Communication at its most profound level is the giving of self in love. Consequently, Fostering good communications has always been at the heart of the Society of the Divine Word. Faithful to our SVD charism, the communication ministry of our province is dedicated to bringing God’s Word to the whole world through the means of various communication
media. USW has a very attractive and informative website which is regularly updated with the latest news and happenings of the province. Our social media platforms like Face book pages reach out with daily reflections and messages about the various activities of our parishes and ministries.
The communication ministry of the Western Province mainly centers on Wordnet Productions. We reach out to a great number of people. The live streaming channel which began in 2018 is now available on all devices and on smart TV through Roku, Amazon TV, Android TV, Apple TV and Chromecast. It highlights the missionary activities of the Church, especially the Divine Word Missionaries, in various parts of the world. The ‘Mission Minute News’, which is published every other Monday, highlights Church-related local, national and international news. This news program brings to the screen the missionary activities of SVD fathers and brothers and SSpS sisters from remote villages and missions across the globe. iGod Today and Dios Habla, offer reflections or meditations based on the liturgy of the day in both English and Spanish.
These programs are the hallmark of Wordnet’s ministry. Along with the staff members, a team of dedicated and committed volunteers provide the reflections. Two of the SVD provinces from Colombia and Panama help with the Spanish.
The word is getting around and our viewership has been growing steadily. We continue our regular interview-based programs because they highlight individual faith journeys. We have recently filmed a series of programs on Strangers, Migrants, and Refugees by professor VanThanh Nguyen SVD of CTU. Before this, we did a theological series by Dr. Matthew Petrusek, entitled ‘Reasons to Believe.’ Our newest offering is a live stream program called, ‘Truth Talk.’ It puts an emphasis on theology, right relationship, and human happiness and is very much welcomed and appreciated by our viewers.
Wordnet has been also collaborating with Diocese of San Bernardino in different programs. Last year in celebrating the year of St. Joseph we conducted panel discussions of married couple both in English and Spanish. In the month of May Wordnet hosted alive streaming session for Synod listening with Bishop Alfredo Rojas. All the programs produced by Wordnet are on its YouTube channel, Facebook and Twitter giving them a strong presence in social media.
In a recent meeting with generalate communication coordinator, ModesteMunimi, new initiatives were taken to collaborate with the Generalate media department. Wordnet will now be working closely with the Generalate. Fr Modest will collect the news items from all the different PRMs and prepare the script for the monthly SVD Mission News Bulletin of Witnessing to The Word. Then it will be edited and published from Wordnet. Beginning in September, our Collegio in Rome will collaborate with Wordnet for the production of iGod and Dios Habla programs and Sunday reflections.
– Biju Thomas, SVD