To do something for the new century was the reason Fr. James Alberione founded the Daughters of St. Paul and the other institutes of the Pauline Family. But the Daughters of St. Paul and the Society of St. Paul have the specific mission to proclaim the Gospel through the means of social communication. During his planning stage (at the close of the 19th century) the only means that proved challenging was the press, but Fr. Alberione’s intuition brought him beyond the frame of time – he saw the new inventions would soon come up. Therefore, when he wrote the Constitutions of the Daughters of St. Paul, he enjoined them to use for evangelization the fastest and most efficacious means to be invented by technology.
The twentieth century to which Fr. Alberione belonged is past and gone. Now we are in the twenty-first century; many more inventions have flooded our market today. And in the midst of all these things, when people use them as ends rather than means, we can’t help but recall the most intriguing question asked by Fr. Alberione wether with these instruments humanity will be able to save itself.
Fr. Alberione was fortunate enough to see his sons and daughters make use of the press, radio, cinema, TV and other audio-visual materials for evangelization. He was blessed to see his apostolate given approval by the Church. He had also seen other instruments of communication pop up from the hands of inventors. If he were alive to see the latest inventions of the 20th century, he could have raised his arms in thanksgiving to the Almighty. Yet he would spend more hours in prayer for the sake of the generation and would urge his religious congregations to speed up in adopting such means.
The challenge to the Daughters of St. Paul is ever more increasing. Faced with such tremendous responsibility before God and man there is not a time to waste in hesitancy. This is why despite our great incapabilities we have launched into several projects in line with our apostolate.
In our circumscription today, which comprises the Philippines, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea and Thailand, we reach out to people through books, VHS, audio-cassettes, CD and other media materials. We have a publishing house which publishes books of good quality. We produce radio programs and dramas which are aired in the provinces and in the Greater Manila area. We have seasonal TV spots and weekly Sunday Masses on television. A few Sisters engage in film education and some are giving media awareness seminars in schools, offices and parishes.
Our latest project, of course, is the Paulines Communication Center (PCC) that house the media center, (which through good books and other media materials is a center of light and truth, and a Media Training Center for priests, religious, catechists, students and out-of-school youth.
Do you wan to share our challenge? Are you inclined to do something for others? Let’s do it together!
by Sr. Lina Salazar, FSP