By FIN SocCom

FIN Province, 30 October 2023 -- The Commission on Social Communication (CSCom) of the Philippines North Province (FIN) launched a series of online conferences on social communication to "ensure a solid pastoral presence on social media and effectively spread the Gospel's joy in the young's language."

Approximately 100 participants attended the online event, mainly from the Salesian Family, educators, and youth leaders from various FIN settings.

Dubbed "Soul Pixels," the online conference series is one of FIN Province's venues in responding to its strategic direction towards E-vangelizing Connections.

The first webinar reflected on the document "Towards Social Presence," a Pastoral Reflection on Engagement with Social Media released by the Holy See's Dicastery for Communication.

While issued by the Vatican's Dicastery for Communication, young people participated in the reflection and preparation of the document to help their fellow youth navigate the challenges and opportunities social media presents in today's digital age.

Soul Pixel's resource person, Fr. George Platottham, SDB, is a Salesian of Don Bosco of India-Guwahati Province.

He is one of the founding members of BOSCOM India (Don Bosco Communications). He is currently the Executive Secretary at the Office of Social Communications (OSC) of the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences (FABC). These days, he stayed in Rome to cover the Synod on Synodality.

In his introduction, he emphasized how the Salesian Constitutions and the Congregation documents give attention to social communication because we work with and for young people.

Fr. George remarked that the document's title sounds very "Salesian" and reminded him of Don Bosco due to the Saint's insistence to be present among the young people.

In his welcome remarks, Fr. Gerardo Martin, FIN Provincial Superior, observed that the title Soul Pixels is both stimulating and thought-provoking. "We know that pixels are the smallest information item in a digital image. Each pixel is a sample of the original image, and the more pixels there are, the more accurate representation of the original image. Just as pixels are the building blocks of the digital image, our evangelizing presence in the digital platform becomes the building blocks of the image of our faith, our spirituality, and our charism."

Hence, he emphasized, "Every digital footprint we leave matters, for it becomes part of reaching out and touching someone else's soul."

The next run of Soul Pixels is on February 24, 2024, with "Short-Form Content vs. Traditional Social Media: Impact & Insights." A popular content creator will serve as the resource person.

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