(Kerala, India) The first meeting for the joint communication team of all the Indian Redemptorist units, was held at Liguori Province Kerala. The board members, Frs. Charles Vijay (Bangalore), Derreck da Cruz (Majella) and Sijo Thaliath (Liguori) attended it with the chairperson Rev. Fr. Biju Madathikunnel, the Provincial of Liguori Province, Kerala on January 14, 2020.
The meeting began with a sharing of the vision for the media ministry based on the decisions of the General Chapter and the proposal of the Strategic Plan for Communication and Media. Fr Biju then began the discussions by sharing the various media projects undertaken by the Liguori Province. After the sharing of the different media projects undertaken by the three units, we discussed the benefits of collaboration.
The second session began with planning on how we can collaborate in the field of media. Fr Biju animated the session and brought out the four areas in which the media collaboration can happen, namely: awareness, formation, networking and ministry. To facilitate the collaboration, it was decided to form a structure for media collaboration between the three units. It would constitute of a board made up of one representative from each of the units, Sijo from Liguori Province, Charles from Bangalore Province and Derreck from Majella Vice-Province, with Biju as the chair-person. Working with the board would be media teams for each of the units, consisting of confreres and lay people who were involved with media work. Available to the media teams would be a pool of resource people who were professionals in their respective fields and would be consulted or hired for the various projects that the teams would undertake. It was decided that this pool of professionals would be across the country, to give us the best quality and avoid redundancy.
In the third session, we decided on how to begin the collaboration – namely, which projects to initiate. It was decided that we should not spend too much time planning, and then flag during the actual implementation. Instead, we decided to make the process iterative, bringing out short tangible results early on, so that we can clearly share the results with others and get them on board. Two Facebook pages, one with secular content and the other with Catholic content which would be updated regularly, will be the first goals. As these projects become a reality, we will also plan on other projects such as video production, mobile apps, design and printing and more.
Fr. Sijo Thaliath C.Ss.R.
