Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences–Office of Social Communication

The Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences–Office of Social Communication (FABC-OSC) is committed to promoting communication ministry in the church in the Asian region and beyond. 
 
It is headed by a board of five bishops from Asia and an appointed executive secretary. Its main work is to coordinate the communication activities of the 28-member episcopal conferences of the FABC, and to oversee the operations and management of the FABC-owned Radio Veritas Asia based in the Philippines.
 
Jesuit Father Jean Desautels, FABC-OSC executive secretary from 1985 to 1995, headed a group of elementary and high school teachers from the Jesuit-run Ateneo de Manila University, Maryknoll College, St. Scholastica’s College, Xavier School, and St. Paul’s College in Quezon City to form the Philippine Association for Media Education (PAME).
 
Philippine Association for Media and Information Literacy (PAMIL) and the Philippine Association for Communication and Media Research Inc. (PACMRI) both credit PAME in their discussion of the history of media education in the Philippines. 
 
The Philippine Association of Communication Educators (PACE) also traces back its media and information literacy initiatives to the inspiration left by PAME.
 
Meanwhile, Divine Word Father Franz-Josef Eilers, FABC-OSC executive secretary from 1995 to 2016, had developed and coordinated the Master of Arts in Theology major in Social-Pastoral Communication (MAT-SPC) at the Dominican-run University of Santo Tomas (UST) Graduate School. Since 2001, the program has graduated more than 40 priests, religious, and Catholic educators from a dozen or so Asian countries.
 
Father Eilers instituted the annual FABC-OSC Bishops’ Meet in 1996. This first of its kind gathering of bishop-chairmen and secretaries of social communication commissions in FABC-member conferences tackle issues like youth communication, new media communication, as well as pastoral communication planning.
 
He also instituted the Bishops’ Institute for Social Communication (BISCOM) in 1997. This periodic gathering of bishops and communication experts started with a theme on Church and Public Relations (1997) and went on to topics like Church and New Media (1999/2007/2012), Communication Formation (2009), and others.
 
Father Eilers co-founded the Asian Research Center for Religion and Social Communication, which is housed at Saint John’s University in Bangkok (Thailand) since its founding in 1999. 
 
Asian Research Center for Religion and Social Communication gathers Asian scholars and researchers every year in special roundtables to discuss the influences of communication developments in faith practices/expression, and vice-versa.
 
The Divine Word Missionary conceptualized and headed the St. Joseph Freinademetz Communication Centre, Inc. (JFCC) in 2009 as a training and formation center on social and pastoral communication. 
 
JFCC ideals are now being carried out by Veritas Asia Institute for Social Communication (VAISCOM) from the former’s location inside the Radio Veritas Asia compound in Quezon City, Philippines. 
 
Finally, Father Eilers had written countless textbooks and scholarly articles on human, social and pastoral communication, which even now are being used in schools and formation houses.
 
VAISCOM will hold a two-day face-to-face workshop on basic communication research from June 11 to 12, 2022.

Interested parties may register at https://bit.ly/BCR2022-Reg