Displaying items by tag: Communications Commission

Carmelites Gather to Discuss the Status of Communications Programs in the Order

The directors of the Order’s communication offices around the world gathered on Monday, January 27, in person as well as via zoom to participate in a discussion of the status of the various communications programs in the Order and the provinces. Each participant was asked to share three things they felt everyone should know about their ministry of communications.

They were also asked to complete a one-page survey which will be summarized to give a more complete picture of the state of our communications. There was quite a bit of enthusiasm generated during this meeting and future gatherings are being planned.

The Director of Communications for the Order, William J. Harry, spoke on the challenges and the opportunities we have to evangelize in today’s world with our new technologies.  pdf That talk is available here in the three languages. (243 KB)

A second meeting via zoom is scheduled for May 21, 2025. The meeting will be in two parts, better accommodating the different time zones within the Order.

+ Asia/Australia/Oceania (09.00-12.00 Rome time)

+ Africa/Europe/Americas (17.00-20.00 Rome time)

The meetings are primarily conducted in English. So those who will be attending and require translation into Spanish or Italian, please contact the office by May 15th, if you will be attending and require a translator.

Santa Croce Offers Professional Development Focused on Evangelization

For six days, communications directors from various parts of the Order met in Rome to participate in three events related to communications. The first was a three-day conference at the Pontifical University of Santa Croce entitled Communication and Evangelization: Context, Attitudes and Experiences. One of the university’s focuses is communications. This was the 14th professional seminar for Church communications offices.

The goal of the conference was to explore the Church’s evangelizing. This is something present in each diocese as well as religious order on various levels. The form of dialogue used brings together characteristics such as the primacy of charity, love of truth, respect for the person and his or her freedom, and the promotion of pluralism. In addition, the various dimensions of the Church's communication refer to the horizon of evangelization: internal communication, relations with journalists, creation of media and channels, presence on social networks, listening, dissemination of content, and institutional relations. When put together and used appropriately, these activities make the Church capable of proclaiming Christ, the Good News.

To explore the theme a number of presentations as well as panels of experts from various parts of the world were provided. Presentations were in English, Spanish, and Italian (with simultaneous translations for the large gatherings). The breaks provided the opportunity to connect with fellow workers in this particular vineyard.

The full program can be found at en.pusc.it/csi/ucc2025/progr

Directors of Communications for Religious Orders and Bishops’ Conferences Come to Strategize

The Dicastery for Communications invited some 200 directors of communications in the religious orders and congregations as well as directors of communications for the Bishops’ Conference throughout the world to come together January 27-29, 2025. For three days, the group met at the Pontifical Urbaniana University in Rome to reflect on various aspects of the Church’s program of communications.

January 27

To start off the conference, the participants were invited to meet with Pope Francis in the Vatican’s Clementine Hall. He spoke to the group about engaging the world and not remaining in an enclosure in which Catholics talk only among themselves. Genuine power of communication comes in building connections and crafting “narratives of our hope.” He proposed that Christian communication “conveys harmony” and needs to be an alternative to the disorder of modern communication. The pope sees modern communication as “new towers of Babel” where “everyone is talking, and they don’t understand each other.” Each member was able to greet the pope individually.

Among the speakers were Maria Ressa who had spoken on Saturday in the Paul VI Audience Hall. Speaking on Navigating the Contemporary Media Environment, she highlighted the most pressing challenges facing the contemporary media environment, including disinformation, polarization, and radicalization. She invited participants on how the Church’s communications might transform this context into a space of hope.

This was followed by a two person panel focused on “Change of the Communication Paradigm: The Rise of Social Media and Catholic Influencers.”

Fr Paolo Benanti, TOR, made an excellent presentation on artificial intelligence, providing insights into it future development, and explored its impact on the communication of the Church. Benanti teaches at the Pontifical Gregorian University, advises the pope on AI and technology ethics, and has been consulted by the Italian government on AI. This was followed by Eli Pariser, founder of New Public network, speaking about creating online communities that foster connection, facilitate pluralism, and encourage civic engagement.

In the afternoon, Cardinal Luis Tagle who works in the area of evangelization, gave a spiritual reflection on the Christian response in the midst of today’s communication challenges.

January 28

The following day, the third session began with the Irish writer Colum McCann discussing narratives and storytelling that can bridge differences, shatter stereotypes, and building communion among people. A five-person panel followed focused on their initiatives in storytelling. This was followed by another five-person panel with additional concrete examples of engagement with young people and those on the margins, bearing witness in challenging contexts, and standing up to disinformation and crises.

The 4th session in the afternoon, provided four parallel workshops with participants attending any two of them. The workshops were on platformization, best practices in broadcasting liturgy, strategies for communications offices, and, finally, formation.

The group then departed for the St. Peter’s Basilica where the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, celebrated Mass at the Altar of the Chair in the Vatican Basilica. The Mass was attended by about 200 communication officers from bishops' conferences and religious families who had been attending the conferences at the Urbaniana University.

Following up on the Gospel of the day, Jesus speaking of the scribes and Pharisees, the cardinal traced the symptoms of some rampant “spiritual diseases” and their respective “medicines.” He said, “I believe that none of us lacks the humble awareness to recognize that our hearts can also be affected by such diseases,” referring to the hypocrisy mentioned by Jesus in the Gospel passage.

Using the various tools of communication— voice, writing, images— “you are called to narrate,” but without ever disregarding “the primary value” of others, making use of a word that is “adequate and never shouted,” ensuring “confidentiality, magnanimity” and “discretion.” For the cardinal, this is responsible communication.

January 29

The final day was spent in small groups, divided according to language. Members were asked to highlight the most important questions that emerged over the previous days. These were then presented to the whole group in a plenary session. The day and conference concluded with the group picture taken by the papal photographer.

Carmelite Communications Directors Join Jubilee Year Celebration of World Communications

The Vatican’s first celebration of the Jubilee Year, January 24-26, was dedicated to World Communications. The celebration began, appropriately, on the feast of St. Francis de Sales, the patron saint of journalists and writers, with a penitential liturgy at the Basilica of St. John Lateran.

On the following morning, January 25, participating journalists and directors of communications assembled at the end of Via Conciliazione to begin a pilgrimage to the Holy Door. The Vatican offered a small snack and coffee before heading into the Paul VI Audience Hall for an audience with Pope Francis.

The papal audience was preceded by a round table session with two well-known personalities: Maria Ressa, Nobel Peace Prize laureate, advocate for freedom of expression, and CEO of the social communications platform Rappler and Colum McCann, author and co-founder of Narrative 4 – a global non-profit which uses storytelling to better communities.

Ressa spoke of her reason for attending the Jubilee dedicated to communications. She saw the event as an opportunity “to talk to real people in a shared reality with values that we hold dear.” While we live in an ever-increasing technology-driven world, Ressa feels “both social media influencers and media professionals have a role to play in being sources of communication. Journalists should “operate under standards and ethics”; whereas influencers are good at translation or repackaging information for different audiences. 

For McCann, the Jubilee of World Communication is important because telling stories is a tool for bringing people together. “The shortest distance between any people is a story,” McCann explained, “so our ability to tell our story and our ability to listen to somebody else's story is actually paramount to who we are and how we continue.” In his talk, McCann provided concrete examples where the work of Narrative 4 has brought about incredible results. He holds that “the ability to understand somebody else's story” that is “fundamental to notions of democracy and belonging.”

This part of the program concluded with a musical performance by Maestro Uto Ughi, with the orchestra promoted by the Uto Ughi Foundation.

Unfortunately, Pope Francis’ participation was limited. He gave his prepared text to an aide saying he would have the document distributed but only speak briefly because everyone was hungry. Following his remarks, he moved on to greeting the cardinals and bishops as well as those who managed to get a front row seat. His impromptu remarks as well as the prepared remarks were later published and can be found here.

The afternoon of Saturday was spent with the initiative Dialogue with the City: Meetings of a Cultural and Spiritual Nature. The meetings were organized by various institutions to explore the relationship between communication and the Church. A full list of these sessions and their locations can be found here

Sunday morning the Jubilee celebration of World Communications concluded with the Sunday of the Word of God in St. Peter’s Basilica presided over by Pope Francis. During the Mass people from various countries participated in the the Institution of Lectors. The homily of the Holy Father is here.

International Communications Commission Meets to Finalize Programs Before the General Chapter

It was ten days of focusing on the Order’s communications programs. The week began with the professional development conferences at the Pontifical University of Santa Croce in Rome, participation in the Jubilee Year celebrations sponsored by the Dicastery for Communications, and concluded with the zoom meeting with the various directors of communications in the provinces. Then it was the turn of the International Communication Commission to meet at St Albert’s International Center (CISA) on January 29 – 31, 2025.

Members present for the 9th meeting of the Commission were: David Hofman, William J. Harry (Director of Communications for the Order), Manuel R. Freitas, Richard Byrne, and Mons. Janvier Marie Gustave Yameogo of the Dicastery for Communications.

Director’s Report

The Director’s Report highlighted the amount of time being spend on the publications part of the communications office, Edizioni Carmelitane, and the lack of time to focus on new initiatives in social media. It is hoped that some cooperation between the various communications offices in the Order could provide some renewed focus in the social media area. However, building cooperation also requires time to take root. Edizioni Carmelitane did publish 16 new titles in 2024 as well as two issues of Carmelus, Analecta, and Carmel in the World. In 2023, Edizioni published 10 new titles and 7 new titles in 2022.

While sales have increased through the webstore, it is still very difficult to get our books into bookstores or museums shops around Rome. At the end of 2024, 380 university libraries and schools of theology were contacted. We also contacted each of the Carmelite monasteries of enclosed nuns.

We continue to offer the more popular style of offerings as eBooks. Sales have been slow.

Review of the Conference and Events of the Previous Week

Members who attended the Conference at Santa Croce presented their reactions. The various offerings at the Santa Croce Conference were seen as engaging and appropriate. Experts in the field of art led several of the conferences, proposing the use of art to engage people in the faith, especially those who are not Catholic or even believers. There were presentations on identity and innovation: being able to innovate with losing one identity, with the 1000 year old monastery of Montserrat used as an example. What other presences on social media can we move into as website have seen a 80% reduction in usage. Stories of conversion and the lives of the saints often lead to a spike in viewership and engagement with the audience.

William J. Harry was invited to participate in a meeting of the directors of the communications office of the Order present in Rome as well as the directors of the Episcopal Conference Communications offices from January 27-29. It emphasised the need for the Church to move into a productive use of Artificial Intelligence. Another focus was the importance of storytelling. The approximately 200 members met with Pope Francis in the Sala Clementina on the first morning of the gathering.

For the on-line meeting with the Order’s communications directors who did not come to Rome, the group moved to the General Curia. There were about ten participants online and eight present in the room. The crossover between those worked in communications and also in youth ministry and vocations was noted. This was the first meeting of this type and was seen as very valuable by the participants. Due to time restraints, two main items on the agenda (sharing resources and the opportunities for networking) were not explored. A follow-up zoom meeting will be held in May in two sessions to better accommodate time differences.

Communications Plan for the Order

The Commission’s work on the Scapular Project continues. It will involved Salpointe Catholic High School in Tucson Arizona. The project will include the story of Isidore Bakanja.

The members also spent a significant amount of time discussing possible changes to the financial model used by Edizioni Carmelitane as well as different models for the distribution of books. These will be presented to the General Council.

Another proposed project is a map of the Carmelite sites in Rome. This will be a joint project with the Discalced Carmelites. It would be something that that could endure for at least ten years and not just for the Jubilee Year.

Meeting at the Dicastery of Communications

The members of the Commission went to the Dicastery for Communications and met with both the Prefect of the Dicastery for Communications, Dottore Paolo Ruffini and with the Director for the Theological-Pastoral Department, Dottoressa Nataša Govekar, to discuss the Order’s program of communications and possible points of cooperation. The visited lasted approximately 90 minutes.

The three days concluded with some visioning for the future. This included brainstorming about the role of the Communications Office in the General Curia, the relationship between communications and evangelization, the job description of the Director of Communications, and the process of identifying people to work in communications in Rome.

The next meeting will be held online on May 19, 2025.

For six days, communications directors from various parts of the Order met in Rome to participate in three events related to communications. The first was a three day conference at the Pontifical University of Santa Croce entitled Communication and Evangelization: Context, Attitudes and Experiences. One of the university’s focuses is communications. This was the 14th professional seminar for Church communications offices.

The goal of the conference was to explore the Church’s evangelizing. This is something present in each diocese as well as religious order on various levels. The form of dialogue used brings together characteristics such as the primacy of charity, love of truth, respect for the person and his or her freedom, and the promotion of pluralism. In addition, the various dimensions of the Church's communication refer to the horizon of evangelization: internal communication, relations with journalists, creation of media and channels, presence on social networks, listening, dissemination of content, and institutional relations. When put together and used appropriately, these activities make the Church capable of proclaiming Christ, the Good News.

To explore the theme a number of presentations as well as panels of experts from various parts of the world were provided. Presentations were in English, Spanish, and Italian (with simultaneous translations for the large gatherings). The breaks provided the opportunity to connect with fellow workers in this particular vineyard.

The full program can be found at en.pusc.it/csi/ucc2025/progr.

The second part of the Carmelite gathering was to participate in the Jubilee Year of the World of Communications. This was the first of the Jubilee events scheduled throughout 2025. The Vatican estimated that 10,000 journalists, editors, and industry professionals participated from 139 countries. The three days included some input sessions but was mostly am opportunity to celebrate.

On Friday evening, January 24, there was a welcome and penitential celebration organized by the Vicariate of the Diocese of Rome at St. John Lateran Basilica. The following day members had the opportunity to participate in a procession from Piazza Pia with the Jubilee cross to St. Peter’s Basilica. Participants then passed through the Holy Door. After a pause for a simple breakfast and coffee provided by the Vatican outside the Paul VI Audience Hall, participants assembled in the aula for a meeting with Pope Francis. The papal session was preceeded by a round table session, moderated by the former editor of the Italian national newspapers, La Repubblica and La Stampa, on the theme of “Communication and Hope.”

Two speakers participated. The Filippino journalist Maria Ressa, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021 for "efforts to safeguard freedom of expression, which is a precondition for democracy and lasting peace" spoke first. She is also the co-founder and CEO of Rappler, a Filipino online news website. Ms. Ressa gave a powerful talk on the crisis of democracy and her arrests by the Philippine government.

The second presenter was award-winning Irish writer Colum McCann who wrote Apeirogon among several other books. He spoke about the “democracy of storytelling” outlining the power that telling the people’s stories can have in bringing people together.

Following the talks there was a musical interlude. The Pope Francis entered the aula and took his place in center stage. However, after very few minutes he tossed aside his text and began greeting the cardinals and bishops present and then the people seated in the very front rows. It was a rather odd finish to what was billed as a major moment of the three days.

The following morning, on the “Sunday of the Word of God,” participants were invited to Mass inside St. Peter’s basilica presided over by Pope Francis.

The following day, the Carmelite communicators gathered live as well as via zoom to participate in a discussion of the status of the various communications programs in the Order and the provinces. Each participant was asked to share three things they felt everyone should know about their ministry of communications. They were also asked to complete a one-page survey which will be summarized to give a more complete picture of the state of our communications. There was quite a bit of enthusiasm generated during this meeting and future gatherings are being planned.

Concurrent with this meeting, the presidents of episcopal commissions for communications, the directors of national communications offices, as well as some directors of communications for the religious orders were invited to a three-day meeting at the Pontifical University Urbaniana to address some of the most frequent questions that communicators in the Church face today. As director of communications office for the Order, William J. Harry participated in these sessions which began with an audience with the pope.

On January 29-February 1, members of the Order’s International Communications Commission then met at CISA. Members had the opportunity to discuss each of the pieces of the just concluded communications meeting as well as the implications and decisions from each. The group also had the opportunity to walk over the new offices of the Dicastery for Communications in the Vatican Radio building (which now falls within the dicastery). We met with Dr. Paulo Ruffini, the prefect and Nataša Govekar, director of the theological-pastoral department which the Order’s communications efforts would fall directly under.

In the near future, individual releases will contain more detailed information about these meeting.

The directors of communications programs in each of the Carmelite Order’s provinces, delegations, and commissaries have been invited to participate in six days of presentations and discussions in Rome from January 22 through 27.

The group will first participate in a biennial conference at the Pontifical University of Santa Croce. Entitled Communication and Evangelization: Context, Attitudes, and Experiences, the conference is focused on questions raised about the link between evangelization and communication. It will also be an opportunity for the Carmelites to network with communications experts from around the world.

The group will then participate in the Vatican Dicastery for Communications’ celebration of the Jubilee Year. Several events are planned in various parts of Rome.

The final part of the meeting will be a meeting of the participants in a discussion about the next steps to develop a world-wide communications program for the Order and the sharing of skills and resources. This meeting will also be available online to those not able to attend.

The meeting is being organized by the Order’s communication office and its International Communications Commission. Further information can be obtained from the office: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

International Communications Commission Meets to Discuss Communications Plan and Study Communications Initiatives

Members of the International Communications Commission met at the General Curia May 27-29, 2024, for their annual in-person meeting. The first day was dedicated to a few items carried over from the previous meeting and a discussion of the various points contained in the report from the director of the Office of Communications.

On Tuesday, Fr. José Maria La Porte, a faculty member of the Pontifical University of Santa Croce’s Department of Communications, gave a presentation during the morning on developing a communications plan. Instead of a plan on paper, La Porte outlined the fundamental values for the plan touching three levels: global, provinces, and local houses. He encouraged members to look at the priorities (ex vocations, the scapular, communicating Carmelite spirituality with teachers, etc) and select one to begin working on a multi-year plan for implementation. The group continued to discuss the ideas presented and work on what steps we should take next.

On Monday, the members reviewed the topics carried over from the previous meeting is a video project on the Carmelite Saints, reusing content that is already prepared. The commentary would be put into the three official languages, preferably using voice over.

There is some interest in sharing resources among the local directors of communications. This would create some synergy among those responsible for communications as well as allow us to produce a true web among things we create. This sharing is already done to some extent with a number of initiatives and pictures from various events or personal collections. But sharing is often is limited because of language.

With the 100th anniversary of the canonization of St. Thérèse of Lisieux in 2025, this would be an opportunity to begin working closer together, not only in social media but also in print. Other major anniversaries of provinces and ministries or projects of the Church such as the Jubilee Year could be identified. Committee member Manuel Freitas agreed to coordinate a project making available articles on the Carmelite charism for distribution every three months.

Richard Byrne updated the member on the liturgical texts approved by the General Council. These are a new Rite of Profession (ad experimentum) in English; a set of alternative readings for the Office of Readings for the Saturday Memoria of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Italian with translations into English and Spanish to follow; Ritual of the Third Order (ad experimentum); the full Mass and breviary texts for the celebration of St. Titus Brandsma as a feast (awaiting approval of the Dicastery); the text of the collect and second reading of the Office of Readings for the (Carmelite) Spanish Martyrs (awaiting approval of the Dicastery). It has been agreed that Edizioni Carmelitane will print the hardcopy of the Carmelite Propers in English.

William J. Harry, the director of the Office of Communications, had distributed a written report to the members and proceeded to highlight a number of the points.

During several weeks since April, a part-time person helped prepare books for shipping and assisted in organizing the storage shelves according to the collections. In June the staffing returned to two employees with the Office of Communications coordinating both social media for the Order and the Edizioni Carmelitane publications house.

Reports were given on Edizioni publications that have been printed or are in some phase of preparation. There have been 11 publications since the commission’s meeting in May 2023 and 14 new publications are in process. A selection of the newer books are being offered as e-books.

The new website has simplified ordering books for the customers as well as providing a wealth of information about our sales and marketing strategies. This will continue to be developed, especially information provided to customers about the content of the books.

The director reported that the number of people receiving the CITOC messages is 3, 491 (a decrease of 26) while the monthly Lectio divina is sent to 18,832 (an increase of 1,500) with a number of provinces and parishes reposting the information. Requests for prayer has spiked in the last couple of months with the office receiving 17-25 a day with a lot of new people making the requests. These are forwarded to some of the enclosed monasteries for their generous attention.

The members then reviewed the revised norms for Edizioni Carmelitane having been approved by the General Council.

Those in the ministry of communications in the provinces will be invited to a meeting in Rome which will include the 3 day biennial conference at the Pontifical University of Santa Croce, the 3 day Jubilee of the World of Communications, and a one day meeting of Carmelite communicators. Information will be sent out to those who have been identified by their provincials or commissaries.

The members will meet again via Zoom on July 2, 2024. The next in-person meeting will be at the General Curia in Rome on January 29-31, 2025.

The International Communications Commission of the Order met by zoom on October 18, 2023 for 90 minutes to review progress in the program and to begin planning some future events. All the members except one were able to be online.

The report from William J. Harry, the director, updated members on the new webstore for Edizioni Carmelitane. Edizioni now fulfills all orders made through the webstore rather than sending them to a third part for fulfillment. This allows Edizioni to know who our customers are and what books they are buying. The webstore also allows better tracking of the inventory, sales received, and money paid. It also allows immediate payment with credit cards or through Paypal. The updated reported on progress in ongoing projects as well.

Our social media outreach continues to be stymied by lack of time. CITOC-online continues to hold pace with last year, although the updates now consolidate 3-4 news stories in one email. The weekly Celebrating at Home continues to be quite popular as does the Lectio divina. Generally positive feedback is received for these. Plans are in the works to develop a Lectio divina for the celebration of the Carmelite saints.

The Communications Office is arranging for additional support to facilitate the sending out of  backlog books in a more timely basis than has been possible previously.

The office is experimenting with various forms of advertising of products. Efforts are continuing to reach markets beyond the provinces and lay Carmelites. Because of the expense involved, this will be done slowly and carefully to ensure the results are worth the time and expense.

A new catalogue has been printed and will be distributed to customers as well as to universities, archives, and libraries around the world. Some changes in the format were made to make the catalogue more accessible to the user. A different form of catalogue is being developed for the more popular books, as well as those from other publishing houses, which would be of more interest to the general reader of Carmelite spirituality.

Edizioni Carmelitane’s providing of its more popular books in the eBook format has proven quite encouraging. Over the coming months, more of the non-scientific books will become available in that format as well as the printed version.

An online meeting of the communications personnel from the various parts of the Order will be held in May 2024. Efforts will be continuing in the coming months to gather the names and addresses of people who work in this field. Although the communications office does have the names of some members already involved in communications in the Order, prior provincials, commissaries, and delegates for those areas we do not have anyone named will be contacted. The meeting will focus on what types of communications and resources are available in the Order currently and how we might effectively share those efforts. A second part of the meeting will be a discussion of what areas need to be developed. The goal will be to develop a way of sharing resources towards building a more effective communications program for the Order around the world.

The next meeting of the commission will be in March over Zoom. An in person meeting will be held in at the Curia in Rome May 27-29, 2024.

In its fourth meeting (22-23 May), the international Communications Commission discussed future directions for communications within the Order. Among the directions planned are:

1. Forming a network of those working in communications at all levels of the Order – friars, nuns, TOC, affiliated religious and Carmelite laity - to share knowledge, information, technical expertise and explore ongoing formation needs and resources.
2. Online meetings of this network to develop a sense of communion among those working in communications, for ongoing professional and technical formation and to suggest ideas for future initiatives.
3. A survey of communications activity in the various Carmelite entities. For example, names of communications personnel, what communications resources (human and material) these entities have, what communications material is produced (print, video, audio, social media, web presence, and so on). This will provide an overview of communications activity in the Order and allow for the possibility of sharing resources.
4. Exploring the possibility of an ongoing formation course in Communications before the next General Chapter.
5. Developing a Communications plan for the Order.

Among other issues discussed was a new website for Edizioni Carmelitane in the three languages of the Order, ways to increase the visibility of publications beyond the Carmelite family, and the use of social media to increase sales of books, as well as the ongoing updating of the ocarm.org website.

Present at the meeting were: Richard Byrne (President), Manuel Freitas (Portugal), Mons. Janvier Marie Gustave Yameogo (Dicastery for Communications), David Hofman (Australia), and William J. Harry (Director, Office of Communications). Andreas Dedy Purnawan (Indonesia) was unable to be present. Marco Pellitero (Communications Assistant) also joined the meeting to discuss the issues relating to the new website for Edizioni Carmelitane. At the beginning of the meeting the Prior General, Fr Miċeál O’Neill, addressed words of welcome and encouragement to the Commission.