(Università Pontificia Salesiana, Roma) – Satisfaction, gratitude, enthusiasm, planning and the future: it was under the banner of these elements that the General Councillor for Social Communication, Fr Gildasio Mendes, summarized and concluded the work of the World Conference on Social Communication “Shaping Tomorrow”, which took place during the last week (1-7 August 2024) at the Salesian Pontifical University (UPS) in Rome. An appointment that marked a watershed in the Salesian commitment to communication at the service of education and the evangelization of young people.
He repeated “Dear friends” several times and in several languages, the General Councillor for CS, as he kicked off his concluding speech at the event: not just a traditional incipit, but a confirmation of the message he was about to deliver, the one, that is, that recognises the highest communication value and the centrality to people. “Our Communication Delegates are the best treasure we have. You are the most important part, and have been from the beginning!” he added immediately afterwards.
“We have been working together for a long time,” he continued, “and as you may remember, during the Covid-19 pandemic, we started the School of Social Communication. Some people were incredulous, they thought people would not join in, but we went ahead anyway. Well, at the beginning of that journey I told you that we would celebrate the end of this school of communication in Rome, at UPS, in the summer. And here we are, now: more than 100 of you have come”.
“Your presence,” he continued, “is prophetic. You left your countries, packed your bags, worked to get visas, community funds… This for me is the best message of communication!”
Subsequently, he wanted to retrace the path taken by the Sector for Social Communication in recent years, thus placing the work of ‘Shaping Tomorrow’ in the broader panorama of work adopted. Therefore, he indicated the four fundamental axes of the work carried out by himself together with his first collaborators (Fr Ricardo Campoli, Fr Harris Pakkam and Fr Maciej Makuła)
• strengthening, caring, prioritising human relations;
• to pursue the formation in communication of Salesians and their collaborators, through online and in-presence meetings;
• encourage the structuring of CS in the Salesian world, through the development of a coordination for each Region, meetings and projects in communication networks;
• accompanying the digital transformation.
“We are very proud of all this,” he added, then referring to what was shared during Shaping Tomorrow. “Try to concretize everything we have heard here: two, three projects, no more, but give continuity to this conference”. And in this sense, he launched a proposal: that each CS Delegate could promote a second School of Communication organised at regional or provincial level, coordinate its work over the next few years, through monthly meetings, online or in presence, and thus encourage the dissemination of the skills conveyed and the convergence of Salesian action in Social Communication.
Again, after thanking all the organisers of the event – starting with Fr Makuła and his “Dream Team” and continuing with the various UPS authorities – he urged those present to ask their Superiors to consider the courses offered by the Faculty of Communication Sciences at UPS, recognising their formative value and the benefits they can offer for the Salesian mission.
“Young people and the poor must always be at the centre of our communication,” he later recalled. “If we do this, we will take our rightful place in the Congregation and in history. And we already do: you are doing an outstanding job!”
Lastly, he took the opportunity to present three different texts: the new document drawn up by the Sector “Social Communication at the Service of the Salesian Mission in the Church”, which will be handed over to the 29th General Chapter, defined as a “simple, practical, up-to-date text, the fruit of your work, of your contributions”, which contains the biblical foundations of communication, the theological and Christological ones, the anthropological one, the ethical aspects, the dialogue between communication, evangelization and the digital world; the system that inspires communication; the methodology of the Delegate; the administration of communication, and much more.
And then two more volumes: “Parallels 15 and 20”: a book in English that is a dialogue between Don Bosco and neuroscientists, quantum physicists and experts in Artificial Intelligence, the first copy of which was given to a young pregnant participant; and his other book, “As if he saw the invisible”, dedicated to Don Bosco and concerning his dreams for the young, which he offered to an Argentinean nun working at the Sacred Heart community in Rome.
In conclusion, the General Councillor recalled the importance of participating and spreading the project of the Sector of the “Don Bosco Global Youth Film Festival” (DBGYFF), the final of which is scheduled for 17-18 October 2024, exhorting everyone to organize the festival in all the provinces and invoked on all the protection and blessing of Mary Help of Christians.
Source: ANS – “Agenzia iNfo Salesiana”