Marist Network professionals from seven countries reflected on future of communication
Friday, Jun 26, saw the realization of the 1st Regional Communications Forum through the platform Teams. The event, whose theme was Pope Francis’ speech on the 54th World Day of Social Communications, “So that you can count and fix it in your memory”, featured more than 190 communications professionals from Marist units from several locations: Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay; the Arco Norte Region; and the Marist Institute.
The program included the opening of the Executive Secretary for South America, Br. Alberto Aparício, who presented the regional actions and invited participants to reflect upon the spirituality that permeates the role of communication in Marist life. “As communicators, we are dream builders”, he strengthened. After that, the General Head of Instituto Marista, Br. Ernesto Sánchez, addressed the connections between the concept of global family and the possibilities for communication during this sensitive period in which everyone is affected by the new coronavirus.
He went over the pandemic, since the very beginning, as he reported the uncertainties and good practices organized by the General House and the Marist world. He reinforced his solidarity by looking at the current scenario of all the countries in the Region. In a very affectionate tone, Br. Ernesto recalled the importance of communications, especially at this moment.
“Communication is bringing other ways to connect with people. This is very valuable and beautiful”.
To end his speech, he recalled one of the calls from the XXII General Chapter of the Marist Institute that brings the idea of building bridges. “Bridges unite, connect, they must be solid and receive maintenance to resist”, he said. “This is what I think when I remember you: Marist communication is this bridge connecting all members of the mission”.
After that, the forum featured the participation of Prof. Dr. Cleusa Maria Andrade Scroferneker, of School of Communications, Arts and Design – FAMECOS of PUCRS, to discuss the present moment. She went over the concept of Complex Thinking, addressed by theorist Edgar Morin, as she invited participants to think about the unity and the whole, considering the coexistence of uncertainties and certainties in the present and the possibilities for the future. “We have to learn to sail together in an ocean of uncertainty”, she reinforced.
Still in this perspective, Cleusa showed the potentials of the present in terms of communications, as it can create and strengthen bonds and which can connect people. “What communication allows us to create links and establish bridges?”, she wondered. From that perspective, she recalled three elements that help answer this question: dialogue, sharing and love. In her final speech, she recalled that there are no recipes or models to follow in this moment of uncertainty. She stressed that it is a challenging moment that requires us to live Marist values more intensely. We need a sensitive look that considers the complex and coexisting realities of the post-pandemic world.
The initiative is intended to integrate the continent’s Marist Administrative Units, strengthening Champagnat’s mission and charisma in the Americas with a synergetic relationship in the scope of processes, structures and people. The South America Region was officially founded in Mar 2016, during an assembly in Florianópolis that brought together the Provincial Councils of the Marist Provinces of Brasil Centro-Norte, Centro-Sul, Sul-Amazônia, Cruz Del Sur (Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay) and Santa Maria De Los Andes (Bolivia, Chile and Peru).
