Delegates for social communications from across our Jesuit conference gathered online to share highlights of their own communication activities over the period of the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as identify common projects to support the 10-point agenda of the JCAP Plan 2021-2025.
Fr Nono Alfonso SJ, JCAP Coordinator for Social Communications, facilitated the virtual meeting on 20 June, which was participated in by Jesuit Communications (JesCom) delegates from Australia, the Chinese Province, Indonesia, Japan, Vietnam, and the Philippines. JCAP President Fr Tony Moreno SJ and Socius Fr Greg Soetomo SJ also joined the gathering.
As the delegates reported on their activities, a couple shared how they are adopting different strategies to contribute to the financial sustainability of their ministries. JesCom Australia is offering subscription-based content as part of their digital engagement efforts, while Indonesia has decided to close down Sanggar Prathivi in Jakarta after years of financial difficulties. Sanggar Prathivi was a pioneering work of the province founded in 1966 that produced story cassettes and radio dramas for popular and religious catechesis, advertisements, and even sound recording for feature films. It later evolved into the Sanggar Prathivi building offering rental office spaces while housing the centre for audio documentation of the former Sanggar Prathivi. The building was eventually closed down in 2021.
Nonetheless, many of our conference’s media works have lasted decades, even a century. PT Kanisius, the publishing and printing house in Yogyakarta, celebrated its 100th year in January. Basis Magazine has been published for 70 years and in November 2021 was recognised as the oldest cultural magazine from Yogyakarta and the pride of the Special Region of Yogyakarta. The Madonna Magazine of the Australian Jesuits has been providing lay people with prayer and spirituality resources for 125 years.
Since the pandemic, many of the provinces have ramped up their multimedia productions as Covid-19 fast-tracked the shift to online content. JesCom Vietnam publishes as many as seven videos per day, while Japan has ASMR-style prayer videos. Most offered online Masses and other digital platforms where the faithful could come together, and in the case of the Philippines, raised funds for those most affected by the lockdowns. Indonesia even offered the newly established Kampoeng Media complex in Yogyakarta as an isolation facility for Covid-19 patients.
As a network, JesCom Asia Pacific plans to focus its collaboration efforts in the next two years on the top three priorities of the JCAP Plan, which was presented in detail by Fr Moreno. These three priorities are poverty and reconciliation with creation; deepening in and sharing of our charism and Ignatian Spirituality; and collaboration with the youth and integrating vocation promotion in this ministry. Some of the projects that have been identified include articles supporting and promoting the JCAP flagship project, Caring for Communities and Creation, a vocation promotion series featuring the first local Jesuits in our conference, and initiatives to promote Ignatian Spirituality to Christians and non-Christians alike.
These projects may seem big for such a group with only a handful of members, but as Fr Alfonso says, the JesCom Asia Pacific network is like a mustard seed, although small, it is capable of producing substantial results.