SMCB Times Team Perspectives

Like everyone else, I was trying to ease my way into this new way of pandemic life, with which we are all too familiar now. At the time, the idea of joining as an editor for SMCB Times presented itself as a welcome distraction and it was exciting to be part of something new. The mission of SMCB Times was the need of the hour too - that we stay connected to the SMCB family in the face of social distancing protocols.

I am always amazed at the end of every month, when we receive submissions from our community - ranging from spirituality to contributions by our young parishioners. Through each edition, I have had the opportunity to connect with so many in SMCB through their submissions and even conversations on the phone. Behind the scenes, I get to work with a passionate and driven team who bring in their best for each edition. As we step into the second year, I hope that SMCB Times grows from strength to strength!

My reason for joining SMCBTimes was my passion for visual communication. Our initial constructive lengthy planning sessions were very interesting when we formed the layout of SMCBTimes without knowing that we will step into a second year!

I have been part of our Church community for more than two decades now. That gives me the privilege of knowing people in the community and working with them to come up with articles in both written and visual formats. For every article I have worked on, I have felt a connection and friendship towards the submitter of the article. It is a pleasure to work with a vibrant team and talented community.

My reason for joining SMCBTimes was to live life with a curious nature; to affect the church members; to disseminate information and to have a religious communication between the Church, the Parish and our community.

We are a vibrant and active community. For some years now, I felt we did not have a suitable way to document all the events and happenings in our church. Furthermore, there wasn't a way for our community to share their writings, poems, art or anything digital. Documenting the events in our church for future generations and providing a platform for our community, was the reason I co-founded SMCBTimes.

Our community continues to be supportive & willing to share! The start of every new edition is a leap of faith. We really don't know how many contributions we will end up getting. However at the end of the month ( and a few reminders ), I am always surprised by the number of community contributions. I am thankful to our community and friends for your support.

I was part of the monthly church bulletin team and felt that the printed format does not suffice to communicate whats happening and what has happened, effectively to our parish. I feel SMCB Times fills that gap.

With each edition, I am amazed by how much can be achieved by a small group of driven individuals.

As a lay parishoner, I had always wondered about the weekly printed bulletins and its use-fullness. I had witnessed, people either not picking up the letters or throwing them away after reading them. When I had the opportunity of serving the community in the Parish Council, I wanted our community to get a better newsletter which not-only served to provide an update on the church events, but also provide a platform for our community to express their faith, culture, passion and of course share ideas and thoughts. Though the plan to start a digital newsletter was always in the mind, the start of the 2020 Pandemic brought out the real need for this platform. A group of like-minded folks took-up the challenge to start this and its been an amazing journey since.

Looking at the type of articles coming and being posted, the information around who our readers are and what they want has been an eye-opener. There was never a want for articles and defintely never been a lack of talent. Through this venture, I also had the opportunity to learn and know more about my community, my faith and our church that I could have never imagined.