FSSP Vocation Days in Nebraska

The Confraternity of St Peter is in the early stages of planning a vocation camp for May 2010. The details will develop over the next few months, but for now we would like to hear from any family interested in participating.

The idea is that families who come for ordinations on May 22 at Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary might stay for a couple of extra days. Their children can then participate in activities either at Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary (for boys) or the Carmel of Jesus, Mary and Joseph in Valparaiso (for girls). It would end on Monday evening with a talk for all given by one of the Priests.

Details have yet to be finalised, but we are looking at some places where fathers and sons and mothers and daughters might "camp" to keep expenses down. Of course you can stay at local hotels if you prefer.

If you would like to put your children on the list or receive more information as it becomes available, email Tish Gallagher at tish5 at surewest.net, or call +1-916-223-3112. This will be a really wonderful opportunity for young people to spend some time with Priests and religious and learn about life in the Seminary or Convent, and also have a lot of fun at the same time.

(reproduced from Cum Petro, the periodical of the Confraternity of St Peter, Winter 2010)

Carmelite Sisters of the Transfiguration

[Please to note: At the request of the initiators, we give you notice that the Carmelite Sisters of the Transfiguration initiative was unsuccessful and efforts to establish this group have been discontinued.  We maintain this post in the hope that it may inspire others to take up the cause of traditional religious life for women. "Gather up the fragments that remain, lest they be lost." Jn vi, 12 Ed.]

A new initiative in traditional religious life, the Carmelite Sisters of the Transfiguration, as they hope to be called, have established a blog to draw together kindred souls who may wish to be formed in the great Carmelite tradition as a semi-contemplative congregation of sisters devoted both to prayer and to the apostolic work of educating Catholic young ladies.

St. M. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross

One of the inspiriations for their apostolate is the words of St. M. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, known in the world as Edith Stein, in her essay Problems of Womens' Education:

"If we can institute an independent Catholic system of education for girls, we shall be defending in this way not only the threatened position of women in cultural life but also we shall be taking part in the great struggle of the spirit against materialism and biologism in the struggle for Christ's kingdom against all unchristian and anti-Christian movements and trends."

The first step, that of making the decision to begin, has been taken, and the next step of gathering the future sisters into a programme of formation, is envisaged.

The Spiritual Life of the sisters will be grounded in the traditional Divine Office of the Breviarium ordinis fratrum Beatissimae Virginis Mariae de Monte Carmelo and the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite Mass - perhaps the Carmelite Rite one day! Other particular devotions will be the Seven Sorrows of Mary and the Most Holy Rosary.

Carmelite Sisters in Traditional Habit
(not the Sisters of the Transfiguration)*

*A kind visitor has advised us that this photo is actually of the Servant of God, Mother M. Angeline Teresa McCrory, O.Carm., and her Companions. Mother Angeline is the Foundress of the Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm and her cause for Beatification and Canonization is before the Holy See in Rome. For further information you can go to: www.carmelitesisters.com.

Discalced Carmelites

The Carmelite Rite, or the Rite of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem is the liturgical rite of the Roman Catholic Church, distinct from the Roman Rite, employed during the crusades by the the Canons Regular of the Holy Sepulchre, Hospitallers, Templars, Carmelites and the other orders founded within the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem. Today it is specific to the Carmelite Order.

After considering the question carefully at its General Chapters of 1965, 1968 and 1971, the Calced Carmelite Order decided to abandon its traditional rite in favour of the Mass of Paul VI. The old carmelite rite is still in use today by two Carmelite communities in the United States: the Monks of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel in Wyoming and the Discalced Carmelite Nuns - Valparaiso, Nebraska.

The nuns of Valparaiso are served by the Priests of the Priestly Fraternity of St Peter.

Contact:

• Rev. Mother Teresa of Jesus, O.C.D., Prioress
  Carmel of Jesus, Mary and Joseph,
  9300 W. Agnew Road,
  Valparaiso, NE 68065,
  United States of America.
  website

Carmelites Monks of Wyoming

In a solitary monastery under the Rocky Mountains in northern Wyoming, the Carmelite Monks of Wyoming seek to perpetuate the charism of the Blessed Virgin Mary, living the Marian life as prescribed by the primitive Carmelite Rule and the ancient monastic observance. This new monastery of contemplative monks lives a life of faithful orthodoxy to the Magisterium, where joy and peace abound in a manly, agrarian way of life. The Carmelite Monks wear the Holy Habit faithfully, which includes the brown Carmelite scapular and white mantle of our Lady of Mount Carmel. These young Roman Catholic monks live a full, reverent, and traditional Carmelite liturgical life, with the Divine Office and the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass being prayed in Latin with Gregorian Chant.

The following video is highlights of an interview on the EWTN show Life on the Rock:

Desiring to become great saints, this community of strictly cloistered contemplative men has a vehement longing to live the entirety of the customs and charism established by Ss. John of the Cross and Teresa of Avila in the Discalced Carmelite Reform, namely: strict monastic enclosure, two hours of contemplative prayer daily, study and spiritual reading, and manual labor. The Carmelite monk may aspire to be a lay brother or a priest who celebrates the Sacraments, gives spiritual direction, and preaches retreats to the monastery retreatants. Once mature in the spiritual life, a Carmelite monk may aspire to become a solitary hermit in the mountains, alone with the Alone. With a burning love of God and a missionary zeal for souls, the Carmelite monk immolates his life in the vows of obedience, chastity and poverty for the Holy Roman Catholic Church and the entire world.

The Monastery also produces the Mystic Monk coffee brand.

Carmelite Monastery
P.O. Box 2747
Cody, WY 82414-2747
(the Monastery itself is actually in Powell, WY)
www.carmelitemonks.org