Vicariate Media & Vocation Ministries Meet
Bing and Elise del Rosario represented CTK’s Media Ministry in the first-ever meeting of the Media & Communications Ministry at the vicariate level.
The meeting was requested by Rev. Fr. Steve Zabala, the Diocesan Media Ministry head, and was held last August 31 at the Transfiguration of the Lord Parish on 18th Avenue, Murphy, Cubao, hosted by parish priest Fr. Jojo Monis.
Fr. Herbie Santos, Parochial Vicar of Sta. Rita Parish and head of the Diocese website team, was also present.
Parishes represented, apart from Christ the King Parish, were: Nativity of Our Lord, Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal, Our Lady of Perpetual Help, San Roque Parish and the Transfiguration of Our Lord Parish.
The CTK Parish started the state of the Media Ministry reports, with Bing del Rosario reporting on the following projects and activities:
– Website: under development July-August 2016; up since September 2016; updated weekly with parish announcements, every two weeks with upcoming events, every three weeks with photos and recent news, and quarterly review of reference information.
– Newsletter: The Herald is published quarterly, without fail, since Fr. Bong started at CTK, with Dolly Borlongan as editor. Since the second quarter 2016, Bing and Elise del Rosario too over, with five issues published to-date.
– Facebook: page operated by Sheryl Coronel while the Youth Ministry and the PREX Youth operate their own Facebook page, under Althea Geronilla. Some of the other CTK
service groups also operate their separate FB pages but are usually ‘private’.
– LED displays: research done, proposals requested and submitted, PPC officers have discussed cosDng alternaDves with Fr. Bong.
– Support for 9 am Sundays CAC: media ministry provide pictures, website info and news that the Coffee After Church hosts use as talking points with visitors
Bing enumerated the strengths of CTK’s media group – parish priest is supportive; PPC members provide photos and text and inform the editors of news leads, call attention to outdated info; parish staff make the newsletter available in the masses; village coordinators and orgs-movements make sure their events are publicized; very good website visitor numbers; free newsletter printing (2000 copies per).
He then went through the issues and challenges – currently operating with very lean team – only del Rosario couple on website and newsletter and only Sheryl Coronel and Althea Geronilla on the FB pages; so far unable to put up Fr. Bong and guest speaker podcasts despite intention; need more regular & frequent update of website content; turnover in PPC assistant position has made it difficult to delegate newsletter distribution, news follow-ups, picture taking, etc.; unable to mount focus groups yet to identify next round of design changes to newsletter and website formats.
The Nativity of our Lord Parish reported that their Media Ministry is two years old, with six active members that includes photographers and the operators of the PowerPoint for their masses. They see the need for training of members in graphic design and photography.
With the Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal Parish, creation of the Media Ministry is still being discussed, with membership on an ad-hoc basis, and is for now being led by the PPC Auditor. Activities are concentrated on maximizing the use of Facebook. The challenge is to ,ind full time members and to have one of the screens for projection repaired.
Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish media ministry head reported that he was assigned the role the day before the meeting. They have an off-and-on newsletter called Magnificat and they show powerpoint slides during the masses. The Ministry used to have six active members but now it has none.
San Roque Parish, on the other hand, tasked the Worship coordinator to establish the Media Ministry. It has now four members – three college students and one high schooler – concentrating on their Facebook page which feature their activities and events. Since most of the members are students, Sunday is the only time they can meet and devote to the activities. They also lack the necessary equipment – cameras, printers, laptops.
The Transfiguration of Our Lord Parish media ministry is made up of 25 members and consists of scholars of the parish in the Grade 11-12 levels. Their activities include maintaining the bulletin board and Facebook page, and publishing their Sinag newsletter. They also do occasional live-streaming of major events, mainly to serve their parishioners who are out of the country. Their challenges include the availability of their school-going members for activities, the need for equipment, and most importantly, recruitment to counteract turnover of members.
St. John Paul II Parish was not represented.
Fr. Herbie showed the Vicariate plan for the Media Ministry by starting on why the Media Ministry was created. He then discussed the proposed structure for the Media Ministry at every Parish, and explained the recommended, low of information from the parish to the diocese and vice versa. He also explained the Diocese website at www.cubaodiocese.ph The Media ministry representatives were given the homework to spread the word about this website and create their own websites. They were also asked to begin to formalize their own Media & Communications Ministries.
On the same day, but earlier in the morning, the Vicariate Vocation Ministry meeting was also held, at 9 am at the Nativity of the Lord Parish. The diocesan Vocation Ministry head is Rev. Fr. Fortunate Dumlao and the meeting host was Fr. Ronald Macale, parish priest of Nativity of the Lord parish. CTK was represented by Vocation Ministry cohead Anna Lagman.
