Media and Communications
Media and the Jesuits
Covid-19 locked up everyone in their homes. The Bombay Province has in its own way stepped up in various special ways using the World Wide Web in its maximum efficiency in order to reach out to people. Some of the examples that have been trend settings.
Retreats were supposed to happen in a quiet, serene and most importantly the setting “A Religious House” for the source of spirituality. The Pandemic has made us to take the setting out of the equation now making the internet as the channel or medium. Sounds weird right. Well the Bombay Jesuits have done that too, currently a youth online retreat in on in the city of Mumbai when more than a hundred youth are engaged thus helping them during this distressed time. There are online Ignatian retreats conducted too.
Daily online Eucharists, Gospel reflections, rosaries and various other devotions have been taken up by so many of our priests. The Scholastics of the province have got themselves involved in Online Bible classes helping kids and adults respectively. The Beautiful thing about these Bible classes are the creative and animated way of putting out the stories of the lives of our Jesuit Saints. Well that is making lots of noise on our Bombay Jesuits YouTube Channel. We also have the description of our formation here in the society of Jesus explained beautifully by our Scholastics.
You still want more. The Engineering college St Xavier’s Mahim has been having online courses ever since the lockdown had started but its not only with related to the Curriculum but going beyond. Courses in Disaster Management, Environmental Sustainability and Child Care are a few examples. Online sessions on how to deal with COVID psychologically have really been of great help to all those in distress.
This is a new way of life that we are looking at. How long is this going to continue, no one really knows. But the Jesuits of The Bombay Province have taken up the challenge and are using Media to attain an effective communication.