God's abundance continues...

Deacon Pedro

August 12, 2011
New S+L staffRecently I wrote about how God is a God of abundance. We may complain that He doesn't always give us what we want, but He absolutely never gives us less than we need. Remember the words from Psalm 23? "There is nothing I shall want.”
I've always been intrigued by the words that follow that verse: "He makes me lie down in green pastures." Sometimes God makes us lie down. Sometimes we need to be made to lie down, to take a break, to slow down. One of the reasons why we need to lie down is so that we can enjoy the green pastures.
And that is really, where S+L is right now. We are in the midst of green pastures: work is abundant, more and more people around the world are tuning in and our World Youth Day coverage is going to be unparalleled. And S+L has become a house of formation.
Every summer, young people from across the country and the world, come to spend a few months with us. They come to learn about the business of Catholic media, but they also learn what it's like to be a Catholic in the world. Sometimes these interns and volunteers extend their stay for a year or two. Sometimes, they stay for good. Most often, they return to their homes, schools, seminaries, workplaces and families and take a little bit of the flavour and light of the Gospel message with them.
And so, to give you a few examples, last year we welcomed Lawrence, from Victoria, BC, who joined us as a short-term volunteer and ended up staying until this summer. Those of you who listen to S+L Radio will have heard his "Saint of the Week" segments. Two Basilian associates worked in our marketing department--José from Houston and Steven from New Mexico. We were also helped by two seminarians who had backgrounds in film and television: Mark from the Seminary of Christ the King in Mission, BC, and Jay from California, who is studying with the Paulist Fathers. These talented young men have now gone back to their lives and studies and, in doing so, they make the S+L family larger.
This year we also had two other interns who joined us for a few months. You may have seen them hosting Daily Perspectives: Andrew Santos, who has a journalism degree of Durham College (and is currently a team leader for the Toronto Archdiocesan World Youth Day group) and Joe Goski, who has degrees in English Literature and Philosophy from the University of Ottawa, as well as a Degree in Theology from Dominican University College in Ottawa. Both Andrew and Joe will be joining our team full time in our English and French departments, respectively.
And there are many people who you don't see: our editors, camera operators, web and graphic designers, marketing experts and master control operators.
One of these "behind-the-scenes" stars came to us after WYD08 in Sydney. Joshua Lanzarini had been working in the web department for WYD08 and came to S+L only for a brief stint. That stint has been extended, and now he is here for good. Everything that you see online--our S+L web presence--is thanks to Josh.
Three others are Jeun-Marie Lee, a freelance editor who graduated from Ryerson’s New Media program,  Chris Adamczyk, a graduate of Humber College’s Post Production program and Jonathan Hilsden who was received into the Church last Easter and studied a Kings School of Media in Jerusalem. Another recent addition is Cheridan Eygelaar, a Religious Studies graduate from the University of St. Michael's College. Cheridan will be a big part of our WYD Central coverage from Madrid.
It's true that God makes us lie down and that we go through moments of pruning, but without the pruning there would be no fruit. We now have "S+L grads" working for diocesan communications offices, school boards and municipal communications departments. We have S+L grads working for the Knights of Columbus and for other Catholic organizations. We have S+L grads starting families, working in the world and being ordained to the priesthood.
Indeed God's abundance is showing and the pastures are green!