India’s Jesuits make presence felt on Internet

(March 23, 2010) .Jesuits in India are making their presence felt on the Internet. Presently, the work of Jesuits in the social service sector was not visible enough, because many work in places, where there is little electricity, said Fr. Joe Victor, the Jesuit province’s social action coordinator in Darjeeling, West Bengal. The opportunity to design their own websites has made participants, who take the course realize the need, to inform and involve others in Jesuits’ social work, he added. Fr. Victor was one of 21 Jesuits and laypeople from 10 Jesuit provinces in India, who attended a March 15-21 web-design course at Konchowki near Kolkata. Fr. Victor said he now hopes to link the social service centers in his province through a common website for greater visibility.
Jesuit Fr. Ravi Sagar, from Kohima region in Assam, northeast India, said the workshop provided simple tools, on how to manage a website. He said that this would be useful for obtaining feedback on the work of Jesuits. He added that some viewers might be inspired by their work and may even ask to collaborate with them. The recent workshop, titled “Making your Presence online”, aimed to provide participants with the basic tools of web design.