1 November 2007

Welcome Note

Father John Flynn, LC in his article on ‘Evangelizing a Digital World’ wrote “Passing on the faith to the next generation is harder than ever in a world that is more and more secularized.” In a world where life seems very fleeting, where young adults search for things they can depend on, things they regard as true, and things that are greater than themselves, "Mike Hayes in his book called "Googling God: The Religious Landscape of People in Their 20s and 30s," notes, we live in a time of revolutionary technological changes, subject to an information overload. In the midst of the competing claims for attention, it is difficult for the Church to make its message heard, or to know how to adapt to changes in mentality, author recommends the need to make better use of Web sites, e-mail newsletters, blogs and other ways to reach out to young people.

Church is indeed active in using the latest media technology to evangelize. Benedict XVI's expressed his hopes that religious men and women increase their use of information technology, and thus take advantage of what he called a new form of apostolate. In 2002 the Pontifical Council for Social Communications published a document titled: "The Church and Internet." explained (No. 5). "Since announcing the Good News to people formed by a media culture requires taking carefully into account the special characteristics of the media themselves, the Church now needs to understand the Internet," The Internet offers many advantages, such as direct access to spiritual resources along with a capacity of overcoming distances. It thus offers the Church new possibilities for communication. New media technologies also offer many possibilities for two-way communication and social interactivity. While these means are new the social aspect of the Church as a community is a long-standing principle.
The Church is, in fact, "a communion of persons and Eucharistic communities arising from and mirroring the communion of the Trinity" (No. 3). Therefore, communication is part of the essence of the Church. This communication, the Council specified, should be characterized by truthfulness, accountability, and sensitivity to human rights. The council also warned that the virtual world has its limitations and that pastoral planning is needed to enable people to make the transition from cyberspace to a personal community, where they can come into contact with the presence of Christ in the Eucharist and participate in the celebration of the sacraments.
The Church should make full use of the potential offered by new communications technology in carrying out its mission, the document recommended. At the same time we need to keep firmly in mind, the council exhorted, that for all types of media, Christ should be both our model and the source of the content of what we communicate. A model as valid in the 21st century as it was for the first Christians.

As the leader of this group I am very happy to introduce you this blog. Recently Cardinal Ruini said “The religious can witness to Christ through sciences and technology. Your creativity ought to find new techniques for the vocational challenge, which ought to develop in step with society." This blog is a new step to express our creativity and to evangelize by the use of new technology. In Maria Mater Ecclesiae, we have 33 committed Indian seminarians from Latin, Syro-Malabar and Malankara rites; it is also the biggest Indian community in Rome. Surely this blog will inspire you with our vocational and divine thoughts.

I thank and congratulate Bros Jaimon, Pradeep & Nelson for its fulfilment.
Looking forward to your support and encouragements.

With love and prayers in Christ
Bro. Sinto Varghese Maliekal

3 comments:

  1. Congratulations!!! I am really happy to see the way Indian community in mater ecclesiae is shaping up�getting closer and closer in defining its vision. The systematic approach of Sinto, it seems, is bringing some sort of system and structure to our community. And with the able support of people like Jaimon, Philson and Binu, I am sure that our community will go places.

    A note to keep in mind: The problem with this kind of initiatives is that we loose the vigor so soon. So it is very important to keep the motivating factors up and raise the standard bar by points on each occasion.

    The presentation and content, especially the title (Ormakkay...), of the blog page are excellent. One section missing, I think, is the history of the Indian community in Maria Mater. We don�t know what would be the contributions of the Indian community in Maria Mater to the Indian church and the universal church in the years to come. So a well crafted, detailed and studied history in the blog pages will have a real great value, if not today, in the years to come.

    So wish you all the best!

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  2. Dear and loving Sinto and community,

    I am very happy to see the fruit of your venture... Please accept my sincere congratulations.

    Please convey my sincere appreciation to the deserved and loving regards to all there.

    Wish you all the best

    Fr. Tom Kainikkara

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  3. അഭിനന്ദനങ്ങള്‍ ആശംസകള്‍ .... ഓരോ വര്ഷ വും കൂടുതല്‍ മനോഹരമായികൊണ്ടിരിക്കുന്ന മത്തെര്‍ എക്ക്ലെസിയ ക്രിസ്മസ് പ്രോഗ്രാമിന് ഈ വര്ഷ വും സക്ഷിയായിരിക്കുവാന്‍ സാധിച്ചപ്പോള്‍ അഭിമാനം തോന്നി .... Gioia 2007 വളരെ നല്ല അഭിപ്രായം ലഭിച്ചു ... ബിനോജിന്റെ നേതൃത്വത്തില്‍ ഒരേ കൂട്ടായ്മയില്‍ പ്രവര്ത്തിച്ച അണിയറ ശില്പികള്ക്കും അതുമായി സഹകരിച്ച മത്തെര്‍ എക്ക്ലെസിയയിലെ ഓരോ മലയാളികള്ക്കും എന്റെയ ആത്മാര്ത്ഥയമായ ഹ്രദയം നിറഞ്ഞ അഭിനന്ദനങ്ങള്‍ .... വരും വര്ഷം്ങ്ങളിലും കു‌ടുതല്‍ മുന്നെറട്ടെ എന്ന് ആശംസിക്കുന്നു ......Fr. Johnson John

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