The
vocation of the Oblate Communications Service is to help the Congregation, in faithfulness
to the spirit of Saint Eugene de Mazenod, to share past and present experiences
and to promote unity while respecting and valuing differences. In other words,
the Service wants to make an important contribution to the communion between
the General Administration and the whole Congregation and, at the same time,
among the different Units, helping to create that family spirit so dear to the
heart of the Founder.
In
recent years, we have tried to give more importance to electronic
communications which are of a more immediate nature and considerably less
costly. We are aware that in some outposts of the Congregation, it is not yet
possible to make use of the Internet, but we again want to encourage the Major
Superiors and the local superiors that they themselves send printed copies of
the various communications to those communities.
For
this reason, starting from the month of April, there will be a further
reduction in the mailing of the printed bulletins “Information” and “Communiqué.”
As we have done for several years, we will send to each Oblate for whom we have
an e-mail address the notice of publication on the Congregation’s web site (www.omiworld.org) of new bulletins, in two
formats, html and pdf (printable), in three languages
(English, French and Spanish). Two printed copies will be mailed exclusively to
each Major Superior and mission superior. They will take care to ensure that
each member of the Unit entrusted to them will receive these communications,
either electronically or in print. They will also assure that a printed copy is
delivered to their secretariats and preserved in the local archives.
We
will also continue to send printed copies, as an exchange, to the editors of
some newspapers and magazines, as well as to those benefactors who have
explicitly requested them.
Of
paramount importance, therefore, is the updating of e-mail addresses. The
Communications Service uses the database of the General Secretariat. We believe
that of the 2,000 current e-mail addresses, at least 500 of them are no longer in
use. We ask every Oblate to help us on a regular basis to keep our data up-to-date,
checking to see if his information in the Personnel on the Omiworld site corresponds to his present situation. That
information may be sent to genstat@omigen.org or gensec@omigen.org or webmaster@omiworld.org.
The
most important thing, however, is send us news about the Oblates and their
experiences so that we might share them with all the Oblates: we are present in
more than 60 countries! Please send
electronic copies of all Unit newsletters and publications to information@omigen.org. Water that does not circulate grows
stagnant! Thank you.
