NORTH HALEDON Through social media, the Salesian Sisters of St. John Bosco are stepping into the role of digital missionaries with one of its latest initiatives called “Salesian Sunday,” two-minute weekly videos featured on the order’s YouTube channel.
Using the Sunday Gospel reading and readings of the day as her inspiration, Salesian Sister Maryann Schaefer “stars” in the videos and offers a brief reflection to inspire the viewer on Sunday Scripture. A new one premieres every Saturday and the video is shared with the Salesian sisters’ Facebook, Instagram and Twitter feeds each week, gaining several hundred views per episode. “Salesian Sunday” began last summer and Sister Maryann, who also serves as business administrator for the order, said, “I hope that people grow a deeper relationship with Jesus through these reflections.”
Salesian Sister Brittany Harrison, social media coordinator of the SEC Province, produces the videos along with Sister Schaefer. An order dedicated to serving youth through education and spirituality, the Salesians understand the importance of being more present in what they consider the “digital playground” of today’s youth.
Sister Brittany said, “As Salesians, we look to the example of St. John Bosco, our founder, and how he always embraced newest forms of communication and technology to spread the Gospel. We are simply doing the same. As we grow our social media resources and style of presence, we try to keep in mind how we can share what is beautiful, true and good about the Catholic faith with young people, parents and educators.”
The idea to use YouTube as a form of digital evangelization began when Sister Maryann served as campus minister at the University of Illinois a few years ago as a way for the college students to connect with the Gospel reading of the day. “A lot of college students will say they don’t have all the time in the world,” said Sister Maryann, “So the videos started as posts on my Facebook page for them to take a minute or two to reflect on the Gospel.”
Knowing this, Sister Brittany approached Sister Maryann to assist in the “Salesian Sunday” initiative. “As Salesians, we have a tradition called the ‘good night,’ where Don Bosco would give his students brief thoughts to ponder as they fall asleep,” she said. “He learned this from his mother and carried on the tradition with his students. It was meant to inspire them to virtue. In our Salesian schools this is often a ‘good morning,’ so for social media, I opted to call it the ‘Salesian Sunday’ video series. Sister Maryann has been great about preparing and letting me film her each week. I find it very rewarding because she has a gift for distilling the Sunday readings into one clear thought to ponder.”
Sister Maryann said, ‘I read the Gospel (or the readings for the coming Sunday) at least three or four times during the week beforehand. I ponder it and whatever comes on the day of filming, that’s what is recorded.”
On a recent reflection about the Gospel on Martha and Mary’s visit from Jesus, Sister Maryann briefly summarized the account of Mary spending time with Jesus while Martha is pre-occupied by chores and said, “The Lord says to Martha, ‘Mary has chosen the better part.’ While this could sound like a rebuke, it is not. It is the same call we get for every day to worship, a call to leave aside all that we normally do all the other days of the week. To leave aside our work, to leave aside our preoccupations and to spend time at the feet of Jesus.”
While the intention at the beginning for the two-minute reflections was for college students, “Salesian Sunday” videos are now meant for all who watch from the young to the old. Sister Brittany said, “We have received great feedback from our viewers. They are used by some groups for reflection and since they are short, we can see through our analytics that most viewers stay through and watch the entire video. It does not take a big time commitment to hear something about the Gospel from the ‘Salesian Sunday’ videos and people like that. I am happy to use my interest in social media to expand our presence and share Salesian spirituality with the world.”