Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm

Ten years ago when I went to the Holy Land on a Carmelite Renewal Course I discovered for the first time that there are a great variety of types of Carmelites across the world. I had assumed that all Carmelite Sisters were enclosed, but in the Friary Guest House in Haifa there were Carmelite Sisters helping to run the place. Now I discover that there is an Institute in the US called the Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm. This Institute (O.Carm) was founded by Mother Angeline Teresa (1893-1984), who was originally from Northern Ireland. After a spell with the Little Sisters of the Poor in New York, she and six other Sisters were granted permission to leave and set up a new congregation devoted to the care for the elderly. This is such a precious ministry in our day when so many Homes for the elderly are run on purely secular lines. We have a similar congregation in the UK but Benedictine in inspiration, founded by Mother Mary Garson in 1959, the Sisters of Grace and Compassion. I have seen them at work in Homes in East Anglia and Gloucestershire, and they are marvellous.