The present
Social Communication Delegates, members of their teams and the other participants in the conference began to meet in Rome a few days ago. Scrolling through the list of about 150 members means opening an atlas on the vastness of the Salesian presences in the world and on their commitment to make known the good that is done in every corner of the globe in the name of Don Bosco: from Argentina to Zambia – in alphabetical order – or from India to Slovenia, from Spain to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, from Ireland to Papua New Guinea, from Angola to Camobogia... – following a geographical scheme that encompasses all latitudes and longitudes.
The simultaneous presence in the same place of many personalities actively engaged in Salesian social communication has already achieved – even before the official start of work – some of the expected results of the event: the development of synergies and the creation or renewal of personal and community ties. Some of the participants were able to take the opportunity to formally structure their commitments, such as the Social Communication Delegates from Africa, who have already met to discuss together the perspectives and paths to be taken together.
A look at the journey made
There has been much work prior to "Shaping Tomorrow": conceived already two years ago by the General Councillor for Salesian Social Communication, Fr Gildasio Mendes, together with his Sector team, as a truly global formation opportunity for Salesian communication, it has been carried out all this time by the main coordinators of the initiative, Fr Maciej Makula and Fr Ricardo Campoli (for the SC Sector) and Fr Fabio Pasqualetti (for the UPS FSC), together with an international team of other valuable collaborators (Dariusz Bartocha, Monika Kalinowska, Carlos Mendez, Mamy Augustin Raheriarisoa, Aleksandra Stankiewicz and Marcin Wosiek) and the continuous support of numerous other Salesians, members of the Salesian Family and lay people.
In addition to the work behind the scenes to contact the prominent speakers and organise all the logistical aspects of the event, the central team prepared the event over a long accompanying journey, with a dedicated website and the dissemination of numerous ideas for reflection and essays on the current communicative reality aimed at providing participants with the necessary background so that the seeds that will be cast in the coming days will flourish. All these materials are accessible both on the websitehttps://www.shapingtomorrowsdb.org and the ANS agency – www.infoans.org – which has gladly made itself the spokesperson for this formation course with weekly publications throughout 2024.
Expectations
With only a few hours left until the opening of the event, which is also expected to be attended by the Rector Major of the Salesians of Don Bosco, Card. Ángel Fernández Artime, the expectations are therefore very high.
“I came to Rome to participate in the ‘Shaping Tomorrow’ conference to find out what directions the Salesian Congregation intends to take to meet the young people of today so as to communicate the Gospel of hope to the world. And as the person in charge of communication in my Vice-Province, the Mamá Muxima Vice-Provice of Angola, I hope to help communication between the Salesians and with the local Church grow”, Fr Luigi de Liberali shared in the corridors of the Salesian Headquarters in Rome.
Fr Sebastian Koladiyil, Delegate for Social Communication in the St John Bosco Province of East Africa, echoed him: “As a Salesian I am called to go and meet young Salesians in this technological landscape in continuous, exponential development. I want to help them so that they are able to find their identity on their own, and do not leave this task to the media or the rapidly advancing Artificial Intelligence.”
On his part Fr Andrea Mau Mau, Vice Provincial & Social Communication Delegate, Myanmar, added: “I have come to this Communication Conference with a great desire of updating myself on all the latest topics in Communication in connection to our Salesian Mission with the young. I am eagerly waiting to hear the speakers and listen to their inputs on these well selected topics”.
“I am fascinated by the title, ‘Shaping Tomorrow’. I thought this conference is going to be a great opportunity to shape myself, my ideas, my knowledge and my perceptions of these trending and actual topics in the field of Communication. I lead the Don Bosco Media Network where I have 50 collaborators and I have great hopes to go back and share with them all this knowledge, strategies and guidelines for the effective realization of our Communication mission,” finally stated Fr Michael Makri, Director DBMN & Social Communication Delegate, Shillong.
Invitation and contacts
“We invite you to participate in the communication conference that will be held from 1 to 7 August 2024 in Rome” is the exhortation that comes from the Social Communication Sector.
All sessions will be available via live streaming in four languages on Shaping Tomorrow's YouTube channels (Italian - English - Spanish - French).
For more information, see also the Facebook page and Instagram profile of "Shaping Tomorrow".
