Looking forward: “a candle is not lighted to place it under the table"

Throughout the third week of November Jesuits and laypeople gathered in Loyola, Spain coming from some of the most important global networks of the Social Apostolate of the Society of Jesus around the world, to reflect on the importance of networking in the struggle for Justice.
Today, two weeks after leaving Loyola, we look at the meeting “Networking for Justice” filled with gratitude to Alboan for its great work and hospitality but also from a bit of distance to make an assessment and evaluation.
From the Jesuit Networking team we consider it is important to evaluate the work we have done along with the Alboan team, during the few weeks prior and during the meeting in our effort to communicate what was going on.
The same person who organized the meeting, Patxi Álvarez, Social Justice and Ecology Secretariat, asked us to be in charge of the communication tasks. A task that was taken up by the team with great hope since we had the feeling that “a candle is not lit to place it under the table” And, for the same reason, we knew that the dozens of people from many parts of the world who gathered in Loyola and the conclusions were raised would try to enlighten the whole Apostolic body of the Society.
The day after the meeting finished we received a warming message from Patxi that filled us up with joy: “I would like to thank you for all the work you’ve done these days in Loyola, with great commitment and quality. It’s been a wonder to count on you. The impact of the meeting has been larger this way, with a greater outreach than what we could have had just by meeting in Loyola”
This short message confirms two insights we already noticed:

• In the first place, it confirms the early intuition that gave birth to the “Jesuit Networking” project. It is pertinent and appropriate to give a globally focused service to help create and/or strengthen  the networks of the apostolic body of the Society of Jesus and to promote communication among them and towards others outside the Society. It would have been impossible to reach the communications impact of this meeting without the work that has been done throughout these more than two years from Jesuit Networking as a communication “hub” of the Society.

• Secondly, it reveals that all the communication efforts made from the meeting have been worthwhile. The contact with institutions, networks, provinces and conferences of the Society of Jesus in every corner of the world, the conversations with local, national and international media, the website, the numberless posts along with its translations, the daily recaps, the newsletter, the social network updates, interviews, photos, videos and countless hours of work…it all made sense: “the impact of the meeting has been larger”.

But we also bring out some important lessons learned: above all, we identify the importance of planning accordingly all communication activities prior to the meeting and we realized the need of prioritizing messages, means and recipients. Reaching everyone and everything is impossible.
It is time now to look forward, thankful for the opportunity to contribute to the mission and body to which we belong, from a humble attitude of service to the Networks of the Society of Jesus.
 
Original photo from http://foter.com/