As part of the recent meeting of the Carmelite Family, the first meeting of the Secretariat for the nuns, an advisory body of the Delegate General for the nuns, was held on the 21st May 2011 in the Curia residence in Rome. At that meeting, chaired by the delegate Fr. Josef Jancar, O. Carm., nuns appointed by the General Council took part: Sr. Liliana de la R. Campos Rosa (ANT), Sr. Maria Pilar Simon i Blasco (BAR), Sr. M. Elena Tolentino Zarzuela (BUR), Sr. Maria Caprio (VET). The Prior General greeted them at the beginning of the meeting, stressing the importance of their work in helping the General Council in matters pertaining to the nuns, and he expressed his good wishes for their work.

In addition to the tasks set out in the six-year plan of the General Council, several issues relating to the cloistered life were discussed: vocations and formation, government, canonical visitations, criteria for foundations and the enclosure, the role of religious assistants of the Federations and provincial delegates to the nuns. The idea of organizing a meeting for the assistants and delegates in order to clarify their respective roles and share experiences was accepted. The need to revise the Constitutions and the Directory and to draw up an international economic directory was recognized. It was thus decided that the Secretariat should present suggestions to the general delegate, to be sent to all communities for study and the sharing of observations, before presenting everything to the General Council and to the Apostolic See for approval. Because of the particular situation of the cloist ered nuns, the work of the Secretariat will continue online, except when there is need for face-to-face meetings, always with the consent of the Holy See.