(ANS – Roma) – The Department of Social Communications has just held the last meeting of the World Advisory Council for this six year period, as the other Departments have done in recent months. About 25 Salesians working in the area of Social Communications met at the Generalate in Rome from 12 to 16 April, to contribute the fruit of their experience to the work of the Department.

The Rector Major opened the work of the Advisory Council by reading and commenting on the letter written by Don Bosco in 1885, on the spread of good literature. This is a text that contains basic elements that characterize the Salesian approach to communication. In fact, Fr Chavez defined the text as “a manifesto for Salesian communications that is still valid today”, despite the rapid advances in the area of communications.

The meeting was coordinated by the Councillor for Social Communications, Fr Filiberto Gonzalez. The members worked in groups according to topic, and in plenary sessions. The eight regions of the Congregation were well represented, and also the different areas of work – from study and research, to regional and national coordination, to various enterprises and the Salesian Bulletin. The participants included one representative from each of the other three departments, Youth Ministry, Missions and Formation.

The agenda included the following:

Formation for Social Communication
Responding to the needs and the requests of many Salesians, the Department has begun to think of a formation plan in social communications for Salesians. The participants in the Advisory Council made some suggestions for drawing up a simple training plan for publishing that could be extended later to include digital publishing. They considered various articles that had been prepared for this purpose by experts in various disciplines. This material constitutes a valuable starting point, and should soon be published.

Evaluation of the six year period
The Advisory Council took as its starting point the programme for Social Communications for the period 2008-2014, and identified some aspects of the work of the Department that the Councillor for Social Communications should present to the 27th General Chapter. The contribution of the Advisory Council is valuable because it offers an outside view of what has been done during these years.

Proposals regarding Social Communications for the next six year period
A third topic studied was a list of important elements that should be borne in mind in drawing up the programme of the Department for the next six year period. The suggestions referred to the organization of the Department and the coordinating of its activities with those of other departments.

Contribution to the 27th General Chapter
The last working session, that of Sunday morning, was devoted to drawing up a proposal to be sent to the Moderator of the 27th General Chapter.

During the period 2008 to 2014, there were three meetings of the World Advisory Council on Social Communications: Madrid 2009, Rome 2011 and the one that finished yesterday.

Published 15/04/2013