SPECIAL CLASS WITH PROFESSOR DR. MOISÉS SBARDELOTTO

A group of 12 sisters was taking the course of "Communication on Purpose", given by the Communications and Marketing agency TABOR. The classes started in October 2021, and every two weeks the group has class for one day and this course came to conclusion in the month of May 2022. During this period the group studied about: Essential Marketing Concepts; Purpose Marketing; People and Journeys; Communication Channels; Creativity, Creative Techniques and Creative Writing; Editorial Calendar and Data Tracking; Guidance for writing final papers... the last class took place on May 2^nd 2022 and included the participation of other guest sisters.

The class was held through the Zoom platform. More than 20 Sisters attended the class, many of them with their communities. The class was given by Professor Moisés Sabardelotto. The professor Moisés is a journalist, with a master's and doctorate in communication, and his research is based on the ecclesial environment.

Moisés addressed on the theme "Communion in Communication" and helped to reflect on several aspects of relationships. It’s important for us to understand that we are communicating beings. We are all communicators. Thus, to think about communication is to understand ourselves as beings in communication.

EVERYTHING GIVES  A MESSAGE

As people in communication we build a path that interacts and communicates with other living beings and with the things that surround us, living or not, such as colours, symbols, writing, animals, signs etc. Everything gives us a message, reveals signs of joy, sadness, beauty, ugliness and pain. Looking through this lens we realize that we are all interconnected in this common home.

A necessary and important action for us, the "thinking" beings, is to know how to filter what we communicate and what is communicated to us such as information, ideas, projects, messages... We can filter even our ways of expressing opinions, how we dress and present ourselves and act.

Professor Moisés said that our attitudes, choices, actions, the people I hang out with, the things I share and communicates, in fact reflects what I really am, what I want and what I think about the world. If we are in mass communication, we also understand that we are responsible and co-responsible for a more just and egalitarian world. In the same way, we are responsible for the injustices and evil that surrounds us and attack us in many ways. We can sow these seeds of evil through communication. To avoid this, we need to filter what we hear, what we see, and what we speak (example of the three little Japanese monkeys) and thus protect ourselves. We can accomplish this through nonviolent Communication (NVC), loving communication and peaceful communication among others.

TRUTH - BEAUTY - KINDNESS

One of the ways to avoid bad communication is through guidance from the Church. the recent Popes have said when referring to communication that there are three criteria such as TRUTH, BEAUTY and GOODNESS. All three are interconnected. Our communication has to be true, beautiful, harmonious, attractive and guided by love, kindness and patience. These criteria, these three filters, help us in what we communicate and what we consume from communication.

Feedback of sisters after the class:

HOW DO WE, SISTERS RESPONSIBLE FOR COMMUNION, COMMUNICATE THE WORD?

For Sr. Gertrudes this class was a confirmation that "we can and must use the communication networks to bring people together and spread goodness. It motivates people to nurture values and build a more human society, committed to the Kingdom of God".

Sr. Eunice said that her whole community attended this course together. She said "we liked very much the way Communion in Communication was presented, for it was simple, easy to understand and linked the Communication of the Bible to the Communication of today. I am grateful to God for the privilege of having participated."

Sr. Iraci liked the presentation and she said "I shared the link with the Sisters of my community to watch together and they really enjoyed it. His theme Communion in Communication is very much like ours. Thank you.”

Sr. Ericka said that it helped her a lot to realize that "it is not communicating for the sake of communicating, but we are invited to immerse ourselves more deeply, to communicate our values, charism, action and oneself and to build unity.

Sr. Franceli, who participated in the class with her community, greatly appreciated the course. "one of the relevant speeches was when Moses spoke about communicating the truth and with truthfulness. After the class, we reflected about it in our community and we perceived the depth of communicating at the right time, and in a right way, for words have power... We asked ourselves: How do we, Sisters responsible for communion, communicate the word?"

Sisters Vilma de Oliveira and Eliana Aparecida dos Santos