austraLasia #1796
The power of networking - maybe RIIAL has something to teach us
COCHABAMBA 25th March 2007 -- The promised report! There are several striking things about RIIAL (Red Informatica del la Iglesia America Latina). One is how it has taken rather high-sounding theological terms like 'communion' and 'cooperation' and turned them into a most impressive array of grass-roots activities which are doing something about ensuring that communities of consecrated life are enabled and empowered for evangelization inasmuch as today's technology can do that - and this in a continent where one set of statistics (www.labrechadigital.org) says that 80% of the population have never made a phone call and 92% have no access to the internet. A 'red informatica' can work even without the internet!
A second striking factor is the support which goes all the way to the top! I mean that the Pontifical Council for Social Communications based in Rome is right behind this venture, and has backed it at every point over twenty years. But what one has to understand is that the meeting being held in Cochabamba at the moment is the first such meeting of members of consecrated life under the banner of RIIAL; in other words it has been a diocesan-based, episcopal conference-based enterprise until now (though with intense involvement by Religious, also realising that half the bishops are religious anyway). With the official involvement now of Religious, new directions are in the offing.
I guess a third most striking feature is the absolutely solid backing of the Salesian Family at this point - not only are there 6 SDBs and 6 FMAs present but the head technical person is a past pupil. Work out the maths, then, of 13 members of the Salesian Family out of 32 representatives of religious families at the Cochabamba meeting!
What could it hold for us - I mean for EAO? A number of things I would suggest. There are plans afoot to extend the RIIAL model to Africa and Asia. This would occur with the backing - and probably at the initiative of - the aforesaid Pontifical Council. And what is 'the model'? In practical terms one might put it like this: while there is a priest, a religious community, a catechist, a sister, a pastoral worker in need of communication and materials to assist the work of evangelization, RIIAL (or its Asian equivalent to be) is in construction and has not fulfilled its aims. RIIAL offers free website hosting (250 Mb) and consultation in website building, offers what it calls Office Eclesial, an open source Office program heavily geared at the moment to database and 'Outlook' type email and agenda arrangements, a digital library of almost any religious, philosophical text you might be able to think of, and lots of grassroots assistance to help out the isolated church worker or community. It's pretty impressive! Efforts are made to keep all this under the umbrella of the local Religious Conference and if possible in full view of the Episcopal Conference - also as a way of 'educating' these bodies in appropriate attitudes and actions where communications are concerned.
There is no reason why this model could not find application in Asia and Oceania for that matter, drawing on many existing initiatives. And it strikes this participant in RIIAL that the Salesian contribution in 'our' part of the world could be as equally impressive.
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_________________
AustraLasia is an email service for the Salesian Family of Asia Pacific. It also functions as an agency for ANS based in Rome. For queries please contact admin@bosconet.aust.com . Use BoscoWiki to be interactive. RSS feeds - subscribe to www.bosconet.aust.com/RSS/rssala.xm Avail yourself of the Salesian Digital Library at at http:sdl.sdb.org. To contact austraLasia by voice on Skype, the Skype name is austraLasia.
The power of networking - maybe RIIAL has something to teach us
COCHABAMBA 25th March 2007 -- The promised report! There are several striking things about RIIAL (Red Informatica del la Iglesia America Latina). One is how it has taken rather high-sounding theological terms like 'communion' and 'cooperation' and turned them into a most impressive array of grass-roots activities which are doing something about ensuring that communities of consecrated life are enabled and empowered for evangelization inasmuch as today's technology can do that - and this in a continent where one set of statistics (www.labrechadigital.org) says that 80% of the population have never made a phone call and 92% have no access to the internet. A 'red informatica' can work even without the internet!
A second striking factor is the support which goes all the way to the top! I mean that the Pontifical Council for Social Communications based in Rome is right behind this venture, and has backed it at every point over twenty years. But what one has to understand is that the meeting being held in Cochabamba at the moment is the first such meeting of members of consecrated life under the banner of RIIAL; in other words it has been a diocesan-based, episcopal conference-based enterprise until now (though with intense involvement by Religious, also realising that half the bishops are religious anyway). With the official involvement now of Religious, new directions are in the offing.
I guess a third most striking feature is the absolutely solid backing of the Salesian Family at this point - not only are there 6 SDBs and 6 FMAs present but the head technical person is a past pupil. Work out the maths, then, of 13 members of the Salesian Family out of 32 representatives of religious families at the Cochabamba meeting!
What could it hold for us - I mean for EAO? A number of things I would suggest. There are plans afoot to extend the RIIAL model to Africa and Asia. This would occur with the backing - and probably at the initiative of - the aforesaid Pontifical Council. And what is 'the model'? In practical terms one might put it like this: while there is a priest, a religious community, a catechist, a sister, a pastoral worker in need of communication and materials to assist the work of evangelization, RIIAL (or its Asian equivalent to be) is in construction and has not fulfilled its aims. RIIAL offers free website hosting (250 Mb) and consultation in website building, offers what it calls Office Eclesial, an open source Office program heavily geared at the moment to database and 'Outlook' type email and agenda arrangements, a digital library of almost any religious, philosophical text you might be able to think of, and lots of grassroots assistance to help out the isolated church worker or community. It's pretty impressive! Efforts are made to keep all this under the umbrella of the local Religious Conference and if possible in full view of the Episcopal Conference - also as a way of 'educating' these bodies in appropriate attitudes and actions where communications are concerned.
There is no reason why this model could not find application in Asia and Oceania for that matter, drawing on many existing initiatives. And it strikes this participant in RIIAL that the Salesian contribution in 'our' part of the world could be as equally impressive.
Click here to comment on this item.
_________________
AustraLasia is an email service for the Salesian Family of Asia Pacific. It also functions as an agency for ANS based in Rome. For queries please contact admin@bosconet.aust.com . Use BoscoWiki to be interactive. RSS feeds - subscribe to www.bosconet.aust.com/RSS/rssala.xm Avail yourself of the Salesian Digital Library at at http:sdl.sdb.org. To contact austraLasia by voice on Skype, the Skype name is austraLasia.
