Marciano Santervás, Augustinian Recollect.

The Augustinian Recollect Marciano Santervás (Izagre, León, Spain, 1947) has worked for more than two decades in the social communications of the Province. We spoke with him on the occasion of the Jubilee to learn about his experience and opinion. Part 2.

When it comes to communicating, writing or expressing ideas for the general public, what are the challenges that you have felt most firsthand?

Whenever I have had to publish, the same question has arisen: Will my message be understood by the recipient? Have I expressed myself adequately? Will the content of the message mean something to the recipient?

Certainly, all communication has a two-way sense, but the communicator must facilitate the understanding of the message and not limit himself to sending confusing, abstruse, insufficiently considered or grammatically incorrect messages.

However, I have never been concerned about “likes” or seeking approval, because I believe that, as a representative of an ecclesiastical institution, I have to publish certain messages, whether they are liked or not, as, without room for comparison, the Pope has to do so often and other civil or religious authorities should do when basic ethical values are transgressed.

In your experience, are the media used within the Order with a positive mentality and sufficient knowledge?

It is difficult and dangerous to answer this question to avoid false or very risky statements, given that there are more than 900 Augustinian Recollects. However, I dare to say that in a not so distant past there has been a great deal of mistrust about digital media, which were considered something foreign to culture itself, and their use a way of “wasting time” or “not taking advantage” of it in the most appropriate way.

The emphasis was placed on the possible misuse and the risks involved, but this, to a large extent, has been due to the lack of training both in the initial formation process and in the ongoing formation process, which has led to serious mistakes.

I think above all of the Social Networks, where the most daring have moved perhaps thinking that in them everything is possible and have forgotten that a religious, if he does not hide his authentic profile, is seen as a member of an institution, as an institution, for better or worse.

In any case, the most serious thing has been that the immense possibilities that these new technologies offer for pastoral care and formation have not been taken advantage of.

Do you think that we have found the appropriate language to spread concepts such as ‘community’, ‘interiority’, ‘wisdom’, ‘journey’, ‘spirituality’ or ‘charisma’?

With fear of being wrong and making hasty judgements, I believe that the words in quotation marks, with different meanings, have not yet found the appropriate language for dissemination; moreover, I doubt that some, who need above all personal experience, even prolonged, will only be understood when that experience has been mediated.

That an audiovisual or a story can be of help seems unquestionable; but it is still difficult. Therefore, as Pope Francis says so many times, let us promote and cultivate the culture of meeting, interpersonal relationships, even if electronic media can serve as a vehicle to reach these.

For years, an official book of the Province stated: “Through communication to communion” and communion, according to Pope Francis, “is not the result of strategies and programs, but is built on reciprocal listening between brothers and sisters.”

I think that the “recipes” that Francis prescribes in his Messages for the Day of Social Communications, analyzed and prayed by a community and in community, offer the fundamental elements to understand the terms proposed in the question. For their dissemination, without rejecting other methods, the most valuable is testimonial.

Are the governing teams of the Province and the Chapters aware of the importance of Social Communication?

I focus on the answer in the provincial governing team, leaving aside other governing teams of the provincial demarcations.

I can affirm that in the 15 years that I have been president of the CCP, the government of the Province has approved without any amendment both the Statutes and the Action Plan of the CCP and has never raised any objection to the action of the Commission nor has it spared resources for its development; that is, they have trusted the people of the Commission and how they carried out their work.

However, I believe I can affirm that some members of the provincial government, because they do not feel sufficiently trained in the world of communication, have adopted the position of “laissez faire”, so they have not interfered in the communicative actions, but they have not been animators nor have they promoted the formation of the religious in this field, despite the fact that in some provincial Chapters it was decided to promote it.

Entering into the evaluation of the Chapters is even more complex, due to their temporary nature, the high number of members, the origins and ages of the capitulars and their degree of training in this field of communication.

Is teamwork important in public communication?

At this point my answer is without ambiguity: teamwork is essential in the public communication of any Augustinian-Recollect institution, in whose Family the value of communion and community living belong to its quintessence.

In the Province, a Team or Commission is a group in a community of action, in which everyone contributes to achieving an objective and manifests the community condition of the Province with their common action.

We cannot speak of teamwork by juxtaposing individual actions that are not known or agreed to by the team, without maintaining a constructive and critical dialogue on the joint action of the group. If we want a work to last, we must not leave it in the hands of a single person.

In every human group that sets an objective, dialogue, a variety of proposals and the evaluation of the means to achieve it are essential. Pope Francis frequently exhorts us to build a culture of encounter for constructive communication.

A team is formed not by appointing its members, but from the dialogue they maintain; if there is no dialogue, the team is such only in name.

What communication tools do you think are most important in the work you have developed until last year?

It depends largely on the content and the public to which it is directed. All are valid and valuable. None is disposable. However, in the abstract, the New Information Technologies, communications accessible by electronic devices, seem to be the most important today due to the number of users and the ease of access to content.

Within this modality, the Social Networks take the cake, so that the absence of a profile on them closes off access to the “digital continent”, in the words of Benedict XVI, where millions and millions of people, especially young people, browse with their concerns and their varied problems.

If the Province is not present on the Social Networks or is not as it should be, it is falling into flagrant irresponsibility. The Internet in general and the Social Networks are the best forum to proclaim the truth, peace, the Gospel of Jesus, and to undo all the interested misinformation that circulates in our world.

At this moment I am reminded of what St. Gregory the Great says about preachers who do not fulfill their duty: that they are like “dumb dogs”, who do not dare to speak and propose and defend the truth.

Are we within the Augustinian-Recollect Family ‘up to date’ with the use of these New Information Technologies?

The age of a person and his training does not justify all his behavior, but it can condition it.

This assumption explains that, due to the same age, there is a high percentage of the Family that is not “up to date” either in the knowledge or in the use of these tools, which is not so transcendental if the mentality remains open to the new forms of communication, they are not rejected as something snobbish, and, when necessary, the “professional” is called upon to request his help.

It is true that substance and form, content and way of expressing it are important, and that the tools of communication must be conceived as forms of expression of the contents, of the messages, which are fundamental; but if the message is not transmitted in an appropriate way, it can be sterile or even counterproductive.

In addition to public communication, you have important life experience in educational pastoral care. Are we taking good care of young people in terms of their use of the media?

It has been almost 25 years since I left the world of education, which has evolved spectacularly in terms of the use of electronic tools in education, so I would like to think that our young students are well cared for in terms of their knowledge of computer technologies. I do not know if they are also well cared for in their use.

However, for what I have said above, I am more concerned about whether the educational content and values respond to the orientations of the Church and the basic values of the Augustinian Recollect charism or, rather, our students are experts in handling but merely uncritical consumers of content; and, on the other hand, they join the mighty river of those who lead a comfortable, frivolous lifestyle lacking human and transcendent concerns.

Both the Provincial Government and the teaching staff will have to make a calm discernment and, if necessary, take the pertinent measures so that our educational centres are truly benchmarks in terms of academic preparation, but also beacons that emit flashes of light for the values they advocate, even if that requires going against the current.

What lessons do you take away as most valuable from your time in the Provincial media?

I will be brief because I have already spoken a lot, perhaps more than necessary, and I may have upset some. I will summarise my answer in some specific points:

  • The first thing I have learned is to understand that being president of a Provincial body is to provide a service, not according to your taste and desire, but in accordance with the condition and lines of action that the Institution itself sets out.
  • Having been in this world has forced me to “stay up to date” on issues and techniques that, otherwise, I would surely have put aside in my life.
  • In addition, it has allowed me to come into contact with numerous people, which is an enrichment, which I hope has been mutual.
  • It has forced me to “beg” a lot and, therefore, to depend on others in my work, which has also led me to know how to thank from the bottom of my heart so many and so many who have responded to my requests. I thank them all from here.
  • I have clearly perceived the need to work as a team, to maintain a fluid dialogue in which not only was there talk, but there was also listening, because in the team I was part of there were always one or two communication professionals, who it was fair to listen to, and what positive dialogues! But all the members intervened before taking a common position for which, once agreed, we fought together.
  • Perhaps out of education, a job well done has been an aspiration, so the correct spelling and the good structure of the texts, as well as, as far as possible, a good image, have been my concern and the object of my care, although more than four times I have failed. But spelling mistakes, whatever they may be, are a punch in the face for the average educated, and an institution cannot slack off on this basic point out of respect for others, elegance and a good image of its own.

Do you have expectations for the future of communication in the Church? Any advice for those who continue in this work?

I think that the Church has taken very important steps towards a communication that, in terms of form, is accessible to all.

The language of Pope Francis is a good example and, if Catholics take the trouble to read the Messages of the aforementioned Days of Social Communications and put them into practice, the Church, with communicators “like Francis”, will steal audiences or followers from many YouTubers.

But let it be understood well, the Church is not going to sell its messages cheaply to get more or less “likes”, because the beauty of the Gospel and the attractive truth of the person of Jesus do not have a selling price in the communication market, nor can they be missing in such a crowded market.

I end by answering this question by inviting the patient reader to pray for communication in and of the Church. To do so, I am using some requests from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops:

  • “For Pope Francis, the leaders of the Church and Christians around the world: may they communicate the Good News of Jesus Christ with courage and conviction.
  • For all those involved in the work of communications and the media: may their work serve the cause of truth and justice and help us overcome division.
  • That people around the world may hear God’s good news for the world.
  • Lord, hear us.”