Guidelines for organising Social Communication in the province using the
SSCS
Guidelines for organising Social Communication in the Province
Basic criteria and common areas for SSCS activity[1]

On one of my visits to a formation house in South America, on a young Salesian priest's office door there was a large red poster that said in white lettering: “the world has changed.... so must we”. The poster struck me for its simplicity and forcefulness and, having had an experience of social communication in a formation context, it encouraged me to take a photo of it which I still have. After taking the photo I asked its owner “why did you choose this poster and why have you stuck it up on your door? The young Salesians said to me: “for what it says – exactly that”. He then explained that it was an advertising campaign for the most important newspaper in the country that had recently gone Web 2.0. Amongst other things he also told me that Salesians had to change and follow the rhythm of young people today much more decisively: walk with them, be renewed by them, seek God together with them, dialogue with them in the languages they use, live where they live, learn new ways of relating to them and use the same technologies. This young Salesian, just ordained, was not yet 30 years old. He was right.

This fact inspired the introduction to the new edition of the SSCS: “Everything changes, only God remains forever. Today, in the new era of communication, that is more apparent than ever. Not only have new technologies evolved, but they have influenced culture: how we relate to God, other people, and with nature, how we sort out our values, produce, distribute and acquire assets, how we make sense of life and make it fulfilling”[2]. A year after the SSCS was published, disseminated and studied, a postnovice in a country in Africa, after being part of a communications course offered by a member of our Department, wrote in his final writeup: “we cannot deny this invitation, only God is absolute, His love for us never alters. And it is equally certain that if everything changes, we too have to change in order to be communicators of his love for the young in every era”.

This is why, in the Congregation and in each of the confreres, I can say that there is a need for a change of mentality in personal, pastoral and institutional communication. This is not just a strategic exercise; it is an all-embracing change that enables us to continue being faithful to the vocation God has called us to and to the mission he has entrusted us with. General Chapter 26 (GC26), offering a brief analysis of circumstances in the new frontiers, said: “The sensitivity and commitment of the Congregation regarding social communication has grown. Signs of this for example are the setting up of the Faculty of Social Communication at the UPS, the various projects of education to critical use of the media, the growing presence of institutional sites on the internet, the greater familiarity with computer networks both for personal exchange and for distance learning, the new arrangements for the Social Communication Department. However, we are aware that there are many virtual worlds inhabited by young people and that we are not able to share with them and animate them, through lack of formation, time and sensitivity.”[3] this is why it appealed for a change of attitude: “to confront the needs of our call and the challenges coming from the situation and to carry out the following guidelines, it is necessary to change mentality and modify structures, moving:  from a timid approach and sporadic presence in the media, to one of more responsible use and a more incisive educational and evangelising animation”.[4]

When we speak of a change of mentality, we are referring to a transformed and unified way of thinking, feeling, and an energetic, consistent and faithful way of acting with regard to the charism God has entrusted to us in the Church. Given that our vocation and mission are not just an individual thing, but also communal and institutional, change of mentality is an ongoing need for everyone beginning with initial formation. Therefore, to be faithful, we don't just keep on doing the same things over and over again forever, nor do we just uncritically rush into whatever happens to be new. We need to walk with Don Bosco and the young and know how to interpret our times through the Gospel. After the Special General Chapter one phrase came into regular use: “with Don Bosco and with the times, and not with Don Bosco and the young people of his time”.

The principles, criteria, ideas need organisation, structure to bring them down to earth, without which the urgent change of mentality will never happen in real terms. This is why we are fostering study and application of the SSCS in the Congregation on the basis of shared criteria which then become real through four equally important areas of convergence: animation, formation, information, production-enterprise. The simple image of a table could help understand and apply this creatively and professionally in each Province. The upper part unifies the four areas of activity, without them being separated or going in different directions. For their part the four areas sustain and keep the 'platform' part balanced and harmonious, so it can achieve its objective.

• Basic criteria for our communication platform

My five year experience in the Congregation as Councillor for Communication has encouraged me to present, before talking about organisation, some of the fundamental criteria which we often forget due to the accelerated apostolic activity we are caught up in and that then gets separated from its most important basic roots. For us, in the social communication area, without a deep spiritual experience and proven vocational solid foundations, our field tends to head in the direction of individual effort, appearances, relativism and superficiality. This is why I see it as urgent that every Salesian, as evangeliser – educator - communicator, feels, knows, and manifests himself always and everywhere to be a man of God, follower of Jesus Christ, as Don Bosco always wanted to be and was.

Following the SSCS, the person is our point of departure for communication, a person ever more open to dialogue and able to overcome a level of just information and using things. For us the media are not the centre, however necessary we know they are.[5] We know that people are more than machines in what they do as people, especially in their ability to establish relationships expressing ideas, emotions, convictions, decisions, actions, symbols. All this shows and is perceived, not only through words but especially through other kinds of language like body, space, choice and movement. Our personal communication is at the basis of our warmth as human beings, and this is essential for our consecrated lives, our fellowship in community, and our apostolate. It is here that we can be prophets of fraternity in a fragmented, individualist and selfish world.

When we speak of the centrality of the person in Salesian communication, we fix our gaze on Jesus Christ, communicator of God and man, the perfect communicator[6]. Our calling to life, to be sons with the Son, to live the Gospel radically, changes us into his followers, imitators and communicators. He is the beginning middle and end of our communication. This is why Eucharist is central for the Salesian communicator, his spirituality, an experience of a vital and meaningful space. We are nourished by the Eucharist and recover our strength there, proclaim the Word and listen, strengthen our fellowship and renew our sense of mandate, keep silent and dialogue. The Salesian is witness and communicator to what he has seen and heard, what he has touched and felt as renewed through the Eucharist shared with the Son of the Father, his brothers: “Something which has existed from the beginning, that we have heard and we have seen with our own eyes, that we have watched and touched with our hands, the Word who is life – this is our subject”[7].

Entering the specific field of Salesian communication, we confirm that it springs from the mission, passion for God and passion for the salvation of the young, the “da mihi animas, cetera tolle”. This is how Don Bosco experienced it and described it from the mother house when he was catechising, preaching sermons. Later when he organised theatre, music, told his dreams, wrote letters and books,all in popular, simple language and consistent with his priestly life. Salesians, like Don Bosco, seek God and Jesus whom he sent  so they may be known and loved by the young; and young people must still feel they are loved by God in Jesus Christ, that they are important for the Church and in the Church[8]. This is why Social Communication is not something external to the Salesian mission, but comes from that mission together with other sectors, all necessary and all complementary. According to the Letter on Good Books[9] and in the spirit of Article 43 of the Constitutions, it is more accurate to say that the mission that God entrusted to Don Bosco carried the communication sector within it. It is not something foreign, coming from without or chosen as an appropriate strategy, but belongs to it and cannot be excluded. It is from here that the Salesian, like Don Bosco, is an evangeliser, educator, communicator by nature[10]. This is reaffirmed in this new era of communication where the digital continent is the one teenagers and young people inhabit most;  they are the ones we are sent to. In this most Salesian of continents we must walk with the young and be where they are. It is there we have to communicate God's love: if we don't do it, who will? Surely God will see that it is done, but our Salesian identity and vocation may well be compromised.

In recent years we have been more aware and have spoken with greater conviction of the need for coordination and teamwork between sectors of the mission. The relevance of this approach was highlighted and proposed for study in the GC26 document:

Having considered the complexity of the Salesian mission; seeing the need for greater coordination between the Departments for Youth Ministry, Social Communication and the Missions, especially for animating sectors of shared activities; asks the Rector Major with his Council to promote interdepartmental animation teams for these sectors and entrusts the coordination to one Councillor or another, in each case safeguarding the unique and organic nature of the Salesian pastoral ministry[11].
The unity and coordination of sectors on behalf of the Mission is a charismatic need that, far from impoverishing it, enriches and increases its identity since they all flow from the same charism as their source and walk in the same direction as their goal. This also demands a new mentality, a new way of living and organising and forming ourselves in communion with other Salesians and laity of different ages and cultural provenance. As we can see, it is not an indistinct mixing together of sectors to make a single new one, but bringing them together for the Salesian mission, respecting the content, methods and contributions specific to each sector.

Another essential criterion in this platform is the personal attitudes of the Salesian communicator. We are aware of the fact that “we communicate who we are” and “we cannot but communicate.” These communication principles are a strong call to the authenticity of life of the Salesian communicator, his clarity of purpose,  vocational identity, in all areas and at all times. Pope Benedict XVI, in his message for the 45th World Communications Day, entitled: "Truth, proclamation and authenticity of life in the digital age", June 5, 2011, confirms this:
Also in the digital age, everyone feels the need to be a genuine and thoughtful person. In addition, social networks show that one is always involved in what communicates. When exchanging information, people share themselves, their view of the world, their hopes, their ideals. So, we can say that there is a Christian style of presence also in the digital world, characterized by a frank and open communication, responsible and respectful of others. To proclaim the Gospel through the new media means not only to insert expressly religious content in different media platforms, but also to witness consistently, in one's own digital profile and in the way one communicates choices, preferences and judgments that are fully in accord with the Gospel, even when it is not spoken of specifically. Nor can we post a message in the digital world without a consistent witness of the one who proclaims it. In new contexts and new forms of expression, the Christian is called to answer whoever asks the reason for their hope (cf. 1 Pet 3:15).
GC24 made ​​it clear that the “Salesian religious and lay people share the same spirit and the same mission.” This is really enriching in the field of communication. Our presence and contribution is more than technical, but has always been of an ecclesiological and charismatic character, thereby continuing the momentum that began in Valdocco for evangelization and education of young people in need. Religious and lay people have much to offer and much to learn from each other, but always for the evangelisation and education of young people living in a new reality and therefore requiring new witnesses and new apostles to accompany them in the world of communication. The Salesian mission and institution, given what has been said earlier and especially in reference to the SC dimensions, needs the presence and support of lay people who are aware of their baptism and identify with Don Bosco, the Congregation and the Salesian mission.

The final and no less important criteria of this platform: professional quality, identity and significance of our communication. Don Bosco was already very demanding about this. Once he saw that it was part of the apostolic priorities of the Salesian mission he could not afford to be left behind, or on the margins, since he needed to defend and sustain the faith of the people, and felt the need to evangelise and educate young people. His pastoral passion turned him into a great entrepeneur to win souls for the Lord. He bought a paper-manufacturing factory, competed with large businesses in Turin, was a publisher and writer, creator of renowned bands, promoted theatre, founded the Salesian Bulletin, involved the clergy, politicians and business, many people of good will who sympathised with his plan. Quality, identity and significance as the Salesian brand is its greatest guarantee for the future, and will allow it to inhabit the same cultural and technological areas that young people and ordinary folk do.

• Action areas for organising communication in the Province

This platform is based on four pillars for organising and structuring SC in each province: animation, formation, information and coordinating production and SC enterprises.

1.  SC animation in the Province

The Provincial Delegate for SC
If in our criteria we affirm the centrality of people, it is in the way we organise things that this is confirmed. It is almost impossible or there to be life in the province and energy in a sector without choosing someone to animate it. It is up to the Provincial to delegate a Salesian, or lay man or woman to work in the sector. The Delegate has to be given the time, training and resources to enable him or her to encourage individuals, communities and works with the help of a team and a plan. If a layperson has been appointed as Delegate (AGC 411, orientations and guidelines), they must recognize and respect his position and professional service. The mere appointment of Delegates without real possibility to exercise the task leads to frustration, loss of interest and damages the image of the sector which they are delegates for. The delegate must be full time. The fact is to be seen as a world of communication.

The SC Provincial Team
The Provincial also officially appoints a team made up of Salesians and lay people specifying their roles and functions, and letting both them and the confreres in the Province know this, as well as other co-workers in the Educative and Pastoral Community (EPC) in each work. The team’s work is one of reflection, animation, support, planning and evaluation. People need to be chosen on the basis of experience, preparation, their ability to relate and work in a team.

Coordinating sectors of the mission
At the beginning of the (school, pastoral, whatever) year it is essential for there to be a meeting between delegates for sectors of the mission so that, using the OPP (Overall Province Plan or strategic plan), they can agree on processes joint activities and opportunities for collaboration through the year. There they can set up a calendar of meetings in small or larger groups and agree on the nature and aims of such meetings. From this first meeting they can then draw up specific programmes in each sector so they can act together towards the same end with the entire province. There are already good examples in the Congregation where delegates for youth ministry, social communication and the missions live and work in the same community, plan and evaluate together, and share activities and processes.

Province Social Communication Plan(PSCP)
The delegate and his or her team should draw up and periodically review this plan and be clear about its aims, processes, activities and indicators for results. They agree on a programmed set of meetings to reflect, plan, evaluate, to ensure there are visits to communities and works. The Plan is presented to the Provincial for his approval and he establishes dates for it to be presented to the Provincial Council to inform them and receive direction.

2. Formation in SC

Overall formation: priority of SC
Initial and ongoing formation remains a priority for SC, and is its future, because it is not just about having businesses or generating information, but above all to be a communicator. The delegate and team have to devote their best energies and efforts to formation, always working in coordination with the Formation delegate and his team. It is not just occasional workshops, but issues concerning everyone and raised systematically in initial and ongoing formation in each of the provinces or centers where our young Salesians come from different provinces and countries.

The Provincial Formation to SC Plan (PFCP)
The PSCP contains, amongst other things, the PFCP. The basic content for formation to SC can be found in the SSCS. The book contains what was drawn up jointly by the SC Department and Formation Department. It is a simple but essential item that requires constant reflection and needs to be put into practice by teams from both sectors,  and that is why it is good for there to be an official document at the province level which both departments draw up and have approved even by the General Council, and that demands formal and official application in the province or formation centres. The document and its application need to be tackled by both sectors in timely manner and should not be overlooked by either group. In its elaboration and putting it into practice, this Plan should bear in mind the strict relationship the essential Salesian dimensions: evangeliser – educator – communicator.
 
Levels of formation in SC
Formation, following what the SSCS says, must have three levels: a basic level given during initial formation, the next practical level of those working in and promoting the Salesian mission, and the level of specialisation. Needless to say, formation to communication involves formators and those in formation together. In the SC field everyone learns. It is necessary that at least two Salesians are specialised in SC so there can be quality, continuity and balance with the other sectors of the province.

• Information

In the area of information we are working to show the relevance of the mission and its specific public face as well as its being the raison d'etre of the Salesians as an institution, both internally and externally. This is why we need organisation and official coordination of trustworthy and well-prepared people holding this responsibility, people able to work systematically and in a network, wanting to communicate and able to inform.

Official information
Institutional information in the Province demands an efficient and clear flow of official information beginning from within and opening out  to be made visible externally through information from the Provincial and the Delegates of sectors - towards religious communities and works, and from these to the provincial and between the works themselves. It is also necessary to identify, And let everybody know, who are the local correspondents and who at the provincial Centre, handles the press office and public relations, and who has been appointed as the official spokesperson for the Provincial. These roles can be well-prepared Salesians or lay people on contract. We have to be aware that we live in a world where everyone, through whatever kind of media, can create and share information.

We opt for quality and security of information
New technologies have facilitated an increase in information but not always its quality, content or depth, nor complete truthfulness. As a Congregation we choose to offer information which has depth, truth and beauty, which can compete with and overcome mere informal, shallow, cultural consumption with little basis in truth. Hence the importance of selection and development of our staff. Iformation for us is not just a matter of good management and knowledge of new technologies and new languages​​, but includes being professionals committed to evangelisation and human growth.

Information following between Province and Generalate
The Congregation is an evangelising and educational organisation working in 130 countries of the world. It is a global reality not always known for the beauty of its unity and communion in diversity. It is up to the Provincial Delegate to get local information which is of international interest to ANS. The political will to share what there is, what is done and experienced in every Province, fosters a sense of belonging, participation and communion for those who make up the institution. With regular quality information on the province offered and received, we  can set up a Salesian network of communication that reinforces the identity and vitality of the charism. There are three media we need to make known in particular and see to their improved dissemination: the Salesian Bulletin, the annual Salesians Magazine, Web sites. These three means of information and institutional image depend on the involvement, promotion, organisation and for their distribution on the team. It is one of its priorities.

Province information for the Church and the world
Any institution needs a dynamic press office. Being part of the Church and sharing its mission, being part of society and contributing to its humanity, we are open and interact with other Church and civil elements like newspapers, magazines, radio, TV programs, not just when we are called upon, but anticipating our offer of information and making ourselves known. It is up to us to construct our image and create public opinion without waiting for others to do it for us or to destroy it for us. We do much good, and we cannot stay confined within the walls of our works. Nowadays an institution like ours has no public value unless it creates opinion on youth, education and human rights. We are not to be satisfied with creating good internal environments, but want to influence the quality of society because this is the climate we all breathe: young people, their families, our co-workers and we Salesians. That is the basis for fostering or if necessary defending the image of the Congregation, the Province and our local works.

4.  Production and our enterprises

Production as a consequence of our Salesian criteria
This fourth point usually comes first in the minds of the confreres and the organisation of the provinces, but it should be the result of the whole platform and the first three areas of activity. These are clearly the Salesian charism and vocation, good provincial leadership, continuous formation in SC, ability to communicate and report; it is these that decide what media or means we need to have and use, what we need to produce and how we should coordinate the enterprises, and media productions the province has chosen, not just someone's brilliant idea! Individual production without provincial or national coordination leads to fragmentation of strengths and objectives.

In this fourth area, again we need team work at the province or national level urged on by the common mission and the local situation. We are talking about production enterprises and traditional media and new technologies.  When we say production we mean not only offering a service for internal consumption (Province or Salesian Family), but for external apostolate and consumption. Thinking only and especially of reduced levels will lead to the death of SC enterprises. Today the only ones that can survive and compete are the ones that work professionally and are up to date, that work in with others and produce for a broader public. Without this new mentality even the good that we do internally will cease to happen.

We speak of enterprises and production both in terms of traditional and new technologies. Provinces can produce according to their circumstancess, possibilities and different histories: publication of books and magazines, poetry, musicals and songs, theatre, mass events, radio and TV programs, photography, videoclips, etc.

Coordination of enterprises
It would be a good time to begin by saying that the criteria established in AGC 390 (2005) on “Guidelines and indications for Salesian publishing”, are still in force. We continue to speak of communication “enterprises” understanding them to be “works” with an educational and pastoral aim in mind. These “works” do unimaginable good when their educational and evangelising products reach thousands of people both within and beyond traditional Salesian works. Thinking of them only in financial terms means reducing them to a profit factor, and with this logic the moment they run into difficulty “we have to close them”. This was not Don Bosco’s idea about these enterprises or works; it is enough to read his letter on “Spreading good books” and article 43 of the Constitutions to enter into another concept of work which benefits the faith of the people and the education of youth.

Recent General Chapters have spoken of the need for new, flexible presences which can allow us to reach out to our beneficiaries in a variety of ways. Given what has been said, the various communication enterprises a province might have need to be professionally coordinated bearing in mind the ultimate objective, Christian culture, evangelisation of the People of God and education of the young. Overall coordination is up to the Communications Delegate, Bursar and the Youth Ministry Delegate in agreement with the Provincial and his Council. What is important is a joint and balanced effort a cultural and Christian communicative perspective, financial administration and Salesian ministry, with clear statues, not aiming at financial gain but nevertheless professional and self-sustainable, and with clear Christian and charismatic identity. These enterprises need to be part of the OPP inasmuch as they belong to all the confreres, and need to be under healthy and necessary control.

The transition from analogue to digital, with all that implies for a change of attitude, technology, financial arrangements and media laws in various countries, poses serious challenges to our media enterprises. Faced with this some are afraid and a few withdraw from the field, however it is neither in keeping with the Gospel nor the charism, and it would be much wiser to stay there in a way that is appropriate for our times: how can we evangelise and educate the people of God and the new youth in the digital continent if we do not run the risk of being with them, and accompanying them in their new way of life ? Who will speak of God outside of our traditional works to a society that wants to eliminate him from its life and organisation?

• Salesian patrimony and teamwork amongst sectors

Special attention needs to be given to the care we show for our cultural Salesian heritage in the fields of sculpture, music, painting, theatre, photography, museums. Secretarial services, history and communication, and not forgetting the economy, converge on this area.

The SC Delegate, in coordination with other Sectors, will dedicate time to cataloguing and classifying material systematically and scientifically. This leads to priority in restoration and investing in what is needed to maintain historical and artistic works that belong to the Province and not just to a community or a Rector. This sort of work needs professional staff.

In the area of documentation it is imperative to rescue paper archives and see that they are converted to digital, acquiring a new mindset for a new way of preserving provincial archives as well as local ones. Preservation of and care for chronicles and various books that testify to the development and life of works and communities is a duty of conscience for anyone appointed as secretary or chronicle writer. Provincials and their secretaries need to save all kinds of digital information in external memories (disks, whatever) that perhaps only they know the contents of and that need to be passed on to their successors; they have to be careful to catalogue documents and scan works and printed photographs and give them appropriate metadata. New digital photographs must reach the secretary with such metadata as: date, event, place and people concerned as a minimum. This is a work of SC together with the secretary and/or se responsible for preserving Salesian history.

P. Filiberto González Plasencia, sdb