young, poor and environment. He concluded stating: “We need to focus today on communication challenges, such as artificial intelligence, ecology across the globe and create that synergy and networking in our Salesian work in a professional way in the societies where we live in. We need to consciously open ourselves to communication with the whole world, because we live in a time of globalization”.
The school was attended by participants from Belgium, Poland, Slovenia, Malta, Austria, England, Germany, Czech Republic, Ireland, France, Hungary, Croatia and Slovakia. In this region, classes were held in two languages: English and Italian. Among the topics dealt were the following: Discerning and Seeking the truth through the media (fake news); Crisis Intervention and Crisis Communication; Marketing in Salesian style and ways to run promotions through various platforms; Designing Provincial Communication Plan; Fostering Advocacy for the Poor through Media and Pastoral Work for the benefit of Youth in a Secular background.
Some of the participants shared their testimonies and impressions of the year-long communication school. Małgorzata Gajos, from Poland, was grateful to those who shared their knowledge and experience with the participants. She expressed that she learnt a lot and would be able to apply this knowledge to future media-related activities. “I think the most important thing that the school gave me is the formation. Of course, there was a lot of knowledge, but formation and the opportunity to be with you all, to meet you, to be the part of Salesian Family was really important for me” – Małgorzata said.
Maja Zibert, from Slovenia, noted that all have similar challenges in the field of social communication, and that we need to learn to communicate through social media, which is a very important part of our work in the Salesian Family.
Towards the end of the meeting, Fr Gildasio Mendes thanked Fr Mariusz Jawny for his service as the delegate for his province and the coordinator of the region. Fr Mariusz expressed his gratitude stating: “I am happy, I was able to contribute and do some nice communication work for our congregation” and he thanked the participants and the team for their collaboration and support.
Fr Roman Jachimowicz, the Regional Councillor, also thanked Fr Mariusz for his excellent work, and emphasised that nowadays we need to get used go to “meta-world”, the so-called “metaverse” and keep learning how to communicate information and the Gospel, using the methods, symbols and language of the digital world. He also introduced, Fr Marcin Wosiek from Poland as the new coordinator for Communication for the Central Europe & North region.
A note of thanks to all the participants for their involvement and enthusiasm that made this communication school a great success. The school will resume soon with other new topics related to media and communication.
