SIGNIS Indonesia’s 45 Annual Assembly
The 45 Signis Indonesia Annual Assembly was held in Weetebula Diocese, Sumba-East Nusa Tenggara from 23-27 February 2019. Thirty seven Catholic professional communicators from various dioceses participated in the assembly. They were welcomed by ‘Oka’, the traditional ceremony along with Woleka, Sumba indigenous dances, which symbolizes joy and respect to the guests. The assembly was hosted by Father Yustinus Guru Kedi, the Head of Commission for Social Communications of Weetebula Diocese.
The dignitaries who were present for the inauguration include Mgr. Datus Hilarion Lega, the Bishop of Manokwari-Sorong Diocese in West Papua who also serves as the Bishop Chairman, Episcopal Commission for Social Communications of Indonesia, Ms. Bernadetta Widiandajani, the Secretary of Signis Asia, Father Antonius Lalu, the President of Signis Indonesia and Father Mateus Selan CSsR, the Vicar General of Weetebula Diocese. The theme of the assembly was ‘The Role of Media in Strengthening Faith and Economy of the Catholic Basic Community’.
The theme corresponds with the pastoral focus of Weetebula diocese which aims at enhancing the Catholic faith and economic empowerment of the community. ‘We expect Signis Indonesia to help us in realising our focus on pastoral care by providing short films with teachings of faith, liturgy of the Church, also on the economic empowerment of the people, for example small-scale business groups working with minimum capital, but growing well with prayers and struggle’, said Father Mateus.
Fr. Lalu, the President of Signis Indonesia assured Weetebula Diocese the full support of Signis Indonesia in realising its pastoral focus. ‘Signis Indonesia must be consistent in reporting and spreading the truth. ‘NETWORKING must be the first aspect to learn. Evangelization is a great work and it is God’s work. Spirituality is present in intellectual capacities, skills and supporting facilities. God’s work lies behind them’, said Mgr. Datus, during the seminar on ‘Spirituality of Communications’ held on Sunday, February 24, 2019 at Unio Weetebula house. Speaking to around 200 participants, consisting of Indonesian participants of SIGNIS, teachers, seminarians, students and the Catholic Basic communities, the Bishop, Mgr Datus Hilarion Lega said that evangelization is not only in the hand of priests, nuns and catechists but also in the hands of all Catholic people. During the concelebrated mass, Mgr. Datus conveyed to all participants that the role of an evangelist is to spread a positive aura, to disclose the truth, to make changes and materialize salvation for all people. He said he extends all his support to Signis Indonesia to realize its mission to improve skills of Catholic media professionals who serve the Church, to spread the joy of the Gospel through media. Fr. Lalu said that the role of communicators is to pack the messages of the Church and Christian values with the languages of radio, short films, theater, social media, television and print media, so that the Gospel messages and values inspire people more and more and enable them to understand those messages, get transformed and saved.
SIGNIS members meet annually to share their experiences with each other, get enriched and support each other in realising the mission of evangelisation to bring about salvation to people. Bishop Datus emphasised that, ‘We all stand together under the umbrella of social communications of the church, because we have things in common – the same God, faith, mission and spirit which have driven us to ally with each other in exercising the Gospel services’.
Mr. Antonius, one of the student of STKIP Weetebula raised a question, ‘What has SIGNIS done to raise the interest of youth towards evangelization through social media?’. Ms. Bernadetta Widiandajani, the Secretary of SIGNIS Asia explained that SIGNIS Indonesia encourages young people to play a greater role in the field of media and communications. It has special programmes for young people such as media literacy, radio trainings, video journalism and many more’.
Extraordinarily, the assembly accepted five new members comprising Radio Vox Mundi-Weetebula; Radio BOOS FM-Padang, Radio Jatayu Angkasa FM-Semarang, Commission for Social Communications of Agats Diocese and Commission for Social Communications of Purwokerto Diocese. New members bring new energy into the association and SIGNIS Indonesia feels proud to have them as members. The membership in SIGNIS Indonesia is open to professionals from Radio, Training Centers, Commission for Social Communications and Individuals.
Ms. Bernadetta Widiandajani