Communique #16 - 16 August 2020

Communique #16 16 August 2020

Dear Safcam Subscribers

Happy 205th birthday of Don Bosco tomorrow.
We are delighted to discover the post-GC28 document which the Rector Major launched during the anniversary mass today.
This is the 16th Communique, but the website has been ‘live’ for 18 weeks already.
Presently it has 229 separate items/articles visible on it: 133 on the English side, 96 on the French. Some items have been removed, and some are ‘suspended’ and can be re-posted at relevant times.
That means that there are at least a dozen items posted every week.
When you open the site, you see mainly the more recent items.
Some postings, especially those that have been on for a longer period, have had a good number of ‘visitors’. The highest on the English side has had 322 clicks on it, and on the French side, the maximum is 96. We would like to increase the volume (of postings and visitors) on the French section, but would need help from francophone confreres to provide us with suggestions.
As for subscribers! So far only 73 have done so and at least 8 of those are cooperators or lay-mission-partners! And among the 65 confreres, some are not from the Africa region!
According to the GC28 report, at the 31/12/2019, there were 1666 SDBs in our region!
And in the last few days at least 35 novices have been newly professed.
So we believe there is a possibility of at least 1600 more SDB subscribers from our region!
That is our dream. Please help us make it come true. So far only 4 provincials and 2 provincial delegates have subscribed, even though CIVAM itself suggested we establish this website.
We know we are still only amateurs at this game at that a lot more needs to be improved in the presentations. Unfortunately for the last 2 months our coach has not been well, and we need a few more webmaster-ing classes.
But sometimes we wonder whether it is worthwhile investing much time into building a super-safcam website, if it is not going to obtain much SDB-traction. We realise that there are so many other internet resources that maybe this is not really needed.
Nevertheless, do assist us please in promoting it, recommending it to confreres, and listing it among websites of the region in your publications.
Thank you to those of your who have sent us complimentary feedback.
We are also very open to any constructive criticism and suggestions. As we mentioned before, notice that at the bottom of each positing, the are a set of buttons you can click on to indicate whether you liked or disliked that item/article. As well as that which takes 2 seconds to do, there is a chance to comment and express your opinion to the articles. That might take a few minutes more, but it enables you to communicate with all others who will read that post.
Wishing you a pleasant second half of August. God bless.
Camiel and Francois

Tailpiece:
A Salesian, a Franciscan, a Dominican, and a Benedictine were at a formation workshop praying the breviary together one night. While they were praying, a power outage occurred, and they were in complete darkness. The praying stopped for a moment, but then the Benedictine continued because he knew the psalms off by heart. The Franciscan knelt down for some silent prayer and penance.
But the Dominican interrupted them saying: “No, I suggest we have a debate about the significance of light”. While they were going on with this debate, the power came back, and the room was lit but the Salesian was nowhere to be seen, gone missing. As they were wondering whether to continue without him, the door opened, and the Salesian came in holding a screwdriver!
There is something to be said for practical training!