The Carmelites of the General Commissariat of Paraná celebrated their triennial elective chapter from September 18-22, 2023. The gathering, held in Maringá, had as its theme "We Walk Together Towards God" from the Rule and Constitutions. The motto for the meetings was from Luke's Gospel: "Stay with us, Lord, it is late and night is coming." Míċéal O'Neill, the prior general, accompanied by José Luis Maza Subero, the Councillor for the Americas, participated.
In 1951, the Province of Upper Germany began missionary work in the city of Paranava, in the State of Paraná, Brazil. Within a few years fifteen missionaries went to the new foundation. They promoted local vocations and two years later, they started a second foundation in the city of Graciosa, where a small seminary house was built. In 1965, the Paranese mission was set up as a provincial commissariat of the Upper German Province.
In 1967, the Carmelites assumed the pastoral care of the parish of Saint Joseph in Cidade Gaúcha and the parish of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin in the city of Fanny-Curitiba; in this second parish they also erected a novitiate and a minor seminary. In 1968, after the division of the Cidade Gaúcha parish, the Carmelites took over a new parish in the city of Tapira. The following year, in the city of Paranava, the brothers set up a seminary of St. John of the Cross and a middle school. In 1984, the parish of Good Jesus in the city of Dourados, in the State of Mato Grosso do Sul, was taken over by the Order. In 1994, the Carmelites left the parishes in the city of Gaúcha and in Tapira in order to start a new mission in the northern region. They assumed the pastoral care of the parish of Our Lady of Aparecida in the city of Rolim de Moura, in the State of Rondônia in the Amazon region. In 1996, a house of formation was founded in Barrio Novo, in the city of Curitiba. At the beginning of the third millennium, convents were established in Manaus and Navigentes (2009) and in Florianopolis (2011). On October 20, 2012, the prior general, with the approval of his General Council, canonically erected the General Commissariat of Paraná.
The following members were elected to leadership at the Chapter:
Provincial | Provincial | Provinciale
Flávio Barbosa dos Santos, O. Carm.
1st Councilor | 1er Consejero | 1o Consigliere
Edmilson Borges de Carvalho, O. Carm.
2nd Councilor | 2do Consejero | 2o Consigliere
Francisco Manoel de Oliveira, O. Carm.
3rd Councilor | 3er Consejero | 3o Consigliere
Vagner Sanagiotto, O. Carm.
4th Councilor | 4to Consejero | 4o Consigliere
João Bernardes Alves, O. Carm.
