FEBRUARY 10-17
Day 1: 10-02-2017
Morning Prayer
The day began with a moment of payer. After the words of welcome, Fr. Manoj from Bengaluru led the Morning Prayer – the Lectio Divina, during which we entrusted the conference unto the Lord for his guidance
I session
Fr. Manoj welcomed the participants to the conference as well as Fr. Henry who gives his address via skype from Curia, Rome.
Fr. Henry, the main facilitator of the encounter, began his address reading from Mk 1:29. Commenting on the Gospel he said People were looking for Jesus and all those whom we minster have this desire to encounter Jesus. This is what we are going to achieve through our ministry and our deliberations should lead to this goal. In the context of a Congregation that is “going forth” we look forward to a publishing house that is “going forth”.
At this point Fr. Henry invited all the participants to introduce themselves.
After the self-introduction, he enumerated the four objectives of the meeting thus:
- To reinforce this means of evangelization for a better response to needs of our time from the analysis of the current state of the world. Identify weak strong/weak area and respond appropriately.
- To reinforce working in collaboration among all publishers under the umbrella of Claret Publishing Group and to abolish apostolic individualism for teamwork.
- To establish the publishing ministry economically sustainable by introducing better management.
- To reflect together creatively and to inspire to up-to-date media, putting technical advancement and social media revolution in perspective.
It was followed by an address via Skype by Father General Mathew Vattamattam from Kolkatta. He underlined the importance of this meeting and the publishing ministry saying that this is the platform from which we can reach to the maximum number of people whom we cannot access physically. He emphasized the following four points:
- We need to enter into larger Claretian world of Publishing. Alerting that, if we do not connect with other publishers we end up in stagnation as small entities. We need to Cooperate, share inspiration and richness. This meeting should open horizons for better cooperation and coordination to form one body of Publishers
- We also need to enhance collaboration within to counter one man army trend… and to respect the traits highlighted in the General Chapter
- Promote community aspect in the ministry so that evangelization springs from Claretian community supported by real fraternity.
- This ministry should promote concern for the poor, JPIC etc. Bring the cry of the poor to the ears of the Word in a Prophetic way.
He concluded his address by thanking all the participants and conveying his best wishes.
The second part of first session Fr. Henry presented a paper narrating Claret’s experience in publishing and encouraging everyone to follow his spirit. He emphasized the exhortation of the XXV General Chapter regarding this ministry. The need to reject individualism and self-oriented projects and to look for the area of collaboration and new initiatives.
There was brief interactive session to conclude the paper presentation that echoed:
What kind of church we would like to present through our publishing ministry! Doing something different for Church, Congregation…and to the people we serve!
In the final part of Morning session Fr. Henry made a Power point presentation on Publication in the congregation: The continuous relevance of Claret’s paradigm
- Based primarily on the Autobiography of Claret
- A means – for God’s glory, salvation of souls… this should be our passion as well. (auto 310- power of the book)
- Going forth to meet wherever they are – publication
- How to do it! Pastoral conversion
- Analysis of present reality – How do we as publishers respond creatively and according to the Spirit?
- Criterion for publishing, results for Claret’s publishing
- Questions for reflection
The power point presentation is given in Appendix II
In after afternoon session Fr. Henry introduced the web page www.biblecmf.com and explained the different facilities available there.
Then it was time for group work. The participants were divided into three groups and they discussed the questions proposed by Fr. Facilitator in the power point presentation.
- What are the peripheries that we need to address/reach out in our current missionary endeavors?
Language minorities, cultures, ethnic groups, technologically advanced, youth, smart millennial children, JPIC materials, social media restricted areas; none organized religions, immigrants, those deprived social justice, poorest of the society. Those use new language/thinking of the time, ,
- How can we be a congregation “going forth” in our publication ministry?
To share a unique ministry among Claretian publishers (e.g.), digitalization of publishing ministry, encourage lay collaboration, explore new areas like the digital world
- What are the implications of going forth for us as Claretians involved in this ministry?
Collaboration among the publishers; preparation of persons and resources. Address continuity issues for sustainability; availability to the needs of the people; creativity; opening to other cultures; change of mentality; making use of all the opportunities to work; make free the personnel set aside for this work; ensure competence and professionalism in ministry; be daring to reach out difficult areas; address financial concerns. Ministry supported and accompanied by the Congregation and seek the collaboration of lay experts in the ministry.
- How do you avoid sole administrator tendencies/apostolic individualism?
Need to have a Functional/effective team work, establish a system in the province to monitor the decision making of the publishing house, set up Commission etc.; make publishing an essential part of the missionary project of the organism a concern to all Claretians, prepare budget and present the account to the community and province by the publishing house. Make the ministry a shared mission with the laity in Claretian style
A Few observations regarding this question:
Two tendencies arise – the person appointed is not accompanied by the appointing authority or, from the part of the appointed personnel, not caring to be accompanied
To address:
Begin to prepare persons from formation days, and appoint team player
Pay attention to the language used: Publisher is Claretian (anybody can be editor in chief, director etc.)
Fraternal visit by General govt. and accompaniment by Provincial team
- Health test of the publishing ministry
Positively: Relatively healthy, acceptance and appreciation of our work, availability of collaborators
Negatively: financial constraints Unhealthy: No clarity on the concept of publication for many of us, young and inexperienced publishers, problem from online availability, lack of cooperation from Bishops, Lack of support from the Claretians and lack of team work
We note that Competitions, threats and unhealthy aspects as opportunities to be creative and different.
- What are the concrete situations in your area that calls for special intervention from the part of the publications?
Address Youth and children who are social media consumers effectively, make our publishing more affordable
Concluding Remarks Fr. Henry
- Founder – Claret – was ahead of time. We need to catch up with our creativity and innovations.
- The two levels of working together: within the province and as Claret publishing house. Shared mission like Christ who appointed 12 others, work with other people outside our Claretian circle
- Sustainability to balance our economic involvement
- The need for the Digitalization of the ministry
The day ended with the Eucharistic celebration presided by Fr. Jijo from Macau.