Friars
“Where there is no love, put in love and you will draw out love."
– St John of the Cross –
Who Are We?
We are men called by the Holy Spirit to seek the face of the living God and to hear his Word deep within. To follow Jesus and to serve him faithfully is therefore at the core of our calling in Carmel. The roots of the Order go back to a group of hermits living on Mt. Carmel in Crusader times, which came to a new flowering under the inspiration of Saint Teresa of Jesus in 16th century Spain. Her vision for Carmelites combined the call to prayer in the silence and solitude of the “desert” with an ardent apostolic Spirit.
Our Lady has always been important in the life of the Order. She is our patroness and our Mother. She is also our sister and in her humility, prayer and obedience, she is the model of our life.
Life of Prayer
The Liturgy, especially the Eucharist and the Liturgy of the Hours, is, as for all the faithful, the richest source of our spiritual life. What distinguishes the Carmelite Friars is the emphasis they give to personal prayer. The practicalities of their life are arranged so as to provide a setting to keep alive a remembrance of God.
To incarnate the reality of prayer each community sets aside two hours each day for uninterrupted silent prayer. Time is also made available for meditative reading of Scripture and spiritual reading.
What distinguishes the Carmelite Friars is the emphasis they give to personal prayer.
Our Life Together
Our communion with Christ in prayer leads us into closer bonds of true friendship with each other whether at table, our times of recreation, meeting or working together. Our communities strive to have a family atmosphere characterised by mutual acceptance and facing up to the inevitable difficulties of communal living with humility and forgiveness.
Our Work
In the spirit of Saint Teresa we share a strong sense of working in and with the Church to bring God’s life-giving Word to our world. Our primary work is the offering our lives and prayer through Christ to the Father. We build on this apostolically by helping people to develop their spiritual lives through retreats, writing, teaching and spiritual direction as well as caring for three vibrant parish communities in the dioceses of Broken Bay, Wollongong and Perth.
The special gift of the Carmelite Order is particularly important to our world today, where there is a great spiritual hunger.
Our Vocation Today
The charism or the special gift of the Carmelite Order is particularly important to our world today especially in the West, where there is a great spiritual hunger and many are bewildered and lost, cut off from the sustaining food of eternal life. We who have received a precious heritage see it as our special mission to assist those who are seeking God to find him and to know him more closely. We do this by being trustworthy spiritual guides.
Could It Be Your Vocation?
The call to be a Carmelite Friar has attracted men for eight centuries and has shown itself as a fruitful way of following Jesus Christ. God has been glorified both in prayer and contemplation but also in vibrant activity.
We invite young men to give new vitality to our life and to make our life-giving message known in the Church and in the world.
Do you feel that you may be called to respond to this call? If so, you can contact the National Vocations Director:
ocd.vocations.au@gmail.com
At present, there are in Australia three communities of Discalced Carmelite Friars of the Australia-Oceania region. All of these communities are responsible for the care of their local parishes. Mount Carmel also has a retreat centre.
Mount Carmel Priory, Varroville, NSW
A formation community which is also responsible for the Mount Carmel Retreat Centre and Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish.
varroville.dow.org.au
mtcarmel.com.au
Infant Jesus Priory, Morley, WA
Our community has care of the Infant Jesus Parish.
infantjesusparish.org.au
Corpus Christi Priory and Parish, St Ives, NSW
The Priory and Parish are in the Diocese of Broken Bay in the northern suburbs of Sydney. Bishop David Walker invited the Discalced Carmelite Friars to take care of the parish and to bring Carmelite spirituality to the Diocese.
bbcatholic.org.au/stives
Additionally, there are in Australia three communities of Discalced Carmelite Friars from other Provinces.
Manjummel Province
Mandurah WA
Malabar Province
Cranbrook Qld
Karnataka-Goa Province
Coffs Harbour NSW