Saturday, May 15, 2004 – Coinciding with the patron feast of Madrid, the team of the International
Secretariat convoked a meeting for webmasters of the Vincentian Family. This was not the first time that this group has gathered together since in 1999 this same group met at in the same city, namely, Madrid.
This meeting had a twofold objective:
The primary objective was to become acquainted with the work that the different branches of the Vincentian Family have carried on in this area and to examine new possibilities for working together and new opportunities to be more present on the internet.
The second objective was to facilitate a time for the different members of the Vincentian Lay Associations to come together with the hope that in the near future the Presidents or those responsible for the leadership of these associations would also be able to meet and share their experiences, pray together and plan some activities together.
The meeting took place in a fraternal environment and the work was done with great calmness. Twenty-one persons participated:
Representing the Congregation of the Mission: Julio Suescún (Zaragoza), José Manuel Villar and Carlos López (Salamanca), and Pedro Junquera (Madrid).
Representing the Daughters of Charity: Benita Rodríguez (San Vicente) and María Milagros Aguilar (Sevilla).
Representing the Marian Youth Groups: José Juan Pérez Ramos and Miguel Alonso.
Representing MISEVI: José Manuel Díaz Quintana.
Representing the International Association of Charity: María Engenia Atero Salcedo.
Representing the Saint Vincent de Paul Society: Carlos Lafarga.
Representing Missionary Activity Group of Spain: Father José Gonzalo García.
Representing FEYDA: [Translator’s note: I do not know what organization FEYDA refers to] Javier Fernández.
Representing the International Marian Youth Groups: Ana María Escaño and the whole team from the International Secretariat (Sister Asun García, Rev. Pedro Castillo, Gustavo Gómez, Doris Castillo, Yasmine Cajuste, Pamela Mantuhac). Ivanildo Dantas also accompanied us.
After a simple prayer service that include some slides that has been prepared by Father Suescun, the participates shared their expectation:
To be more united in their efforts thus avoiding the duplication of resources, and to share in a common work together;
Share information and avoid wasting energy;
To use the internet as an important means of evangelizing;
At attempt to work together in a more coordinated manner;
To know how the web pages of the Vincentian Family function and to become more familiar with their content.
The first presentation was made by Father Suescun, who spoke to us about the “Past, present, and the future of the International Web-Site of the Vincentian Family (www.famvin.org). He affirmed the fact that we have a rich diversity and that we can network our work in such a way that the presence of the Vincentian Family can be more attractive to people. We must take advantage of the resources that we have and continue to change with the times, for only in this way can we provide a better evangelization to the poor.
Actually, the information that arrives at FAMVIN is continual but hardly sufficient. It does not represent all the different branches of the Vincentian Family, interactive participation is almost nil, a forum for the exchange of ideas has been provided but there are almost no suggestions, and one notices the spaces where there are photos and yet in these spaces there should be concrete news that is posted frequently and quickly.
This presentation was followed by an examination of the different websites:
www.misevi.org
www.feyda.net
www.ssvp.es
www.caminosdemision.com
www.amve.org
www.paulesmadrid.org
www.secretariadojmv.org
www.familiavicenciana.org
After taking some time to eat we continued our work and came to some agreements that would strengthen our work on the internet. The following are the agreements:
Utilize www.familiavicenciana.org as a place for the different associations to meet. We will attempt to made direct links from this page to the web pages of the different associations. This page offers the possibility of linking up with Associations or Vincentian groups that do not have their own web page.
Each group of the Vincentian Family, by the method that they prefer, will forward periodically their most relevant news. The corresponding link should be given in this information and thus enabling a more rapid connection among the distinct pages
A generic forum space will be provided and in turn this will allow access to the forums of the different branches. Each branch can present their own themes that they would like to discuss but we will also have the possibility of a common discussion.
We will attempt to create a “Vincentian search” that give one access to information contained on all the pages of the Vincentian Family in Spain (Miguel Alonso and Javier Fernández will take responsibility for this work).
After a final prayer, we took leave of one another with the certainty that we met and came to know one another, shared our hopes and questions and planned our first steps in a common journey. May God’s Spirit make this step bear fruit as we continue to walk together as members of the Vincentian Family in Spain and as we strive to be and proclaim Good News to the Poor.
Taken from the Spanish language site of famvin and translated by Charlie Plock, CM
