The second meeting of academic and pastoral institutes affiliated to the Carmelite Order was held July 8-10, 2005 in Lisieux, France following the Conference on the Rule of St. Albert.

The various Institutes which were represented were asked to give a report on their Institutes. Other reports included the Library Project of the Delegate for Culture.

During the meeting, two major presentations were made on the use of the internet in Institute related projects. William Harry, the General Council for Communications in the Order and for Culture, gave a presentation outlining who uses the internet and why and its possible application to the Order and to the projects of the Institutes. He also examined the presence of Institutes of other religious Orders on the net.

The Titus Brandsma Institute (Netherlands) presented their internet learning project, SPINE (Spirituality Network for Education) and SPIRIN (Spirituality International) and its usefulness to the Institutes which have an educational component. The possibility of developing an Introduction to Carmelite Spirituality module for SPINE was discussed.

The Institutes will be asked to participate in another Congress to be held in the first half of 2007. It will focus on the future of Carmel in the world as a preparation for the September 2007 General Chapter.

The Institutes were asked to contribute suggestions to the Carmelite Culture Project 2006 which will be the Order’s effort to celebrate the 800 years of Carmelite art, music, literature, and other contributions to world culture. It is hoped that the Institutes play a pivotal role in this celebration which will both mark what we have done in the past and motivate contemporary contributions to the various cultures of the world.


Links to Websites of Carmelite Affiliated Institutes