Posted: October 13

Back to the basics in communication

I feel a bit embarrased when I see the date on my previous log entry, but the past few weeks have been busy with the most fundamental kind of communication: face to face. In late September I directed five seminarians from the North American College in Rome in their annual retreat. Two have already been ordained deacons, and three were only a week away from the event. I had a wonderful time just sitting with these men, listening to their stories, telling some of my own, responding to God's action in their lives and giving some guidance in prayer. It is easy to get caught up in the technology of communication, at least it is easy for me, but the heart of it takes place when two people talk, listen and respond. The experience was a good reminder for me as I concentrate so hard on the future of the Society's work in communication of the treasure that we already have from the past in the Spiritual Exercises which focus on experience.

I had a few days back in my office (spent almost entirely in front of a computer monitor) and then my sister, Joan, and her husband arrived in Rome during their first visit to Italy. They actually landed at the airport right as I was beginning the retreat and then went off touring from the Amalfi coast up to Venice and then back to Rome. We spent a few days sight-seeing here and then headed south in a rented car to explore Calabria, the "toe" of Italy's "boot." Once again, I talked and listened all day long, catching up on family news and sharing my own life in Rome. I did take my new digital camera and used the travel as an opportunity to learn more about it. (It is one of Canon's digital single-lens-reflexes; picture quality is great and I can use the lenses I already have. The pictures look great. Of course, this is all part of the research and development function of the communication office.)

Now the visitors have flown home and I am enjoying just sitting at the computer. We are working on developing the intranet in the Curia with some new features. This is all part of a long-range goal of making better use of internet/digital communication for the work of the Society. The Curia in Rome serves as the development ground for learning what we might do and figuring out how to do it. I am always open to suggestions, and I am also using this communication area of SJweb as another testing ground. Recently I redid the feedback form because messages were getting eaten, so if you have any comments, please send them.