PMS Directors in Kenya Join Global Training to Enhance Young Adults’ Church Participation

In the one-week training that ends Friday, March 12, Diocesan as well as National PMS Directors in Kenya joined over 200 officials from 42 countries who discussed various topics under the theme, “Church Mission: Media Communication, Charity and Fundraising”.

The officials of the Church entity that seeks to promote mission spirit in the Catholic Church were trained, during the webinar event, on the methods, models and means of doing charity work and fundraising using the media.

According to Fr. Luchidio, many Parishes and Dioceses, especially in African countries, are struggling financially even when there are individuals who are willing to help.

“We have many people connected on social media and other platforms of communication who would like to know where they can take their money for charity work. Unfortunately, we in PMS do not have proper communication channels that can help us and help these people who are ready to donate,” he said.

PMS, he said, “is looking for a context to reach out to the target group to allow them raise money for charity,” Kenya’s PMS National Director who is based at the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB) in Nairobi told ACI Africa March 12.

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He added that the target group includes donors, the youth and young adults whose vibrancy and energy he noted can help steer the Church forward.

He said that Dioceses in Kenya are struggling and only rely on occasional donations from Parishes.

The aim of the training, the member of the Clergy of Kenya’s Kakamega Diocese said, is to instill a sense of responsibility among the people of God who will be ready to support the Church’s mission of evangelization at any time.

“We hope to see people randomly support a Priest who is working in Lodwar where transportation is very difficult. We want to see people come out to donate to a Religious Sister who is working with the handicapped in children in Marsabit where life is very difficult,” Fr. Luchidio said, highlighting some of Kenya’s hardship places where missionaries serve.

Participants in the training were equipped with knowledge on how to craft fundraising messages on media platforms in ways that do not allow for misinterpretation.

“We were urged to enter into communication platforms armed with content,” Fr. Luchidio recalled, adding that in one of the topics, PMS officials were taught how to communicate their mission effectively “from a cognitive, relational and emotional points of view” and from a point of clear understanding of their audiences.

Other topics included contextualizing churches’ mission, global missionary formation with digital media and effectively communicating their mission.

Participants were also taken through fundraising fundamentals and essentials of effective communication.

Speakers at the training, which started at 1 PM Rome time, taking two and a half hours for the entire five days, were drawn from the Dicastery for Communication, Agenzia Fides, and from Radio Maria International.

Agnes Aineah is a Kenyan journalist with a background in digital and newspaper reporting. She holds a Master of Arts in Digital Journalism from the Aga Khan University, Graduate School of Media and Communications and a Bachelor's Degree in Linguistics, Media and Communications from Kenya's Moi University. Agnes currently serves as a journalist for ACI Africa.