In the true spirit of the X General Chapter and in the light of the Priorities and Operative Guidelines of the same (1.2; 1.2.1, 1.2.2), the Province of India-Nigeria-Great Britain-Ireland has taken a decisive step to establish and promote apostolic collaboration among circumscriptions envisioned by the X General Chapter. Representing St Pauls Institute of Communication Education (SPICE), Mumbai, the premier Institute of Communication of the Province, the Provincial Superior, Fr Michael Raj, and the Director of SPICE, Fr Shaiju Joseph, travelled to Sao Paulo, Brazil, on 22nd May to visit the Faculdade Paulus de Tecnologia e Comunicação (FAPCOM) in view of exploring various avenues of collaboration between these two Communication Institutes of the Congregation.
Several rounds of meeting were held between the Major Superiors of both Provinces, the Director General of apostolate of the Province of Brazil, the Director and management of the faculty and members of the teaching faculty. Most of these meetings were held in the presence of our Superior General, Fr Valdir De Castro, who is also the outgoing Director of FAPCOM. Several areas of collaboration and networking were discussed and identified between SPICE and FAPCOM. The conclusions of the meetings were formulated into a Memorandum of Understanding (Mou) between the two circumscriptions and was signed by the Superior General, the Major Superiors, the Director General of apostolate, Brazil, and the Directors of the two Institutes. This document will be the point of reference in carrying forward and implementing the conclusions arrived at.
Some of the outstanding features of this document are student exchange programme, faculty exchange and internship collaboration. The Superior General appreciated and thanked Provincials and others for the initiative taken by both Provinces and encouraged them to explore further various other possibilities of collaboration in our commitment of becoming formators in the field of communication and the Bible.
