MANILA (UCAN): The Manila-based Veritas Asia Institute of Social Communication (Vaiscom) of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC) Office of Social Communication (OSC) launched three online courses for the formation of pastoral leaders in Asia on January 6.
OSC chairperson Bishop Roberto Mallari inaugurated the www.vaiscom.org website and launched the courses via a Zoom conference.
“Our God is a communicating God and communication is central to the mission of the Church,” Bishop Mallari said.
The new institute and the online programme will instill dynamism among pastoral leaders in Asia and help them acquire the knowledge and skills needed for effective ministry, he added.
Salesian Father George Plathottam, executive secretary of the OSC, said Vaiscom is committed to form personnel for various communication ministries of the Church in Asia by means of online, in-campus and in loco (in place) courses.
“It will offer training support, support research and follow-up programmes. The current online mode of learning, though planned long before the outbreak of Covid-19, has become a timely and common platform of learning,” he said.
“It will offer training support, support research and follow-up programmes. The current online mode of learning, though planned long before the outbreak of Covid-19, has become a timely and common platform of learning,” he said.
In the online format, Vaiscom plans to offer three programmes—basic, advanced and diploma—and students will be able to access video lessons, study notes and other resource materials. The programme is in response to the need to equip church leaders meet the challenges presented by the new media and diverse pastoral contexts in Asia.
Quoting Pope St. Paul VI, FABC assistant secretary-general, Father William LaRousse, said, “The mission of the Church in Asia is for all peoples.”
He called the new programme timely and hugely beneficial at a time when the FABC is celebrating its golden jubilee and communication presents new opportunities.
Father Victor F. Sadaya, general manager of Radio Veritas Asia (RVA), Father John Mishen, director-designate of Vaiscom, and Father Bernard Dashi Tang, programme director of RVA, hailed the establishment of the institute and the launching of the courses.
An online course titled, Communication for Pastoral Leadership, is due to begin in July and Vaiscom has already started the admission process.
The course is flexible and is offered to individuals as well as institutions like seminaries at an affordable fee. Applicants can register for one course or for all the three and complete the programme at their own pace.
A team of Salesians under the leadership of Father Plathottam, with technical support from Delhi-based Manna Media Hub, Manila-based Asia Pacific Consortium of Educational Research and RVA, has designed the course.
