SECULAR ORDER OF DISCALCED CARMELITES
England, Wales and Scotland

One of the tasks I have as a formator in Carmel is to explain to newcomers the division between the Calced and the Discalced. On the face of it this division feels somewhat uncomfortable today, but I like to point out to them that many religious orders have undergone such divisions in the course of their history – the Franciscans being a good example. In this connection, today is the feast day of a Capuchin friar, St Lawrence of Brindisi (1559-1610), and I found this on the

It’s so good when you get to see younger souls entering your Carmelite community. It’s easy for members to grow comfortably old together, one almost doesn’t notice the lack of new blood, but of course that is a dangerous place to be in. Nowadays new members when they come are often from abroad - and that can bring immeasurable enrichment. Nowadays my home community has members from Hong Kong, Singapore, America, and Poland and that represents quite a change from when I ente

Today we celebrate the Compiegne Martyrs, the sixteen Carmelite Sisters guillotined on this day in 1794 in Paris. I found this hymn written in their honour by Jesuit Father James Quinn. Let Carmel echo joyfully The dying hymns that soared above When Compiègne so gladly gave Its greatest witness to God’s love. These virgin-martyrs gave their lives. For sin’s atonement, like their Lord; They died to bring a troubled Church The peace of Christ as love’s reward. May we like

I found this beautiful quotation from the noted Carmelite friar and author Gabriel of St Mary Magdalen OCD (1893-1953), it is especially appropriate for today’s Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel: ‘If we gaze into Mary's soul, we shall see that grace in her has flowered into a spiritual life of incalculable wealth: a life of recollection, prayer, uninterrupted oblation to God, continual contact, and intimate union with him. Mary's soul is a sanctuary reserved for God alone, w

The first four members of the new Manchester OCDS group have just been taken into formation, and we will be holding our first formation zoom this evening. Although some Secular Carmelite communities have fallen on hard times and are closing or have closed, new ones spring up here and there (we are currently working on the establishment of a new OCDS group in Cambridge). The appearance of the zoom technology has transformed the scene, opening up possibilities for remote grou

What do we do when the behaviour of an individual in an OCDS group or community is disruptive, even to the point of driving others away? An argumentative person, a person with particular agendas, someone with an undiagnosed personality disorder, can damage the life of the community - and then leadership has to be shown. The principle must be that the welfare of the community always takes priority. A difficult person can be indulged up to a point but only up to a point. On

On the first day of the two-day CACS Spirituality Summit at Boars Hill Friary on Friday, Dr Stephen Costello from Ireland spoke eloquently about Salvador Dali (1904-1989), the eccentric painter whose portrayal of the crucifixion inspired by a drawing by St John of the Cross adorns the front of our OCDS leaflet. Dali’s father was an aggressive atheist, and the painter initially followed his example. It was the behaviour of the anti-Franco troops during the Spanish Civil War

One person was taken into formation last night in our St Elijah Community in Oxford. I witnessed another being taken into formation during the retreat at Belmont Abbey last week. The week before that, four were taken into formation in the new Manchester group. Each time I witness this I am taken back to my own admission to formation more than twenty years ago. When performing the admission rite in Belmont Abbey Fr Matt Blake made a point of saying that our formation conti

On this Feast Day of the Chinese Martyrs I was looking for traces of Carmel in China, and came across some information about the church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel at Xizhimen - the last among the four historic Catholic churches in Beijing. Known as ‘The West Church’, it was first built in 1723 during the Qing dynasty by the Italian Lazarist missionary Teodorico Pedrini: it was the first non-Jesuit church in Beijing. After Pedrini's death the church was run by Carmelites a

I was looking at the latest issue of OCD Comunicationes (no. 422) – reports of OCDS activities from around the world - and my attention was caught by an unusual report from India. In Kerala the Discalced Carmelites have set up a Carmelite Heritage Museum, intended to ‘preserve and communicate the rich spiritual heritage of Carmel through history, art, and prayer’. This sounds impressively innovative; among other things, it ‘features an outdoor prayer garden based on St Tere

What can I say about our Secular Carmelite retreat at Belmont Abbey near Hereford last week? The sun shone, the abbey church is magnificent, sharing in the daily liturgy of the monks was very moving, the food was delectable, and we received injections of spiritual wisdom in the form of talks by the wonderful Fr Matt Blake. He expounded John of the Cross’s Spiritual Canticle with his customary perceptiveness and delicacy. The Abbey has already been booked for the equivalent

Today is the Feast of that most tragic yet beautiful saint, Maria Goretti (1890-1902). I came across on the internet an article by a member of the Order of the Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart in Los Angeles whose name is Sister Maria Goretti. I find it particularly eloquent: ‘… our habit is our ‘bridal garment’; for Carmelites, it is brown. The brown habit is a colour of earth and symbolizes penance. Only in penance and self-denial, fuelled by love, will I truly