Pastoral Workers of Kundiawa Diocese attend SOCOM Workshop

Mingende, Kundiawa: Lay Pastoral Workers and one seminarian from the Catholic Diocese of Kundiawa attended a Social Communications Formation Program from August 25 - 28, 2025. 

Participants of the workshop with His Lordship Bishop Paul Sundu, Fr Dieu Donne Jean Yves Rafaralahimbola and SOCOM Secretary Sr Daisy Anne Lisania Augustine MSC after the closing mass.

The program was guided by the theme: Using the media to form, inform and inspire and was held at the Mingende Pastoral Centre with 21 brave participants. 

Facilitating the program was the Catholic Bishops Conference Social Communications Commission Secretary Sr Daisy Anne Lisania Augustine MSC and her assistant Ms Jessica Oata with the assistance of Deacon Joseph Kun, the Diocesan SOCOM Coordinator. 

The program aimed at equipping the pastoral workers with a deep understanding of social communications from the Catholic Church’s perspective and to empower them with good communication skills to be effective and ethical communicators and evangelisers in this day and age.

Participants getting ready for their group's drama presentation.

Sr Daisy stressed on communication being a gift from God, therefore, it must be used wisely to evangelize and to promote the gospel values of peace, love and hope in our societies.

On the evening of Monday August 25, the participants met the facilitators for the introductory session to set the tone for the rest of the program.

The first day had sessions highlighting the theology of communication and the different documents on communication to help the participants understand and appreciate communication from the Catholic Church’s perspective. 

The first half of the second day had participants looking at the advantages and disadvantages of social media and exploring how best it can be used for evangelising while the second half consisted of sessions to equip the participants with basic and applicable skills on using their smart phones for taking photographs and creating inspiring content for evangelization. This session had the participants eagerly working late into the night to complete their activities.

Participants doing group discussions.

The final day had sessions dwelling on news writing basics and saw the participants working together to explore their individual talents on news writing before the closing program.

For the closing program, local ordinary Bishop Paul Sundu presided over the thanksgiving mass. Joining the bishop as the concelebrant was Fr Dieu Donne Jean Yves Rafaralahimbola. In his homily, he reflected on the Gospel of Matthew 24:42 - 51 and and highlighted the need to be vigilant Christians and communicators in our everyday lives. 

Bishop Paul Sundu congratulated the participants for working together with the facilitators and encouraged them to use the knowledge acquired in their respective ministries.