1. United Nations Information for JPIC Vic 2014

2. 1) Team is in transition at the moment. We are still getting familiar with UN Headquarters and its operations. Our status as an NGO – non-governmental organization – has been renewed for another year.

3. 2) Work at the UN is very slow and likely to produce many wonderful results. The religious NGOs call it a “ministry of presence.” Most delegates ignore the representatives of the religious NGOs. They pay more attention to the Vatican representatives. But many delegates have had experience with Christian missionaries and secular humanitarian NGOs and so often seek and respect their in-put 2) Work at the UN is very slow and likely to produce many wonderful results. The religious NGOs call it a “ministry of presence.” Most delegates ignore the representatives of the religious NGOs. They pay more attention to the Vatican representatives. But many delegates have had experience with Christian missionaries and secular humanitarian NGOs and so often seek and respect their in-put

4. 3) This kind of inter-action is found among the NGOs that recognized by the Economic and Social Council –EcoSoc. There the religious NGOs have greater participation and can make presentations. We are currently working to achieve this status.

5. 4) From the Congregation, we hope for greater communication. We would like especially information, photos of projects sponsored by CMFs. We would especially want to know of the struggles our communities, mission and ministries are experiencing. We would like information of UN projects in areas where we minister – whether we are participating or not. All this “feed-back”, whether we use directly in of UN work or not, will be helpful. At least it can be reported in our newsletter.

6. 5) Our current newsletter is on the International Year of Family Farming. Our next will be on the renewal of the Millennium Development Goals. These are up for renewal and revision in 2015. The team would like each country to be part of the evaluation process and to report reaction back to us.

7. 6) For the time being the e-mail contact would be through Tom Joyce’s e-mail address – joycet@claretians.org. The addresas of the CMF@UN is: Our Lady of Mt Carmel Church, 19 South Lexington Avenue, White Plains, NY 10606. Phone: (914)948-5909.