A Congress of the Carmelite Family was held recently at Sassone (Rome), from the 23rd to the 27th of May. The Congress was organised on the basis of a decision by the 2007 General Chapter. The participants included the members of the General Council, the Leaders of Federations of Nuns, the Superiors General of Carmelite Congregations of Apostolic life, a representative of Carmelite hermits and the International Commission for Lay Carmelites.

Fr. Christopher O Donnell, O.Carm. (Hib) gave a lecture on the concept of Carmelite Family, based on the constitutions of the friars and other documents of the Order. In her lecture, Sr. A’ine Hayde (Holy Family of Bordeaux) underlined the aspect of the gift to the Church that a religious family can be. The participants discussed these topics in groups and in the general assembly. The reflection was accompanied by a sharing of experiences related to both the way that people feel and live the sense of family, and some examples of joint mission in aid of the order or of the Church. On the 25th of May, the whole group attended the Papal Audience in St. Peter’s Square, and then took part in a Mass celebrated in S. Maria in Traspontina for the feast of St. Mary Magdalen de’Pazzi. The whole meeting took place in an atmosphere of dialogue and fraternity. The contents of the rich sharing and the principal results will be gathered into a letter to be written by the Prior General and addressed to the entire Carmelite Family. 

A Meeting of the Superiors General and the General Council

At the end of the meeting of the Carmelite Family in Sassone (Rome), on the 26th and the 27th of May, a meeting was held between the Superiors General of the Congregations affiliated to the Order and the General Council. After the initial greeting and introduction by the Prior General, Fr. Fernando Millán Romeral, O.Carm., Sr. Joy Carmel Jumawan, of the Carmelite Sisters of Our Lady, spoke about how a sister of the apostolic life cooperates within a religious family. Her intervention led to fruitful dialogue and helped the participants to get to know one another better. As part of the programme each Congregation explained, how its members express the one Carmelite charism, the areas of cooperation they have with the Carmelite Family, their own particular mission and their service to the Order and to the Church. This meeting too was for all the participants an experience of true communion: once again light was thrown on the gift by which the Congregations enrich the one charism of Carmel.