In their desire to serve in the ministry of information dissemination, 37 participants attended a Christian journalism workshop conducted in Geneva that is meant to enhance the journalism skills of those wishing to serve, among others, the Filipino Catholic community of Switzerland.

The workshop is a pilot activity sponsored by CFC and part of the outreach program of the Philippine Catholic Mission of Switzerland (PCM Swiss) headed by its chaplain, Fr. Johan Dumandan.

It was a half-day affair held on 2 August 2009 at the scenic John Knox Conference Center.

The workshop is intended to enhance PCM Swiss' efforts in providing timely information to its parishioners, and in bringing them closer together in spite of the distances between the cities where they are residing.

Depending on the advise and feedback of Fr. Johan and other members of the community, plans are being made to bring the workshop to other parts of the country including Basel, Bern, Winterthur and Zurich.

While it is not expected that all of the workshop participants would have the discipline and skills in pursuing their calling to be a journalist, it is hoped that these efforts would enable PCM Swiss to build critical mass that would support its undertaking.

This workshop is also part of the preparations for the bigger work in connecting the various Filipino Catholic communities in Europe through a website, a project that is being undertaken under the auspices of CBCP-ECMI (Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines - Episcopal Commission on the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People) whose chairman is Bishop Precioso Cantillas.

In this initiative, PCM Swiss would provide the manpower in administering the Europe-wide information hub, with CFC Europe providing the necessary technical expertise.