First meeting of the Franciscan Communicators' Network

On June 21, the first meeting via Zoom of the Franciscan Communicators' Network was held, which involved over 40 participants, religious and lay, from 27 OFM entities from all over the world.

The event, organized and promoted by the Communications Office of the General Curia, was the first step towards the formation of a network involving communication operators from all OFM entities. The purposes are many: first of all, to get to know each other and create relationships, to then develop strategies that make the Order more present in the field of communication, in order to be more effective in the evangelizing mission and to bring more easily the Franciscan message to the whole world.

The meeting began with a greeting from the Minister General, Br. Massimo Fusarelli.

Here is an excerpt:
“I thank the current Director of the Communications Office, Br. Evodio João, his successor from 1 September, Br. Byron Chamann, and their collaborators, because in the last two years we have learned together, also as a General Definitory, a new, diverse communication philosophy.
Firstly, we understood that communication doesn't work top-down; "Network communication" means that we must all be more attentive to what is happening in the periphery, so that the so-called "centre" can collect, pass on, and make known what is happening.
We want to improve the way we portray Saint Francis, our family and our Order: not a fake image, but a concrete reality, who we are, who we want to be and how we want to be in these 20s of the  21st century.
This meeting is meant to be the first step in this long process, which, I am sure, will bear much fruit. We need this network of communicators to share information, to break news, to increase reflection and the ways of communicating. We would like to receive from you, from the Provinces and from the various realities of the Order, information, suggestions, provocations: listen to the local and think globally and internationally.
St. Francis was a great communicator of his time, because he was able to transmit and make everyone understand, beginning with ordinary people, a new way of reading and understanding the Gospel. He presented a completely new way of living religious life, which is why he attracted many and was immediately understood by the world.
Francis communicated well because he had a life to communicate, to make heard, to transmit: we too do not want to communicate just ideas or images, but a real life, and I hope that the challenge to communicate better will lead us to truly live the Gospel as brothers, in our time among the poor, with our hearts turned to the Lord".

After Br. Massimo, also Br. John Wong, Definitor General and Delegate for Communications, intervened to greet and listen to the participants: “After the General Chapter we were called to a restructuring of the Curia, and therefore also of the Communications Office, that it must not only communicate within the General Curia, but also engage in communication with the outside. It is therefore important to create a network of communicators and a link between the communication offices of the whole Order: I am at your service and I look forward to meeting you and collaborating with you".

Afterwards, moderated by Br. Byron, all the entities presented themselves: from the Americas to Oceania, from Europe to Asia, passing through Africa, everyone recounted their experience in the field of communication: there are many challenges that are faced every day, sometimes the means are not many, but the "restructuring" of the communications field is in fact a process that has already begun.

The next step will be to collect the expectations and proposals on this "newborn" Network of Franciscan communicators: a questionnaire will be sent to the participants in the coming days, the answers to which will be elaborated and presented at the next meeting of the Network, in the month of September.

The Communications Office of the General Curia thanks all the participants and invites those who were not present to write to us to be included in the mailing list: comgen@ofm.org

In addition to the staff of the Communications Office of the Curia, the following entities participated in the first meeting of the Franciscan Communicators' Network:

Prov. Holy Martyrs of Morocco (Portugal)
Prov. Our Lady of Guadalupe (USA and Central America)
Prov. N. S. of the Hungarians (Hungary)
Prov. Saint Thomas the Apostle (India)
Prov. Saints Francis and James (Mexico)
Prov. St. Francis of Assisi (Brazil)
Prov. Immaculate Conception (Brazil)
Prov. Assumption of the BVM Rio de la Plata (Argentina)
Prov. St. Elisabeth (Germany)
Prov. St. Anthony of Padua (Philippines)
Prov. S. Pedro Bautista (Philippines)
Prov. St Anthony (Brazil)
St. Francis Foundation (Russia)
Cust. Sacred Heart of Jesus (Brazil)
Cust. St. Benedict of Amazonia (Brazil)
Cust. Saint Clare (Mozambique)
Prov. Holy Cross (Brazil)
Prov. St. Michael the Archangel (Italy)
Prov. Immaculate Conception (Italy)
Prov. Seraphic of St. Francis (Italy)
Prov. Saint Francis of the Stigmata (Italy)
Prov. Twelve  Apostles (Peru)
OFM Fraternitas Foundation (Italy)
Social Work of Saint Hermano Pedro (Guatemala)