Education Ethics and Pastoral Aesthetics in the Digital World

“Educational Ethics and Pastoral Aesthetics in the Digital World”

Meeting of Salesian delegates for formation and communications of the Americas

by Fr. João Carlos Ribeiro, SDB

(ANS - São Paulo, Brazil – September 12, 2022) – Continuing the program of meetings of the delegates for formation and communications of the various regions of the Salesian Congregation, a meeting on communications and formation of the Interamerica and America-South Cone regions was held in São Paulo from Sept. 6 to 11 at the Lapa Center on the theme: “Educational Ethics and Pastoral Aesthetics in the Digital World.”

Participants included Fr. Gildasio Mendes, general councilor for communications, and members of his department Fr. Ricardo Campoli and Fr. Matia Makula; and, from the formation department, Fr. Francisco Santos. A total of 51 people attended, including regional coordinators of communications and formation and provincial delegates of communications, including as many as 14 lay people with roles of responsibility in the area of communications. Fr. Dominic Tran, delegate for formation, represented the New Rochelle Province.

In opening the meeting, Fr. Justo Piccinini, provincial of the host province (São Paulo), welcomed the group. On that occasion, Fr. Mendes also presented the meeting’s objectives, explaining, “We do these meetings based on the programmatic proposal of Rector Major no. 3: ‘Living the Salesian Sacrament of Presence,’ in harmony with the proposals of the 28th General Chapter, the regional councilors, and the delegates of the provinces.”

Fr. Santos, representing the general councilor for formation, Fr. Ivo Coelho, welcomed everyone and motivated them to participate, emphasizing that “the objective of the meeting is the coordination of the formation initiatives that we carry out in each of the regions, as an accompaniment in the planning of the six-year term, at the level of the formation department and each of the regions. The department program has been going on for three years, and this is the first meeting we are able to conduct in person.”

While preserving moments of common celebrations, the two groups worked separately, but the fourth day of the meeting was reserved for the joint work of the two areas.

The delegates for communications followed a work agenda that touched on the following points: contributions to the communications working draft, the Global Covenant for Education, communications planning for the 6-year period, projects for the bicentennial of the 9-Year Dream (2024), a proposal of themes and methodologies for the international conference on communications (UPS 2024), collaboration with the Salesian iNfo Agency (ANS), and communication projects of the two regions.

The work agenda of the delegates for formation covered: the renewal process of the Ratio Fundamentalis, the 6-year plan of the regions, the statutes of the formation house boards of trustees in the region, the provincial plan of formation, the joint formation of Salesians and laity, the qualification plan of Salesians, the formation of formators, the vocation of the Salesian coadjutor and his specific formation, and the phase of the 5-year period.

The day of the joint meeting also included a summary of the work done in the provinces by the delegates of the two areas, followed by the interventions of the leaders of the two departments. Then, during a self-study and in a plenary session, guidelines and formation proposals for the digital world were developed.

As part of the work, the participants also visited the National Shrine of Our Lady of Aparecida and were welcomed for a moment of fraternal agape at the prenovitiate house in Lorena.

The meeting concluded in a fraternal and participatory manner and formulated concrete proposals so that the provinces, through the delegates for communications and formation, can give continuity to the study of the Salesian proposal for formation in the digital world.