Sharpening The Digital Media Skills of The Brothers of Bogor Diocese, UMN Lecturer Team Conducts Capacity Strengthening at St. Petrus Paulus Higher Seminary, Bandung

Bandung – On Tuesday-Wednesday (21/22-3), a team of lecturers from the Faculty of Communication Sciences, Multimedia Nusantara University (Fakultas Ilmu Komunikasi/Fikom UMN) held a capacity-strengthening event with the theme “Digital Apostolate for Faith Communication” for prospective Catholic priests at St. Petrus Paul High Seminary, Bandung. As part of the Community Service (Pengabdian kepada Masyarakat/PkM) program, this event is a continuation of the collaboration with the Diocese of Bogor that has been conducted since last year.

“One of the obligations of the Catholic Church is kerygma (introductory faith teaching, introduction to Jesus Christ). So, take advantage of this program to spread the Good News through digital media,” said RD Nikasius Jatmiko, Rector of St. Petrus Paulus Higher Seminary, at the event’s opening. 

“The theme of digital apostolate for faith communication is in line with the theme of the Diocese of Bogor this year, namely, ‘The Synodal Church of Blessedness,’” continued RD Lucius Joko, Priest of the Holy Family Parish in Cibinong, who initiated this collaboration with UMN. 

“Hopefully, the awareness and skills to use new media for the proclamation of faith can be implemented by all levels of Catholics in the Diocese of Bogor,” he continued.

The capacity strengthening, attended by 32 priestly candidates (brothers) of the Bogor Diocese, consisted of six sessions. Two sessions on the first day were facilitated by two lecturers from the Strategic Communication study program; Dr. AG Eka Wenats Wuryanta with the theme “Digital Apostolate by Faith Communication” and Maria Advenita Gita Elmada, S.I.Kom., M.Si. with the theme “Wise Social Media: Media Literacy.”

PkM Lecturer Team with the Diocese of Bogor. Rector of St. Petrus Paulus Seminary, RD Nikasius Jatmiko (third from left); RD Lucius Joko (fourth from left), RD Yoseph Kristinus Guntur (right) (Doc. Veronika Kaban & Maria Advenita Gita Elmada)

In the first session, the participants were reminded of the basic spirit of the servants of God, always to have the spirit to grow materially and spiritually. “The identity of man, the Church, and the Diocese develops continuously. This development is ushered in by a continuous process of communication in the light of the Church. We can also understand the development of technology today as a gift for humans,” Eka explained. 

In the second session, Maria shared knowledge of the correct use of social media. “Not all information on digital media can be trusted immediately. We need wisdom and intelligence to know which information can be consumed or not,” Maria explained. The material in this session also emphasized the role of the brothers as opinion leaders to be role models for correct and credible information in digital media for Catholics.

The second day was opened by Anton Binsar, M.Si., from the Strategic Communication program with the theme “Communication and Contextual Pastoral.” Anton explained that Church pastors are challenged to contextualize every faith and social teaching of the Church in digital media content that people can understand, regardless of their different backgrounds. 

The event continued to the fourth session with Veronika Kaban, M.Si. from the Journalism program, with the theme “Strategic Creative Content Production for Digital Multimedia.” 

“There are so many variants of digital media content that we can utilize to enrich the proclamation of the Church in the modern era. This reminds us that the proclamation of the Church is not merely a lecture. We can be creative with various new media to reach the people,” Veronika said.

Kevin Sanly Putera, M.I.Kom., from the Distance Learning (Prodi Pembelajaran Jarak Jauh/PJJ) program, led the fifth session with the theme “Strategic Content for Catechism in Social Media.” Kevin shared the knowledge and skills of creating catechetical content through writing, photos, and videos. 

“Just because videos are currently trending doesn’t mean we have to abandon other forms of content. Our attitude must be communicative, communicating with the most appropriate media and easily understood by our people,” Kevin explained.

The PkM Lecturer Team of Multimedia Nusantara University and the brothers participating in the PkM during the closing ceremony at St. Petrus Paulus Higher Seminary (Doc. Veronika Kaban & Maria Advenita Gita Elmada)

In the last session, the brothers were divided into groups to be guided by each lecturer in creating creative content for the proclamation of faith. Each brother learned to use two social media, Instagram and TikTok, and two creative content production applications, Inshot and Capcut. 

Broadly speaking, the six sessions in this capacity-strengthening program balanced theoretical and practical aspects. The participants were invited to re-orient their dispositions about using digital media for their work for the Catholic Church. Moreover, the brothers were also coached to hone their skills in producing creative content for their daily work.

This capacity-strengthening event for the brothers was the opening of a series of PkM with the Diocese of Bogor in 2023. The next three PkM segments will be held for parishioners, catechists, and monks of the Eastern Deanery of Bogor Diocese in the next semester in several parishes of Bogor Diocese. In addition to the Diocese of Bogor, this PkM is also supported by @omk_indonesia media.

By Kevin Sanly Putera | PkM Program Implementer

English translation by Levina Chrestella Theodora

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