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Newsletter June 2013

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SSCS

Newsletter no. 44 June 2013

At a glance
Other News

GMG RIO 2013

GMG RIO 2013

Request from the joint YM and SC Commission at national level in Brazil - Could you please include this banner (and its link to their site at www.mjs.org.br) in your local Salesian websites.  
link: www.mjs.org.br

France - 8th Festiclip at Lyons

France - 8th Festiclip at Lyons

17 June 2013. About 80 people, mostly young people, coming from all over France and from abroad, took part in the concluding ceremony of the eighth Festiclip, an exhibition of videoclips. It took place at the Jean-Bosco Salesian Centre in Lyons on 1 June last. The festival consisted of an exhibition of various short films made by the young people in the course of the scholastic year, on topics of interest to young people today, such as videogames, sexism, alcohol, AIDS, etc.

The whole atmosphere was cheerful and there were some humorous exhibits. Nine short films were entered for the exhibition and there was also a tenth which was not part of the competition.

At the end of each showing, a young man called Sendu, designer of the Salesian magazine Don Bosco Aujourd’hui and a member of the jury, did a quick on-the-spot sketch typical of the film which was shown at the side of the stage. Later, all the participants were asked to give a mark for each of the videos except their own.

Before awarding the prizes, the jury passed a comment, from a pedagogical point of view, on each of the films, pointing out the positive aspects and also the elements that could be improved in the future. Sr Marie-Agnès Chetcutti, President of the Festiclip, then said, on behalf of all the members: “The jury would like to congratulate all the participants for the courage you have shown in dealing with topics that touch your lives and making a film about them. We are impressed by the great work you and your companions have done, teamwork in search of beautiful images and beautiful sounds.”

The audience prize went to “Replay”, a video directed by the young people of Campus Pouillé. This film looks at the question of sexual discrimination, and was appreciated by the audience for its originality, and its surprising turn of events. The jury prize went to Vengeance ou pardon” (vengeance of pardon), directed by a group from the Laurenfance community. It dealt with various topics such as the sense of guilt and the consequences of our actions. It was much appreciated also for the quality of the script.

The young people from the Private Technical High School Le Puits de l’Aune, with their video “Mario and Luigi” (Mario and Luigi at High School) received two prizes, one for humour and one for creativity. Their short film told the story of the difficulties encountered in getting into High School. It showed great originality and had a number of funny jokes.

This eighth festival finished with the Goodnight given by Peter Hoang, a Vietnamese Salesian, a missionary in Project Europe and member of the Atelier Multimédia. He did some origami for the audience, showing how many elements are needed to produce something beautiful. He compared this to the Festiclip project where several teams of young people, each accompanied by an adult, have done their best to make these videos.

The winners of the audience and jury prizes can be seen on the website of the France-Belgium South Province. Next year’s Festiclip will take place on 24 May 2014.

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Brazil - Education and Evangelization in comic format

Brazil - Education and Evangelization in comic format

31 May 2013. The Network of Salesian Schools in Brazil (RSE) launched a website “Nossa Turma” (our class) at the end of April. This project will present the daily life in Salesian schools through the medium of comics. Visitors to the “Our Class” website will be able to see various publications, animated cartoons, to get to know the staff and to suggest topics for new stories. The website exists already on the social networks and on the portal of the RSE. It carries stories of Christian, Catholic and Salesian life in daily strips that introduce 30 people – students, educators, sisters and Salesians.

“The project was born out of the need to transmit the values of RSE in a language closer to that used in daily life by the students, and to ensure that these stories will be widely viewed on the social networks” according to Celio Ballona, Communications Officer of RSE. In its first month it dealt with topics like: Fraternity Campaign 2013, World Youth Day, ways to holiness, the power of prayer, love for nature, citizenship, relationships with peers and with teachers.”

Other regular topics include Don Bosco’s recommendations on relationships in schools, and the Salesian five S's: (Successo, Salute, Sostenibilità, Saggezza e Solidarietà – success, health, sustainability, wisdom and solidarity). “Our Class is a project aimed at creating an atmosphere of interaction between students, teachers and families. It reinforces the intention of RSE to form good Christians and honest citizens. In conversation with well known people the project draws attention to RSE and its educational-pastoral aims. There are references to global values of faith and typical situations found in a Christian school,” adds Mr Ballona.

As far as the Salesian aspect is concerned, apart from the involvement of the educative community, the Our Class strips contain the essence of Salesian pedagogy, “to educate by evangelizing and to evangelize by educating,” says Antonio Boeing, head of Pastoral Ministry in RSE. The language of the comics helps the young people to adopt Salesian values. “A Salesian school is known as one with a pastoral vision, in which all the activities transmit the values of the Salesian Institute. These cannot be taught rigidly or in language the young people cannot understand. These comics are beautiful because they communicate the essentials in informal language, and attract the interest of students and teachers.”

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From you

New Book: Published by the Missions Department, "Study Days on Salesian Presence among Muslims."
Themes and discussions during the meeting in the Generalate-Rome, which took place last 30 July-4 August 2012.

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Meetings

ARGENTINA: 16-22 September 2013, CS delegates meeting - America
INDIA: 15-18 October 2013, CS Delegates Meeting - South Asia
THAILAND: 21-24 October 2013 CS Delegates Meeting - EAO
ROME: Pisana 15-17 November 2013, Meeting of Editors of Europe

   
Animation - Letter from Fr Filiberto

Dear SC Delegates,
My greetings to all of you! May you be centered on God, rooted in Christ, with the desire and willingness to communicate the love of God to the young, especially the poor. I turn now to the following points.

First, thank you for the closeness that you have shown me during the passing away of my mother. Your love and your prayers have been of great comfort to my family as we witnessed her passing away in peace and in hope.

Congratulations also, to all the participants who have made their Provincial Chapters a charismatic experience of communication, making good use of social media and both the new and old technologies of communication. Many delegates have done so in their own provinces, changing the mentality and the confreres' image of communication. They have so enriched the way of belonging and participating in this most important event of a Province: the Provincial Chapter.

Then I invite you all to follow, inform and give to others an idea of the major events that the young people are going to experience in our Church and our Congregation: World Youth Day (WYD) and, in this context, the meeting of the Salesian Youth Movement (MGS) with the presence of the Rector Major, the Mother General of the FMA, and some members of their respective General Councils. The quality of the information, reflection and synergy between the Departments during both events is a fruit of our love for the mission to assist young people that the Lord has entrusted to us in the Church and in the Congregation. Let us combine our forces, enflame our hearts, strengthen our vocation, intensify our prayers and produce communications of good quality.

Finally, let us maintain our enthusiasm, our reflections and inform each other as we approach the GC 27. Please send in promptly and correctly completed, the requested forms from the Moderator and Departments. All data collected will form the basis for the reading and interpretation of the current situation of the Congregation which the Rector Major and the Chapter members will make.

I finish by recommending the distribution of the magazine SALESIANI 2014 among the members of the Salesian Family and to the people who work in institutions, companies and organizations in the field of education for the integral development of children, adolescents and young people. This year, the unifying theme of the magazine is the Salesian pedagogy.

The members of the SC Department greet you.

Yours in Don Bosco.
Fr. Filiberto


Information: New presence in digital playgrounds: two provincial websites restyled
New presence in digital playgrounds: two provincial websites restyled

Our presence in the digital continent is one of the characteristics of Salesian work for young people today and into the future. The digital playground does not replace the Oratory playground, but takes its place alongside it as a new field of education and evangelization. This is the reason why many Salesian centres are constantly renewing and modernizing their internet websites.

Radio, television, publishing houses, pastoral projects, communities and even Provinces are among the many Salesian entities present on the web that regularly update their digital interface. ANS frequently reports structural changes or restyling of websites.

It is a good Salesian tradition that new initiatives are launched officially on Salesian Family Feasts. On 24 May last, for example, on the Feast of Mary Help of Christians, two Provinces launched new web portals: that of Brazil–San Paolo, under the patronage of Mary Help of Christians, and that of Central Africa whose patron is Mary Assumed into Heaven.

The site of the Brazilian province – http://www.salesianos.com.br/ – can be viewed also on tablet or cell-phone. It not only offers more content but is more user-friendly with new possibilities for interaction, increased search facilities, better organization of information, feedback and links to various social networks.

Access to the social networks is one of the characteristics also of the Central African portal – http://donbosco-rdc.org/. The link to its Facebook page can be found already on the home page. Among the other characteristics of the site are light and attractive graphics, and the space devoted to multimedia contents such as videos and slide-shows.

These are innovations which are very much in line with the general guidelines of the Church to make more use of new spaces offered by the internet for a wider field of evangelization.

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Formation: SSCS Handbook: Don Bosco's Vision
SSCS Handbook: Don Bosco's Vision

Don Bosco had a broad understanding of communication. The letter he wrote on the dissemination of good books is like a magna carta expressing his apostolic heart, faith and entrepreneurial vision.

Communication was a priority mission area for him: “This dissemination of good books is one of the principle ends of our Congregation… I beg and plead with you, then, not to neglect this most important part of our mission” It is also of interest that in his very first encounter with Pope Pius IX as written up by the cleric Rua who accompanied him, Don Bosco responded to the Pontiff’s question as to what he did in Turin, in these words: “Your Holiness, I am involved in educating youth and with the Catholic Readings.”

Besides the press and the “dissemination of good books,” Don Bosco used all available communication tools and languages for education available in his time: the theatre, academies, music …

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Production: Madagascar - Radio Don Bosco: a valuable instrument and an example of good journalism
Madagascar - Radio Don Bosco: a valuable instrument and an example of good journalism

27 May 2014. A radio run by the Malagasy for the Malagasy, and a clean voice in a world of corrupt journalism, Radio Don Bosco was started by the Salesians in 1996 at Antananarivo, the capital of Madagascar. The quality and transparency of its news service, and its widespread reception, make it a real example of service of the people.

It was one of the first private broadcasters in the country. Its service was mainly educative and cultural, and it soon became a precious instrument for the Church by means of the project ”ReSat”. The plan was to provide a Catholic radio station in each of the 21 dioceses of the country. This plan was to be realized by setting up a satellite network allowing broadcasters to communicate with each other and to receive programmes produced by Radio Don Bosco. At present, there are 16 diocesan broadcasters in the country and all the programmes are produced in the Salesian studios.

“With this collaboration, the local stations receive our radio news service and other transmissions, while we have correspondents in all the dioceses. Following the coup d’etat of 2009, when all other communications were interrupted, we were the only means of receiving news from every part of the country.” So said Fr Claudio Colli, Superior of the Salesian Vice-Province of Madagascar, to the head of the Italian Branch of the Aid to the Church in Need Foundation.

In Madagascar, the Catholic media are much appreciated even by non-Christians, because their new service is objective and impartial. Today about thirty people are working in the studios in Antananarivo. All programmes are produced in the Malagasy language. They are educative and they cover topics related to health, the rights of minors, the social teaching of the Church, and the rights of workers and of women.

“Despite the difficulties,” adds Fr Colli, “we try to help the people to maintain always a positive outlook on the situation, even at times when there are few signs of hope.”

The radio news service and many other transmissions are followed by more than three million people throughout the island. Speaking to the Italian Branch of Aid to the Church in Need, Bishop Rosario Vella, SDB, of Ambanja in the north of the country, had this to say, “Our Catholic radio stations reach every house and hut, even in the most remote villages. They are a very important instrument for the spread of the faith and for the promotion of education. Listening to the radio is a pleasant, healthy, educative and useful way of passing free time.”

In a country marked by political instability, being one of the most listened-to radio stations brings its own problems. It often happens that journalists are subjected to pressure from the world of politics. For this reason, Fr Luke Treglia, Delegate for Social Communications, examines carefully every news item. “Journalism in Madagascar,” says Fr Colli, “is going through very difficult times. There is a lot of corruption and there is no impartial news service. That is why our work is particularly important. We give an example of an unbiased service, among the many serving their own interests in our society.”

Aid to the Church in Need is a Foundation of Pontifical Right founded in 1947 by Fr. Werenfried van Straaten. It is outstanding for its support for the Church’s mission in areas where the Church is persecuted or lacking the means to fulfil its mission. In 2011 it carried out more than 4,600 projects in 145 countries.

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