Alotau: Thirty – five participants representing twenty – two Archdioceses and Dioceses within the Episcopal Conference of Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands attended a week-long Social Communications Summit for Diocesan Communications Personnel.
Organized by the Social Communications Commission of the Catholic Bishops Conference of PNGSI, the Summit was held from March 16 – 22 at the St Paul Pastoral Center in Hagita, in the Alotau – Sideia Diocese.
The Summit featured insightful and inspiring presentations from both the SOCOM team and guest facilitators.
The participants were warmly welcomed to the St Paul Pastoral Center grounds on Sunday March 16 by a children’s singsing group where they were addressed by Mr Jeffrey Benoma Who welcomed the participants and the SOCOM team on behalf of his Lordship Bishop Rolando Santos CM.
The first day had SOCOM Secretary Sr Daisy Anne Lisania Augustine MSC taking participants through the session of Internet Ethics stressing that as Diocesan Communications Personnel, it is important for them to have internet ethics when disseminating information to the Catholic faithful and people of goodwill.
The SOCOM officers then took the participants through sessions on news writing and photography followed by practical activities that had participants work in groups to compile news articles and also do photography activities.
Concluding the first day in the evening was Sr Daisy’s talk highlighting the World Communications Day and her sharing on the Jubilee of the world of Communications in Rome that recently had representatives from the commission attend with the Bishop Deputy, His Lordship Bishop Jozef Roszynski SVD.
The program for the second day had Sr Daisy taking the participants through Church Communication documents before SOCOM Officer Donovan Pintol came in with a session on Heat Press Printing.
Mr Pintol guided the participants on how to use Artificial Intelligence to earn an income by creating designs using AI tools and printing them on T-shirts to sell.
Guest presenters for the day included the Alotau Caritas Diocesan Coordinator Mr James Tomiyavau who highlighted the role of the DCCs in the Dioceses while Caritas PNG Communications Officer Isabella Saleu touched on how media coverage is important in the different project activities implemented.
Miss Saleu concluded her talk by encouraging the Diocesan Media Personnel to collaborate with the Diocesan Caritas Coordinators to ensure there is church media coverage in the diocesan activities conducted by the DCCs.
NBC Alotau Journalist in Charge Priscilla Waikaidi concluded the presentations for the second day with her talk on The Role of Media in the Community and inspiring the participants.
The session was followed by a wonderful Question and Answer session that had the participants eagerly asking Mrs Waikaidi to share some insight about her job and give some tips to help them in their roles as Diocesan Medial Personnel.
After the Q&A session, the participants went for an excursion to the NBC Alotau Office where they were warmly welcomed by the Station Manager, the Executive Producer and the staff.
The participants then called into the Diocesan Headquarters for a courtesy call and for an informal audience with the shepherd of the Diocese, His Lordship Bishop Rolando Santos CM.
Bishop Rolando welcomed the participants and expressed sentiments of gratitude to the SOCOM team for hosting the summit in his diocese.
The third day allowed group discussions and sharing of some challenges faced by the Diocesan Media Personnel in their respective dioceses before the participants went to East Cape for another excursion and reflection writing activity.
On the final day, the participants drew up their diocesan communications plans, and structures based on their respective local contexts and work on their reflections from the previous day’s excursion to East Cape.
Bishop Deputy for the Social Communications Commission His Lordship Bishop Jozef Roszynski SVD had an opportunity to address the participants.
Bishop Roszynski SVD commended the participants for challenging themselves to grasp the concept of communication from the Church’s perspective and encouraged them to return to their dioceses and be communicators of Hope.
The participants also had the privilege of attending the Chrism mass at the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in the heart of Alotau that had His Lordship Bishop Rolando Santos CM as the main celebrant.
A small but significant closing ceremony was held back at the Pastoral Center after the mass and highlighted sharing of testimonies by the participants, Bishop Roszynski’s final address, the SOCOM Secretary’s address and the main highlight – presentation of certificates.
Bishop Roszynski SVD challenged the participants to be communicators and evangelizers of hope through media.
“Out of the many, you were chosen to be part of this cohort. Your Bishops and your Dioceses saw the potential you had; thus, you are now sitting here. As you return, you have the duty to be communicators of hope”.
SOCOM Secretary Sr Daisy Anne Lisania Augustine MSC in her concluding remarks acknowledged the support of the Catholic Bishops Conference, the Bishop Deputy and Assistant Bishop Deputy for SOCOM for their unwavering support which led to the success of the Summit.
“This is the first time that the Commission has had a good turnout of participants from almost every diocese and this means a lot to our team. It also shows how much your diocese has invested in you and counting on you to be our collaborators in CBC to disseminate news of activities happening in our dioceses”
The program concluded with the presentation of certificates.
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