GREETINGS from the new Missions Secretary of the Order

I have been named as the new Secretary following the General Chapter. I would like to greet all my brothers and sisters in Carmel. I extend this greeting to all the members of the Carmelite Secular Order and to those Institutions which are affilated to our Order who form the great carmelite family. This is the first time that I have been a permanent member of the Generalate and my role is not only to the Missions but also the Order's missionaries, both Friars and Nuns. I lived in Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of Congo) where I grew in my conviction of the importance of our missions for the life and vitality of our Order. In recent years I have been in charge of the missionary centre La Obra Maxima in San Sebastian, Spain which was a time, once again, to streach my missionary horizon. I have never lost contact with our missionary world, especially in Africa.

Now I have arrived as Secretary for the Missions in Rome with the conviction that one of the elements that will most revitalize Carmel is the Missions, that one of the most urgent priorities is the Missions, that the Missions present a salutary and stimulating challenge which we must face up to with much resolve, effort and hope. With everyone's help I aim to make this Secretariate a centre of information and communication.

I understand that my first task is to ferment growth in missionary awareness in the Order as an integral and never to be given up aspect of our charism. A first help to our Missions can be mass stipends which this Secretary can forward on to the missionaries and to some chaplains of our Cloistered Sisters in missionary countries.

Yes, if I ask myself what is the most urgent and important challenge at this present time, I would indicate the Institute of Philosophy that the Association of the Major Religious Superiors of Bukavu have entrusted to our brothers in that same city in the Democratic Republic of Congo. This community deserves our thanks and our support. In the great poverty of this country at war the community has resolved to meet a historical challenge. On 1^st October the academic courses began with a good programme and standard of teaching. But the building has not yet been completed and the support structures are still very precarious. We are all invited to collaborate so that the Philosophy centre "B. Isidoro Bakanja' from Bukavu functions with dignity and responsibly, which is the wish of the seven Religious Institutes, who with great confidence, have started to send their students to this Centre, organized and run by the Carmelites. The Missions Secretary can quickly channel the aid from the Order and the Carmelite Family to this end.

I ask to be of service, above all, to our missionary friars and nuns. I will willingly accept whatever task to coordinate or participate in to ferment awareness and help for the missions. The Order is its own Non Governmental Organization, registered with the Dept. of Public Information at the UN in New York.

I will close now and use this time renewing my will to serve. I will let you have more information when I know the present situation better. With my prayers and greetings.

Dámaso Zuazua, ocd