On Saturday 14th December 2024, we closed out our double centenary of the convent and church of Sainte-Thérèse of Munich, with a solemn pontifical Mass presided over by our dear brother, Cardinal Anders Arborelius OCD, Bishop of Stockholm. The liturgy was solemnly celebrated by 10 co-celebrants and 37 altar servers, including some elders. With regard to music, the Mass was accompanied by a choir and orchestra, which played Mozart’s Coronation Mass.
The Philippine Federation of Discalced Carmelite Nuns organized a seminar-workshop for Prioresses from November 21 – 30, 2024 at the Carmelite Missionaries’ Center of Spirituality, Tagaytay city. The seminar-workshop aimed at empowering the Prioresses with some basic skills on how to respond to the realities of the member-communities. Sr. Elsie Yberas, CM, gave the conferences on steward leadership and spiritual direction.
A break of one day gave the participants the chance to join the celebration of Manila Carmel’s 98th foundation anniversary last November 24, 2024. With the guidance of Sr. Emy Bacani, CM, the participants were helped to improve their communication and facilitation skills. Her workshop on Ethics of Social Media gave the group the opportunity to discuss the Federal Guidelines on the Use of Social Media and Electronic Communications.
Mother May Catherine, having visited most of the member-communities gave a concise and complete overview of our realities and guide posts on how to respond to the challenges.
It was a breakthrough for the prioresses and especially for those who were first termers. There were suggestions to have this seminar once every triennium.
A group of people who gathers at the Carmelite Nuns Monastery of St. Therese in Wallis and Futuna, after a period of prayer, study and discernment, began formally their formation to become OCDS. The ceremony of admission took place last December 14, 2024, feast of St. John of the Cross. In the name of Father General, Miguel Márquez Calle, OCD, His Excellency Msgr. Susitino SIONEPOE, Bishop of the diocese of Wallis and Futuna, admitted into the OCDS, seventeen persons. It was a very beautiful and touching ceremony in which the candidates expressed: “Trusting in the mercy of God and in the fraternal help of all of you, we ask to be admitted to the period of formation in the community of the Secular Order of the Discalced Carmelites.” During this period of formation leading to the fist promise in the OCDS, this new community in formation, will deepen their knowledge of the Carmelite Order and Spirituality and live a more committed life of prayer and fraternity.
With their celebration of St. John of the Cross, the Discalced Carmelites of Senegal gave thanks with their close friends for the 20 years since the creation of the site of Keur Mariama near Kaolack. The brothers arrived in Senegal in 2002, but it was 2004 when the Bishop of Kaolack took the initiative of creating this Catholic centre of 30 hectares, with a diocesan Marian sanctuary run by the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart; a propedeutic for the 7 dioceses of Senegal where the Carmelite brothers teach; a health centre; a centre for women’s development run by the Theresian Carmelite Missionaries; and a spiritual centre of the Discalced Carmelites, which is used also for pre-postulate activities.
After the Mass of thanksgiving and a shared meal, a video was shown that promoted appreciation of God’s work, which has made possible the achievement of so much on this site in such a short time. May God be blessed, as well as all those who have contributed to the radiance of this site at the very heart of Senegal !
As we awaited the birth of our Savior, a significant event unfolded in the land of Aceh, North Sumatra, on December 22, 2024. Fourteen men and women committed themselves to begin the OCDS initiation period. This marked the beginning of OCDS history in the land of the martyrs Blessed Dionysius and Redemptus.
On the Feast of Epiphany, twenty-one individuals who had completed the initiation period in Binjai (Medan, North Sumatra) advanced to the formation phase as OCDS Aspirants. The OCDS vocation is flourishing in North Sumatra, a testament to God’s grace in this region.
May this new community continue to grow in faith and become witnesses to God’s friendship among the people of the Archdiocese of Medan. Let us keep these new members in our prayers as they embark on this sacred journey.
On November 1, 2024, Uijeongbu Carmelite Monastery, located in Dongducheon, Gyeonggi-do, received canonical approval on July 3 of the same year, and celebrated its establishment with the Bishop of Uijeongbu and with 300 people include 30 priests, 80 religious. Sisters from 10 communities of Carmelite Monastery in Korea gathered together to celebrate.
The Uijeongbu Carmel was founded by Carmel of Seoul, had a groundbreaking ceremony in 2006, but it was suspended due to various difficulties, but the monastery was completed in 2020 and now has eight perpetual professed sisters living together.
At the start of this New Year and in the wake of Christmas, the Community of Discalced Carmelites of Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso gave joy to the internally displaced persons of Pabré by sharing some provisions. This gift of provisions took place at St. Joseph Parish of Pabré, in collaboration with the priest and the laypersons responsible for pastoral care of the internally displaced.
This symbolic gift of over two tons of rice and one hundred and fifty litres of oil marks the beginning of initiatives to assist those brothers and sisters of Pabré that have been internally displacd, where the Brothers are planning to construct their novitiate.
As at Dedougou, the Brothers are planning to begin gardening with some of the displaced persons, not only to give them an occupation, but also to introduce them to new methods planned for the agro-pastoral offensive desired by the President of the country.
This benevolent action was made possible by the appeal launched by Father General Miguel Marquez and the whole General House, so as to come to the help of the victims of terrorism in Burkina Faso.
On October 17-20, The OCDS of Indonesia held a national assembly in Denpasar Bali, which was attended by 14 communities’ representatives from all over Indonesia. A total of 103 participants attended. The theme was “Obedience as the main virtue, learning from St. Therese of Lisieux”. In the National meeting, we reflected together, explored and tried to find the basic character of the distinctiveness of the carmelite-teresian charism found in the promise of obedience as a distinctive way of life of the OCDS. Also present at the opening ceremony of the National Meeting were Msgr. Silvester San, Bishop of Denpasar, and Fr. John Felix Elavunkal, OCD, Commissary of Indonesia. The joy of being together brought a fresh breeze to the spiritual life and fidelity to the vocation of all the OCDS.
On October 12, 2024, the OCDS in Sri Lanka gathered in Colombo for a fraternal sharing. The OCDS in Sri Lanka was founded on November 24, 1974, at Corpus Christi Carmel monastery, Mattakkuliya in Colombo. During the meeting the OCDS discussed important aspects of their life, their current situation and their possibilities. The meeting ended with a fraternal gathering in which the OCDS members renewed their commitment to continue growing in their vocation and invite other people to share with them their experience and identity as Secular Carmelites. Now with the presence of the Discalced Carmelite Fathers in Sri Lanka, there are great possibilities for new foundations of the OCDS in the future. There are groups of people interested in beginning new foundations in Negombo, Thalgaswela and Lunugala. Two bishops have already given their consent to start the OCDS in their diocese.
During the months of October and November, Fr. Ramiro Casale, Delegate General for the OCDS, visited the Seculars of the Indian Provinces of Karnataka-Goa, Malabar, Manjummel, South Kerala and Tamilnadu. The meetings and activities were an excellent opportunity to interact and reflect on many important aspects of the life of the OCDS in India and in the world. The programs included times for prayer, conferences, recreation, cultural and social activities. India has seen an increase of vocation to the OCDS. Many people join the OCDS attracted by their life of prayer, fraternity and apostolate. The Order of the Discalced Carmelites, having a long-standing presence in India, is a source of inspiration for many men and women looking for a way to grow in their Christian faith and spiritual life. The OCDS Provincial Delegates ensure the pastoral care and well-being of the OCDS in their Province. The OCDS in India are very active: they help in their parish and diocese, promote Carmelite spirituality and participate in different liturgical, cultural and social projects.
On October 4, 2024, members of the OCDS communities of The Hague, Volendam, Nijnsel, Rotterdam and Sittard in Holland assembled at Sint Nicolaaskerk Church in Baarn, to reflect on the topic, “Do whatever He tells you to do.” Each one of the communities presented a report on the status of its members, meetings, apostolate and vision of their future. This meeting reinforced unity and communion among the communities: it was a fraternal gathering in which it was decided to keep promoting vocations to the OCDS and collaboration among all OCDS communities present in Holland. It was agreed that a national OCDS letter would help members to keep in touch with other and that an OCDS internet site supported by all communities would help people to learn more about Carmelite spirituality and to make known the different OCDS communities in Holland so that people who are attracted to the OCDS vocation could easily get in contact with the community closer to them. All members renewed their commitment to keep growing in their OCDS vocation and to keep serving God, the Order and the Church.
From 11th to 17th November, 25 sisters from the 11 Carmels of the Federation of Notre-Dame du Mont-Carmel (Southern Brazil) met together at the Sao Joao da Cruz Spiritual Centre, in the town of Porto Alegre, to follow a course on Saint John of the Cross, given by Brother Everton Berny Machado, the Provincial. Starting with the biography of the saint, ‘a heavenly and divine person’, Brother Everton continued with the poem of the Spiritual Canticle, to arrive at the theme of the Dark Night. Thus he presented the divine Pedagogy which, as a loving mother (cf. 1 N 1. 2-3), ‘births the soul anew’, and, ‘as the child grows older, the mother withholds her caresses’, training the person to autonomy, guiding him or her on a path lived in Faith and not on one of sentiments and emotions. According to Brother Everton, it is the model of pedagogy and formation that we should use with all those that we direct.
In the context of this meeting, on the 13th November, the sisters were able to benefit from the aid of Father Jadir Zaro, Pallotine, a canonist and lawyer, for the publication in civil law of the Federation Statutes. After the meeting of formation, the Federation Council met again in the same Centre to discuss various matters.
From 20th to 25th October, there was held the VIIIth Meeting of the CICLA-South, Brothers and Nuns. Participating were the Presidents, Delegates and Assistants of Federations and Associations, as well as the Provincials of Bolivia, Paraguay-Uruguay, Argentina, Brazil and Chile. The Meeting was held in the Sanctuary of Saint Teresa of Los Andes, at Auco, Los Andes. The theme chosen was ‘Waking up to love : the Teresian mission’.
Participants were able to visit the places where Teresa of Los Andes had lived, as well as the monastery of the Carmelites where her relics and writings are preserved. One of the most powerful moments was the visit to the crypt where the saint’s relics repose. All the participants were able to spend a long time of silence there in prayer.
These were days of grace, where joy, communion and Teresian fraternity were lived at great intensity. The final message underlined that the Meeting had enabled us all to be loved by Jesus and to live our life of prayer to the full.
The Collegio internazionale has begun a new academic year. At the moment, there are 20 students from different circumscriptions of our Order: 2 students from Sri Lanka, 2 from Malawi, 3 from Madagascar, 2 from Nigeria, 1 from Indonesia, 1 from Congo, 4 from Tanzania, 1 from West-Bengal, 1 from Lebanon, 1 from Karnataka-Goa, 1 from Krakow, 1 from Manjummel.
The formative community has also been renewed. The current formators are: Paweł Porwit (Krakow), Markus Ture (Indonesia), Rikardus Lodo (Indonesia), Maria Joseph Vivin Rodhric (Tamil Nadu), Kelvin Akhere Ekhoegbe (Nigeria), Claudiano de Aragão Lima (Brazil South-east).
Since the formation team was recently constituted, we will be focusing this year on developing our mutual knowledge, integrating into the Collegio, getting to know the students in order to accompany them in their growth in the carmelite vocation, and developing a coherent and multicultural model of formation.
We express our gratitude to the circumscriptions who sent their students to the Collegio and to the Italian and Spanish communities where the students engage with the Italian and Spanish languages.
You can follow all the activities through our Facebook page Collegio Teologico Internazionale OCD “San Giovanni della Croce”: https://www.facebook.com/share/19KpK1uDQd/
From October 3rd to 6th, Carmel Fest 2024, a triennial event, brought together Carmelite students for four days of spiritual, athletic, and communal activities at Carmel Home and Mount Carmel School, Belur. The theme, “Walking in Love,” honoured the 150th Birth Anniversary and Centenary of the Canonisation of St. Thérèse of Lisieux.
The Grand Opening saw the hoisting of the Carmel Fest flag and a reflection on Carmelite spirituality. Participants were divided into teams named after St. Thérèse. The second day blended spiritual reflection and athletic contests, fostering both physical engagement and camaraderie. A Mega Quiz tested participants’ knowledge on various topics. On the third day, the focus shifted to the Social Apostolate. The final day began with a Eucharist in Kannada, followed by a cricket match.
The closing ceremony, a vibrant cultural event, took place in the evening. Each group presented a performance based on the theme “Walking in Love.” The celebration culminated in the announcement of the competition winners and the awarding of prizes. The event left participants deeply enriched by the Carmelite spirit.
