The second theme on Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation in preparation for the 2024 JPIC Carmelite Family Congress will be held online on November 4, 2023. Registration is through the QR code found on the advertisement.

The theme of the meeting is The Work of Integral Ecology of a Grassroots Carmelite NGO: Karit Solidarios por la paz (Spain).

The main presented is Esther Martin Lozano, the General Secretary for Karit.

The Institutum Carmelitanum and Edizioni Carmelitane will be hosting a presentation of the book La demolita chiesa di S. Nicola dei Cesarini a Roma (The Demolished Church of S. Nicola dei Cesarini in Rome) at Centro Internazionale San’ Alberto on Wednesday, October 25, 2023, at 17:45.

See the latest publications of Edizioni Carmelitane at https://edizionicarmelitane.org/

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.

After the Covid pandemic the community of Centro Internazionale di San’Alberto returned to a celebration of the new academic year with the two international communities in Rome participating. Every year at the beginning of the month of October, CISA there is opening of the academic year. Again this year, on October 12, with the prayer of vespers and an introduction by prior general Míċeál O'Neill on the importance of community and fraternal life, we met with members of the General Curia and entered into a new year of work and study.

The CISA community is composed of the members of the Institutum Carmelitanum, the archivist and librarian, and the students pursuing higher studies and specializations. This year members come from the provinces, commissariats, delegations in the Congo, Indonesia, India, Italy, Kenya, Malta, Timor Este, Vietnam, and Zimbabwe.

Students are studying at different universities in Rome, e.g. the Gregorian University, the Biblicum, the Salesianum ,and others. CISA, although it is a house of studies and research, is striving to live religious community life. In the academic year, there are times planned on a regular basis for Lectio divina, community prayer, retreat days, community meetings, formation days, and all that we need to improve the life of the brothers.

During the previous year CISA successfully closed with three members receiving doctorates in various theological subjects (see CITOC #74 and #146). Also during the current year, considerable energy went into unifying the general library with the Carmelite library under Mario Alfarano, O. Carm.

CISA hosts many visitors during the normal year, providing hospitality for the various international meetings of the Carmelite Family, as well as member of the Order and others who come to Rome for various reasons. The so-called “permanent community” is composed of the 7 confreres from the different countries of the world under the leadership of the prior of CISA, Tadeusz Popiela, O. Carm.

PROFESSIO TEMPORANEA
24-09-23  Yorgan José Montana Martinez  (Bar) Barcelona, España
24-09-23  José José Barrios Kanzler  (Bar) Barcelona, España
01-10-23  Celina de Santa Teresa del Niño Jesús Riera Dearmas  (VAL) Valencia, ES


ORDINATIO DIACONALIS
14-10-23  Francisco Javier Giraldes (ACV) Lomas de Zamora, Argentina

October 14-15, 2023

Carmelite General Commission for Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation Holds First Meeting Since Covid

The members of the General Commission for Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation met at the General Curia, Rome, from October 14-15, 2023. This meeting was the first in-person meeting for the members  since the outbreak of the coronavirus in 2019. Our major task was to plan for the Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation International Carmelite Family Congress set for Casa Sao Nuno, Fatima, Portugal from July 18-25, 2024. The theme of the Congress will be: Carmelite Journey Towards Individual and Collective Ecological Conversion: Social and Environmental Challenges and Responses Today.

At the end of our deliberations we put out a statement on the current and ongoing world conflicts. (See CITOC online n. 145) In that statement we deplore war and the carnage that comes with it in terms of loss of human lives, many of them innocent, as well as the wanton destruction of homes and infrastructure. We called for cessation of acts of war and violence and pray that dialogue is given a chance so that nations and communities can return to justice and peace.

The Image of God
(Matthew 22:15-21)

• pdf Celebrating At Home - 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time [PDF] (2.78 MB)
• default Celebrating At Home - 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time [ePub] (1.73 MB)
• pdf Celebrando en Familia - 29 Domingo del Tiempo Ordinario (544 KB)
• pdf Celebrando in Casa - 29 Domenica del Tempo Ordinario (538 KB)
• pdf Celebrando em familia - 29 Domingo do Tempo Comum (379 KB)

Sometimes referred to as Pope Francis’ Vatican III, this year’s synod gathering bears little resemblance to Vatican II in appearance or content. General sessions for Vatican II were held in St. Peter’s Basilica with banks of seat constructed to allow the participants to face each other. Today’s synod is being held on Paul VI Hall which can hold over 6,300 people. The seats for the papal audiences have been replaced by 35 large round tables with 10-12 participants sitting in 365 seats. Prelates, religious, and lay are interspersed by language groups. Even past synods were held in a large theater style space with the pope and prelates sitting in the front and the few lay and religious auditors seated in the back.

According to some, this is the first synod to intentionally create a spiritual atmosphere. There are moments of prayer and silence after three or four people speak. This is also a synod with some of the latest technologies. There is simultaneous translation into the major languages. Touch screen tablets are available for each voting member. They provide easy access to the documents needed as well as for voting. There are also four monitors at each table, giving participants close viewing of the speakers.

In the Catholic Church today, a synod that is designated an “Ordinary General Assembly” synod meets every three years and has a theme. "Extraordinary" synods can be called to deal with specific situations. Both synods and Councils refer an authoritative meeting of bishops for the purpose of church administration in the areas of teaching (faith and morals) or governance (church discipline or law). Efforts were made at this synod to bring in input beyond just the bishops.

The synod’s work has been divided into the following modules: 1) On the nature, meaning, and experience of synodality (October 4–7, 2023); 2) On Communion, Co-Responsibility, and Participation (October 9–21, 2023); Developing the Final Draft of the Summary Report of the First Session of the Assembly (October 23–28, 2023. This final draft will be used as a roadmap for the following year.

Mons. Filippo Iannone, O. Carm., prefect of the Dicastery for Legislative Texts, is the only Carmelite participating. Some members of the synod have computers and space available at CISA, the Carmelite house of studies in Rome, near the Vatican.

Little actual news about the discussions has come out of the synod. Dr. Paolo Ruffini, Prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery of Communications, said the information flow from the meetings will be “very limited.” He suggested that journalists can report instead on “the absence of news” according to Catholic Vote, who advertises themselves America’s Top Catholic Advocacy Organization. The Dicastery which Ruffini leads includes responsibility for the Vatican’s Internet, radio, and television services, as well as its daily newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano.

During the first synodal assembly, Pope Francis asked journalists covering the synod to “exercise an asceticism… a certain fasting” in their coverage of the synod. He said, “I ask journalists to please make people understand this, so that they know that the priority is listening. … This is why I ask you, communicators, to carry out your role well, correctly, so that the Church and people of good will – the others will say what they want – understand that the Church also has the priority of listening. Pass this on: it’s so important.”

Reactions to the synod have been across the spectrum. A sister from Guam was quoted in the National Catholic Reporter as observing, “I'm experiencing and witnessing the dismantling of the hierarchy," she said, describing the scene inside the synod hall — where cardinals, bishops, young and older lay Catholics, and women religious like herself are sitting together at roundtables, without hierarchical distinctions.

Perhaps the strongest conservative reaction to the synod was summarized by American Cardinal Raymond Burke. In July of this year, Cardinal Burke and other traditionalist cardinals sent a letter to Francis known as a “dubia” that conveyed their concerns about the Synod. According to a report in the New York Times, Cardinal Burke recently said, “The synod that will open tomorrow, clearly has the ‘harmful goal’ of reshaping the hierarchy of the church with radical, secular, and modern ideas. Cardinal Burke, who is not participating in the assembly, said he was doubtful that the actual participants were being upfront about their true motives.

Press Bulletins on the Synod from the Holy See’s Press Office – English

Vatican Synod Website

Apostolic Exhortation C’est la confiance Issued to Celebrate St. Thérèse of Lisieux

Pope Francis' latest exhortation’s title, C’est la confiance, in French, comes from a letter written by St. Thérèse of Lisieux. The full phrase is "It is confidence and nothing but confidence that must lead us to Love." As Thérèse herself communicated, she was committed to proclaiming Christ’s salvation to all. She wrote that "she had entered Carmel to save souls," and "she was able to define her mission with these words: “I shall desire in heaven the same thing as I do now on earth: to love Jesus and to make him loved."

An apostolic exhortation is a magisterial document, generally considered to be surpassed in importance only by apostolic constitutions and encyclicals. In general, exhortations encourage a particular virtue or activity. After releasing just five exhortations since becoming pope, Francis released two this month alone.

Pope Francis has a deep devotion to the French Discalced Carmelite nun and to the merciful love of God. To celebrate the 150th anniversary of Thérèse’s birth and the 100^th anniversary of her beatification, the pope highlights the Saint’s “little way" of love, self-giving, concern for others and complete trust in the mercy of God as her teaching for us.

Throughout the document, the “missionary soul” of the saint (she was proclaimed co-patroness of the missions by Pope Pius XI in 1927 alongside Francis Xavier) is highlighted. According to Pope Francis, the last pages of Story of a Soul are a "missionary testament." There Teresa reflects on a verse from the Song of Songs recognizes that one can profess the name of Christ and draw other hearts to Christ not by efforts of mobilization and discourses of human wisdom, but only if one is drawn to Christ himself.

Issued on October 15, the exhortation is being seen by many as a needed message for these very complex and difficult times. "At a time of great complexity, she can help us rediscover the importance of simplicity, the absolute primacy of love, trust, and abandonment, and thus move beyond a legalistic or moralistic mindset that would fill the Christian life with rules and regulations and cause the joy of the Gospel to grow cold," the pope wrote.

Apostolic Exhortation C’est la Confiance – English

Justice, Peace, and the Integrity of Creation Commission of the Carmelite Order 

We members of the International Carmelite Commission for Justice, Peace and the Integrity of Creation, gathered in Rome from October 13-16 to plan the tasks for the coming year, would like to send you our message of peace, solidarity and fraternity for our brothers and sisters killed and wounded through acts of terrorism and war.

We make the Pope Francis' words our own:

Let the attacks and weapons cease, please, because it must be understood that terrorism and war bring no solutions, but only to the death and suffering of many innocent lives. War is a defeat, every war is a defeat.

The total siege of vulnerable civilian populations on either side only demonstrates the political incapacity and moral immaturity of governments and adds yet another failure to the history of the international community in building a peaceful and prosperous world through justice, global solidarity, respect for human dignity and the common good.

As Carmelites we never forget that righteousness and peace will embrace and, therefore, our work for justice contributes to the construction of a peaceful world (cf. Const. 120). “It is also an expression of “the little ones” (minores) of history, so that we may speak a word of hope and of salvation from their midst more by our life than by our words”. (Const. 24).

In times of pain and sadness due to the violence unleashed, let us pray to God for the Palestinian and Israeli peoples, for our Ukrainian and Russian brothers and sisters, the brutalized citizens of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the fratricides of peoples of the two Sudans, Myanmar and Haiti, and for so many peoples in our common home.  We pray and call on the different sides of the conflicts to engage in dialogue and sue for peace in order to cease the escalation of death and horror and return to the path of justice and peace.