Addressing the participants in his keynote address, Fr. Mendes congratulated the delegates and participants of the Region for carrying out strong and effective social communication. "SSSC was a success because of the 95 percent work done by the delegates, for believing in what they were doing in the field of communication. Formation is the heart and the centre of the program of the Rector Major, thus the SSSC has greatly contributed to the ongoing formation of the Salesians," said Father Mendes. "I remember visiting a few provinces during my visit to India and the communication centres working in different provinces showed creativity and zeal to reach out to the young and the lay through Social media," added Fr. Mendes. He thanked the delegates of the South Asian Region for fostering and believing in communication. Fr. Mendes concluded by thanking the core team and the resource persons for their contribution and for executing the SSSC successfully.
Speaking on the occasion, Regional Counsellor for South Asia, Fr. Biju Michael, said, "I am happy to know the Salesians, youth and the lay people actively took part in the SSSC programme. When we look at the Church in India, we are reminded of the two-key purpose of social communication: first, the defence of truth, and second, the permeation of Christian values in the entire society. I am sure the topics of SSSC have dealt with these. However, the challenges of today are to pay attention to content creation and the circumstances in which the content is presented. The concrete example would be fake media, false news which raises the question if the content is in keeping with the truth. Also, the Church says, it would be shameful if the challenges of technology allow the Word of God to be silenced or obstructed. Hence the need to be trained in proper communication technology is the need of the hour."
"As for the part of the recipient of social communication, there should be a capacity for motivated selectivity of what is in the media. This is the challenge in helping young help who are bombarded with huge content all the time. The church gives us two criteria in carrying out this, namely, to accept all that excels in virtue and all that is an occasion for spiritual harm to be rejected in the process of motivated selectivity one has to be educated in. Besides, the other challenges would be moderation and discipline in the use of social media, especially among the young Salesians and youth at large," Father Michael said further.
ANS Director and Coordinator, SSSC South Asia, Father Harris Pakkam in his welcome address said, "the objective of SSSC was to help all the Salesians who are actively involved in communication be trained and updated with all the latest technologies and information that would help them to be effective in their media ministry. This idea was sown by General Counsellor for social communication, Father Gildasio Mendes, who very meticulously and patiently worked to make sure that all the regions of the congregation have got the School of Social Communication. The seeds sown over the past sixteen months will bear fruit, especially, in our region of South Asia’s communication apostolate."
Delegate of BOSCOM, Father Ernesto Rosario, presenting a summary of SSSC, said, "formation, information, animation, production, and engagement are the five pillars on which BOSCOM rests. SSSC began on September 24, 2021, and over the last 17 months had five sessions by the common core group from Rome and the remaining 6 topics specific to the region of South Asia." He then went on to present a summary of the various topics held during the course of the SSSC programme. SSSC was a wonderful time of coming together to learn, share and grow together. Fr. Rosario ended by quoting Pope Francis, 'the internet is something truly good, a gift from God.'
Brother Alister conducted the inaugural prayer service, while Fr. Michel Mackri said the concluding prayers. BOSCOM Secretary, Fr. Francis Xavier, proposed the vote of thanks. Fr. Prince, Zevian and Father Arvind also spoke on the occasion.
Francis Xavier
