A ‘small servant’ learning and sharing

It’s not every day you see a nun in Piazza Navona in Rome livestreaming video as she walks to her next destination. Meet Sister Xiskya Valladares, the tweeting nun from Palma de Mallorca, Spain who has more than 37,000 followers on Twitter. I met Sister Valladrares at a seminar for Church Communication Offices in April at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross.

What caught my attention was the joy she exuded in communicating live with others what she had just learned at the seminar. She was joined in her livestreaming interview by Father Daniel Pajuelo Vasques, a Marianist priest from Spain, who added an impromptu rap to the online conversation.

That moment illustrated the seminar’s theme, “Participation and sharing: managing Church communication in a digital environment.” In their genuine and spontaneous conversation, both Sister Valladares and Father Vasques, who started iMisión, an online platform to evangelize on the internet, gave witness to one of the ways we can engage in a digital environment. It is about sharing and having a dialogue with others.

The social media landscape which keeps unfolding requires a real presence of the Church, one focused on a genuine encounter and not just dissemination of information. I am grateful I had a chance to attend the seminar alongside some 400 communications professionals from around the world to focus on how we can better utilize the technology before us to evangelize and foster a public dialogue centered on the message of the Gospel.

The seminar left me with much to process and to recount. To begin, it was a thrill and an honor to present an overview of the Mobile Journalism initiative we started here in our diocese. We have trained more than 100 teens and young adults as photographers to cover events at their local parishes and some have even covered diocesan events. Mentoring others has been among the most rewarding part of my vocation. While this has helped our communications outreach, the bigger benefit has been the catechesis component. In reporting, they learn more about the teachings of the Church.

Following the presentation, it was affirming to hear that colleagues from different countries were interested in learning more about our efforts to see how they could implement something similar. Our mobile journalists here in the Rio Grande Valley and all involved should be proud to know they are trailblazers.

Second, I return with new ideas to enhance our communications efforts here in the diocese, starting with expanding our outreach on social media and looking at more live broadcasts. I also plan to move forward in evaluating everything we do in the area of communication just as the Vatican is doing. Msgr. Dario Edoardo Viganò, prefect of the Secretariat for the Holy See’s Communications, outlined for us the study and some of the changes underway. Listening to his presentation affirmed that we are in sync with our own plans.

I am thankful for each encounter with fellow communicators and for our mutual exchange of experiences. It is inspiring to witness how we are each striving to share God’s message in the different corners of the world where we serve. And as the seminar organizers noted, there are some challenges we face in “a communications environment characterized by more numerous relationships, faster dissemination, and less time for reflection and response.”

Third, and most important I return with a new zeal for my vocation. April marked my 18-year anniversary of working with the Diocese of Brownsville. It has been an incredible experience, one that has enriched my faith journey and helped me to understand the significance of our communications ministry. This understanding resonated during my most recent trip to Rome.

Attending the seminar in the Eternal City with communicators from around the world felt like a gift from God. I did not understand at first the tears that came as I listened to Father Federico Lombardi, the director of the Holy See’s press office, speak about his works over the years with Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI and now Pope Francis. He reminded us that we are all “small servants,” and that it is a privilege to serve in this “wonderful vocation.”

It certainly has been a privilege to serve. But why the tears? I think it was the realization that I am exactly where God wants me to be, doing what he wants. In the words of Father Lombardi, “I am a small servant; we are all small servants.”

Yes. There is much work ahead in promoting a culture of encounter and communicating the Good News. I trust, however, God is leading the way, providing the learning and the moments for sharing we need as he prepares us for the work in his fields. As was emphasized at the seminar in Italy, “every action from every colleague is speaking to the world.” In our diocese we are blessed with a team of talented people working in each of the different ministries, each of us collaborating as co-workers in the vineyard.

(Originally published in June 2016 edition of The Valley Catholic newspaper)