SH SOCCOM organises social media workshop

KOTA KINABALU – Social Communications Committee (SOCCOM), Sacred Heart Cathedral organized a half-day workshop for all pastoral groups under the Sacred Heart Parish at Sacred Heart parish hall Oct 21 to enhance the role of SOCCOM in the parish, as well as to encourage all groups to utilize social media as a way to communicate and evangelize. 100 people attended the workshop, including Archbishop John Wong, Fr Rhobby Mojolou, Deacon Abel Madisang, and other religious sisters.

In his opening speech, Archbishop John Wong encouraged all participants to share the good news through social media. Social media is a speedy and powerful way of disseminating information which the parish is advocating through the setting up of the parish website launched in Jun 19, 2013. He also invited them to keep the website alive by extending their help to SOCCOM in order to reach out to other parishioners.

In the first part of the workshop, chairman of SOCCOM Dr Damian Lee gave an overview of its role in the parish which is to utilize it as an effective and efficient communications link to connect parishioners together.  With the development of the website, links could be established with other forms of social media used by other groups, thus creating a place to meet and encounter meaningfully within the parish.  “It is not enough to be passersby (readers) on the digital highways, but we must be active and proactive in using social communications to connect with others”, said Dr Damian.

The overall idea of the workshop is to gather the pastoral groups together to learn how each can contribute their stories through utilizing the website. Adding further that the contents of the parish website have yet to be fully developed, Lee said,  “When the website is fully developed, it will act as a pastoral encyclopedia where parishioners can find accurate and up-to-date information about the parish.”

Jeffry Michael, the administrator of the SHC website facilitated the second part of the workshop, which was dedicated to teaching the participants the technical operation of the website. Equipped with technical know-how, each group could easily upload their latest activities to the website and contribute actively to the new evangelization.

In ending the workshop, Dr Damian called on the participants to extend their talents in social communications to serve the church and SOCCOM, which is currently in need of a translator. –  Linda Edward