INTERNATIONAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION MEETING
November 3, 2003 (via internet)

Present online were: Antony Lester (Brit), Antony Cilia (Curia) and William J. Harry (General Council). Absent was Rey Caigoy.

A) Approval of minutes from the October 2002 meeting.

Unanimously approved

B) Reports

1) CITOC-online
     Things are going well with this new form of electronic communication with the Order. We are attempting to keep the news focused on the General Council and Order wide initiatives. We use the written version of CITOC to communicate more individual news. In general, this has been accepted.
     Since everything has to be translated into the three official languages, sometimes it is difficult to get the news out in a reasonable time.
     We hope to tap into the Lay Carmelites more than currently. Some initiatives will be undertaken with Anita Renehan, the new Secretariat for the Lay Carmelites.

2) CITOC - the news magazine
     Tony Lester pointed out that the Lay Carmelites in Britain appreciate receiving the printed version. Anthony Cilia commented that it is done well.
     William Harry reported on efforts to get more "behind the scenes" organization: people to submit articles and pictures, translators, etc.
     We are working with the printer to improve the quality of the pictures. We have had some scheduling problems due to delays in translations and then slow printing and distribution. These will be addressed.
     Subscriptions are now available for CITOC and there has been some positive response. More energy will be put into that in the coming months. So far, only the British Province has sponsored each Lay Carmelite community receiving a copy of CITOC.

3) Edizioni Carmelitane
     This operation has improved dramatically and there is now some energy and enthusiasm to continue developing it. We are constantly looking for ways to get the name of Edizioni out in front of people.
     We are also attempting to get the Board of Directors for Edizioni more involved in the decisions and policy making of the operation. They are supposed to meet twice annually.
     There is some need to clarify the relationship between Edizioni and the three sources of its publications: (1) General Curia; (2) Institutum Carmelitanum; and (3) other publications.
     Evaldo Gomes has worked out well as the director. Books are now shipped through the Vatican Post Office which has resulted in more efficient delivery and lower costs. The website is bringing in orders daily. We hope to make it possible to pay for books with a credit card over the Internet. Book depositories have been established in the USA, Canada, and Australia to insure quicker delivery of materials. All orders are acted on in less than five days.

4) OCARM.ORG: The Order's Website
     Anthony Cilia had submitted a written report which highlighted that the site now contains about 900 pages (300 in each language) grouped under six titles: introduction, the Carmelite Family, Spirituality, "In the Midst of the People", resources, and the reserved section.
     Tony Lester felt the range of material is very good, especially now that the commission reports are available.
     In response to Tony Lester's question about strategies for increasing the number of visitors, a discussion developed about the lectio divina, prayer requests, and mailing lists. Tony Cilia would like to publish the website address more-- on books and other publications. The .info websites have started being included in Edizioni publications. It was suggested that other Carmelite websites be contacted and encourages to include links to ocarm.org and .info websites.

5) Index of Carmelite Websites Project
     The project is moving ahead but very very slowly. The English and Spanish versions are online. A skeleton version of the Italian website is online, has been corrected, and the corrections are now being uploaded to the Internet. This is a slow process as CITOC only has access to a secretary on Friday mornings.
     A second set of materials to be added is about ready. However, nothing can be added until the Italian corrections have been made.
     The pages are receiving a large number of hits and have not really been advertized yet. The consensus is that it will be a good resource as long as the webmasters cooperate with updating their page changes and additions.
     The names of more Communication Directors were received at Fatima. these will be contacted and asked to make sure that we have an index of any websites under that Province.

6) Online Discussion Groups
     This meeting of the International Communications Commission was held in an "on-line" chat room which was set up by the British Province. William Harry will investigate this possibility for organizations connected with the General Curia to use. According to Tony Lester, there is a "professional version" which is multilingual.
     Such online technology would also be available to groups like the cloistered nuns who were asking for a way to communicate among themselves following their meeting in Rome last spring. The librarians have also asked about setting up a discussion group. While they were thinking more about a bulletin board, perhaps both would be worthwhile setting up.
     There is a need to monitor the bulletin boards as these can be reached by outsiders.

7) Proposed Course for Creating Websites
     This would not be a course on the technical aspects of creating a website since everyone has access to those resources in their own country. However, we would suggest a "hands on" course of what we want in a Carmelite website-- and the development of more solid material for placement on the net.
   Because of the short time before some members have to leave the meeting, it was decided to continue the discussion of another online meeting.

Members agreed to offer some type of evaluation of this meeting since this is the first "virtual meeting" on the curia level of the Order.

Next meeting is scheduled for 2 PM (Rome, Italy time) on APril 16, 2004 via the Internet.