(ANS – Brisbane) – Salesian Father Ambrose Pereira has gone to Australia from the Solomon Islands to pursue social media studies, as part of his mission to encourage the young people. The Australian newspaper “The Catholic Leader” dialogued with him and from the chat emerges the Salesian approach to Social Communication.

Completing a Masters in Communications for Social Change at the University of Queensland, Fr Ambrose’s mission vision is clear. “I want our young people to use social media not merely to look back at pleasant photo memories of themselves (…) but to look beyond selfies and reach out to help others”.

“People in their communities are struggling with all sorts of issues – corruption, abuse, the impact of climate change and so on. How can our youngsters best bring these concerns out into the media and help make a difference for good? Also, how can I help them best share what they are thinking about, whether it be about faith or moral values and ways to reflect on these? What are the most effective ways to use Facebook, Twitter and other communication means such as articles and video clips?” the Salesian missionary asks.

“If I can help these young people to do these things, even in small ways, they will become missionaries to their own people” he concludes.

Fr Pereira has been a missionary in the Solomon Islands since 1998 and was director of Catholic Communications in the Solomon Islands till 2010. He conducted media education courses in various locations across the Solomon Islands.

Regular weekend courses were conducted at the Bosco House of Prayer in Kola Ridge. Students, particularly from Catholic schools, profited from short-term courses, helping them to analyse and appreciate the various fields of mass media. He was also responsible for initiating “Radio BOSCO FM 89.9” at Tetere, training young radio presenters from the villages of North Guadalcanal to produce and broadcast programmes.

Fr Pereira now focuses on his latest mission. “I worked on a photography project on identity and dreams with students. (…) I was very touched by the reflections of one girl who had selected a photo of paramedics with their equipment. She wrote that she had chosen the photo because she wanted to be a paramedic, because her mother had died of cancer and she wanted to help others. It’s experiences such as this which give me great hope for teaching the young to interact with media in positive ways which can help the whole community.”

The full article is available here.

Published 12/03/2015