Rome, Italy. Twenty-one members of the seventeen publishing houses of the Claret Publishing Group held their triennial meeting, initially scheduled to be held in Sri Lanka, online from 29-31 March.

The meeting was chaired by Fr. Henry Omonisaye, General Consultor, who established the three objectives of the meeting, viz.: 1) to evaluate the life and mission of the publishing houses, especially during the sexennium that is coming to an end; 2) to have a “conversation” among the members, and 3) to elaborate proposals for the XXVI General Chapter of the Congregation.

The Superior General, Fr Mathew Vattamattam, set the tone for the meeting with his opening address. He proposed three key points to the publishers: 1) to return to the original spirit of the Father Founder, for whom publishing was an important ministry; 2) to pool together the richness we have. Some publishing houses are just beginning to walk and some are well ahead; 3) to contribute ideas to enrich the General Chapter’s conversations and the Congregation’s awareness of the importance of evangelization and the ministry of the Word through the publishing houses.

In the course of the sessions, some participants shared their experience on various topics; specifically: Mr. Dharmik Rawal, a Digital Marketing expert, enlightened the participants on web search mechanisms and search engine optimization. Mr. Jordi Roigé enlightened the members at the meeting to dream globally and the need to open up to an organized way of being present in the digital world made possible by the Internet, social media, and other media platforms.

The meeting was also attended and blessed by guests’ participants: Fr. Gonzalo Fernández, General Vicar and Prefect of Spirituality, Fr. Artur Teixeira, General Prefect of Apostolate, and Fr. Rosendo Urrabazo, Major Superior of the USA-Canada Province. The meeting concluded with a discussion of the proposals (fruit of our conversations) for the discernment of the next General Chapter.

Fr. Jijo Kandamkulathy, CMF