Growing in Collaboration: Big Opportunities for Conference Communications Delegates

By Luca Pirola

From Washington to Nairobi, Manila to Lima, Brussels to New Delhi, all were connected to Rome for the annual conference that brought together communication delegates from the Jesuit Conferences. This year’s meeting was held online with communicators from different continents, with specific challenges to face and common goals to achieve. The aim of this gathering is to strengthen collaboration for increasingly effective communication.

The topics discussed included the upcoming Ignatian Year, also, the importance of vocation promotion, which needs to be updated and developed. The Universal Apostolic Preferences were always kept in mind as a framework for these plans.

The Ignatian Year can be a particularly unifying event for the various offices, which will work together to highlight the international image of the Society of Jesus, transmitting messages of hope in a difficult context like this one, deeply marked by the pandemic. This health crisis serves as a stimulus to find new formulas, new strategies, and new initiatives, like the possibility of visiting places linked to the life of St. Ignatius using a digital format, and using other historical references that can intrigue and help the audience reflect on the events of his life.

The importance of investing energy for vocation promotion was emphasized. There is a need to rekindle a culture of vocation that is engaging and inclusive, based on the profound tradition of Ignatian Spirituality characterized by listening and discernment. Also in the spotlight was the need for deeper understanding of young people: their dynamics and how to approach them in a welcoming and proactive way. It is necessary to know how to use effective language to reach the youth, especially through social media, an area in which it is necessary to be present and active.

The sharing of materials emerged as a decisive point to promote a rich and varied communication output. The video projects launched by the Curia about interesting life stories of Jesuits from every corner of the globe, or works that show effectively the attempt to translate the teachings of the Gospel, can be successfully replicated in a localized context throughout the conferences.

Finally, the Universal Apostolic Preferences can be better understood, according to what has emerged, through features on the activities and experiences of the Jesuits and their collaborators who live out the preferences in their work and missions.

At the end of the five days, 12-16 October, we said goodbye and committed ourselves to grow the collaboration even more.