The General Council Meets in Nocera Umbra for Prayer, Fraternity, and Reflection

From September 7-11, 2026, the members of the General Council gathered at the Centro di Spiritualità "Il Carmelo" in Nocera Umbra, a house of the Italian Province, for several days of prayer, fraternity and reflection. The Council is grateful to the brothers of the Italian province and to the local community for their warm hospitality and for making it possible to step away from the usual rhythm of work.

Nearly one year after the General Chapter in Malang, Indonesia, the meeting was a chance to look back on the Council’s first year of service and to look ahead. The first year after a General Chapter is always a busy one. New members of the Council need time to settle in Rome, and the large number of Provincial Chapters during these first months requires considerable travel, especially on the part of the Prior General. The Council reflected on how the scheduling of Chapters in future sexennia might allow a new Council more time at the beginning to come together, establish its way of working and plan for the years ahead.

The Global Plan for the 2025–2031 sexennium is complete and is now being translated. It will be distributed throughout the Order once the translations are ready. During these days the Council also reflected on the perspective that should guide it as the Plan is put into practice.

One conviction became particularly clear during the conversations: the spiritual renewal of the Order and fidelity to the Carmelite charism cannot simply be one priority among many others. They need to provide the horizon for everything else the Council does. Again and again, the discussion returned to a simple question: How can the work of the General Council help the brothers and communities of the Order to live the Carmelite vocation more deeply and to hand it on faithfully to those who come after them?

Within this horizon, the Council looked more closely at three areas. The first was the renewal and transmission of Carmelite life. The conversation took in initial formation, but also ongoing or permanent formation, the preparation of formators, spiritual accompaniment, vocational discernment and liturgical life. It also turned to something that cannot be separated from formation: the quality of the communities in which brothers actually live. Formation does not end when a brother leaves a formation house. Throughout religious life, brothers continue to form one another in community.

The second area was structures and communities. Some entities of the Order are facing significant changes in numbers, leadership, vocations, finances and ministry, while other parts of the Order are growing and face different challenges. The reflection was not mainly about preserving or changing juridical structures. The more important question is whether the structures of the Order, and its local communities, allow brothers to live genuine Carmelite fraternity, prayer, discernment and mission together.

The third area was finances and the resources entrusted to the Order. Here too, the conversation went beyond money and property. The resources of the Order are meant to serve its life and mission. That calls for responsible planning and transparency, but also for greater solidarity among the different realities of the Order and a willingness to consider how available resources can best serve Carmel in the years ahead.

The meeting was not intended to answer every question or to produce another program. It did help the General Council see more clearly the perspective from which it wishes to continue its service. The question is whether its decisions help the brothers and communities of the Order to live and hand on the Carmelite charism with renewed vitality.

The General Council will continue to take up the fruits of these days during its forthcoming plenary meetings and in its accompaniment of the different entities and communities of the Order.