Ljubljana (Slovenia). On 19 February 2025, the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians of the Slovenia and Croatia Province (SLC) met at the provincial headquarters in Ljubljana for a day of study on the theme of Communication, animated by Sister Maria Ausilia De Siena, General Councilor for Communication of the FMA Institute.
During the meeting, organized by the Provincial Team for Communication, the Sisters, under the guidance of Sister Maria Ausilia, explored the documents of the Church and those of the Institute concerning Communication, in particular the vision and guidelines on the presence of FMA in social networks, highlighting the importance of a conscious and responsible use of these tools in an increasingly digitized world.
Starting from the priority choices of General Chapter XXIV, the Councilor placed the theme of Communication in the category of “prophecy of presence”, an intuition lived by the Founders as Salesian assistance that has been – and still is – a true prophecy, and requires that even today for every FMA to “be there” as educators in the “physical” places, but also in those virtual.
“In fact, we are all now ‘online’, because we live in a digital culture. How do we, FMA, fit into this environment characterized by the speed and vastness of information to carry out evangelization and the accompaniment of the young generations?” This is the question posed by Sister Maria Ausilia, who drew the answer from the document of the Dicastery for Communication of the Holy See “Towards a full presence – Pastoral reflection on involvement with social media”: humanizing these digital environments living in them as a “loving neighbor”. “With a style of ‘closeness, compassion, and tenderness’ that Pope Francis defines as hallmarks of the style of God, we can contribute to a ‘digital detoxification’, assuming the attitudes and the style we learn from Christ, who transmitted His message, not only with words, but with His whole way of life, revealing that communication, at its deepest level, is the gift of Himself in love” (cf. Towards a full presence, 64).
“In the wake of the document of the Dicastery for Communication, there are the guidelines on the presence of FMA in social networks,” said the Councilor. These want to contribute to form to the responsibility of living in digital environments and offer practical guidance for a healthy and profitable use of social networks, encouraging the FMA to maintain a balance between the real and virtual world, always pursuing the good of people, especially young people.
Then in group work, starting from this document of the Institute, we reflected on how the FMA read today’s reality, on the Salesian communicative charismatic root, on the challenges to consecrated life, and finally on the mission in the digital age.
The final activity offered the opportunity to improve the points of strength, as well as the potential ones, regarding the formation of the FMA ‘in’ and ‘for’ the digital world, beyond the ‘why’ and the ‘how’ for being part of the Social Networks.
This meeting was an important opportunity for reflection, a moment of updating to face the challenges of contemporary communication, with the aim of being present in the digital world without losing the charismatic identity that characterizes the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians. It also offered the Sisters input to live with greater awareness and responsibility their presence in the world of communication, especially through social media, to be a sign of hope and proximity for the young generations.
