Roman Catholic Missionaries: Are They Maximizing And/Or Optimizing The Powers Of The Internet? Asking For A Friend!

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Above: As a Roman Catholic and an Internet denizen, I am heartened to see the headline “Church Builds Internet To Serve Far-Flung Areas” by the Mindanao Daily . Below: Do you notice that the girls, the 3 visible monitors, are exactly on the same page? (I’m a teacher, that’s how/why I notice.) They must be studying. Good girls, wherever you are!

(Internet shop from borgenproject.org)

No Sir, no Ma'am, except the headline, I can’t read the news either – where, when, who, with whom – that is to say, Mindanao Daily is only half-awake about the Internet – it doesn’t mind that its images are unreadable!

The Internet is one excellent medium to connect Roman Catholics in far-flung areas to the cities and vice versa especially in terms of how to live – and continue to live – in the faith. I am saying that to encourage missionaries, especially those connected with the Munting Sambayanang Kristiyano (MSK).

I saw the above image – sorry, I cannot make it clearer no matter what I do. It’s an issue published by the Mindanao Daily, of which its poor treatment – unclear texts, images, dates – tells me that that newspaper is not Internet-savvy either. In these times, it should be Internet literate!

What about the Roman Catholic MSK? I have a slightly more welcome news – the MSK has an account on Facebook (tl-ph.facebook.com). It looks like it is very active as it has lots of images and texts. Upon examination – I find that the first entries date to Jan 2016 and the latest to July 2022 – which means that the MSK Facebook account has been neglected for more than 6 months now. That is a neglect of technology. A neglect of missionary work!

While waiting for the Internet to reach the barrios, I have in mind a printed book for Catholic missionaries who are going to or are already in far-flung areas trying to spread the Good News in the midst of the Bad News.

The book – Father Ciriaco Sevilla, Jr. MSK Trailblazer – is12 years old, published 2010, packaged, edited & produced by Fr Acong’s own married sister living in Australia: Milwida S Reyes. It’s all about building a Catholic “basic ecclesial community” (“Munting Sambayanang Kristiyano”). Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org) describes it thus: “A base community is a relatively autonomous Christian religious group that operates according to a particular model of community, worship, and Bible study.”

But as a teacher – Civil Service Professional 1964; UP Los Baños 1965 – I have a problem with that book, all 242 pages: The MSK lessons learned are not highlighted; they are all hidden, inadvertently, within the sharings by various authors, those who worked with Fr Acong in his pastoral work in Gumaca, Quezon. (He died in 2007.)

I am now thinking of revising-rewriting that MSK trailblazer book into chapters that highlight the lessons learned for priests and missionaries in lonely works in villages hardly reached by Roman Catholic Church-workers. From rewriting to desktop publishing, I can do it all by myself! Granting I have funding.@517

(Reprinted from "Ang Parokya Ni Fr Acong" (17 Jan 2023, blogger.com/blog/posts/6728988411283942308)

(Reprint fromj 

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