Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
SMA
Lomè (Agenzia Fides) - The words of the founder of the Society of African Missions, Melchior de Marion Brésillac: "...seek every opportunity to proclaim the Good News" inspired the African missionaries when they created the television channel "SMA Togo TV". The web TV channel, launched in 2022, is achieving considerable success beyond the borders of Togo.
"It is a multimedia channel with an international focus, a novelty in the media landscape, which responds to the requests of many believers and spreads the messages and work of the missionaries of the Society of African Missions," says a statement from Father Eric Koami Kpotor, media representative of the religious province of Togo. The project of a web TV channel was born with the intention of expanding and improving the flow of communication on digital networks in Togo and in Africa in general. It all began during the dramatic months of the pandemic.
During the coronavirus pandemic, the missionaries began sending daily audio files of the Gospel of the day, supplemented with sermons, via WhatsApp. "It was precisely these initiatives that aroused great enthusiasm among the faithful, and this in a difficult time, not only in terms of health, but also in human and social terms," said Father Eric. "People felt the need to nourish their faith and find comfort in the chaos. For this reason, the initiatives taken by the Society of African Missions have been successful, so much so that the number of people who followed the homilies on smartphones and PCs have increased." Thanks to this positive response, the media team of the Society of African Missions in the Togolese province has launched the "Web TV" project to meet the growing expectations of the faithful. The initiative is part of a path of evangelization that sees digital media as one of the most accessible tools for communicating with the Togolese and African faithful. The TV channel was inaugurated in June 2022 by the Archbishop of Lomé, Nicodème Barrigah-Benissan, on Corpus Christi, and has been in operation for almost two years now. Its headquarters are in the Provincial House of the Society of African Missionaries in Bè-Klikamé. (AP) (Agenzia Fides, 3/6/2024)
