Communicationes n° 65

15-09-2006

CONTENTS:

- General Definitory: nominations

- Fr. General’s Golden jubilee of Profession

- New foundation in Bosnia Herzegovina

- The War in the Holy Land

- Nuns:

New foundation, religious Assistants, change of jurisdiction, elections

News from Seoulcarmel

Pope Benedict XVI address to the Carmelites nuns and Angelus on Our Lady of Mt Carmel

- Elizabeth of the Trinity: DVD “Sabeth”

- Talk: “Elizabeth of the Trinity – the mystical adventure”

- Basilica status for HolyHillShrineChurch

- The Carmelite parish in Venezuela founded 50 years ago

- Memory of Fr. Augustine Mary of the Blessed Sacrament (Herman Cohen)

DEFINITORY GENERAL

The Definitory met in ordinary session from September 4 – 9, and nominated the following:

  • Fr. AGUSTINE CAPPELLETTI, from the VenetianProvince, until now parish priest of St. Teresa’s basilica in Rome (next door to the Generalate), SUPERIOR of the community of the Generalate
  • Fr. VIRGILIO PASQUETTO, from the Venetian Province, CO-ORDINATOR & RECTOR of the permanent community of the Teresianum, Rome
  • Fr. CHARLES SERRAO, of the Karnataka-GoaProvince, SUPERIOR of the community of the InternationalTheologicalCollege “St. John of the Cross”, Rome, for a second triennium
  • Fr. DOMINIC NIRMAL KUMAR, of the TamilnaduProvince, SUPERIOR of the Specialization community at the priory of St. Maria di Scala, Rome, for a second triennium
  • Fr. BRUNO MORICONI, of the TuscanProvince, FIRST COUNCILLOR of the permanent community of the Teresianum
  • Fr. MELWIN D’CUNHA, of the Karnataka-GoaProvince, SUPERIOR of our religious who are resident in the Apostolic Vicariate of Kuwait.

FR. GENERAL’S GOLDEN JUBILBEE OF PROFESSION

Fr. General of the Order, Luis Arostegui Gamboa, celebrated his 50th anniversary of religious profession quietly and discreetly in the intimacy of the Generalate. He was first professed at 17 on July 15, 1956 in the Amorebeta-Larrea novitiate. He was part of a group of 16 professed. Those were the golden years for vocations in the NavarreProvince. After a life of service and witness, on July 24, Fr. General celebrated this event with his professed companions, today dispersed in Latin America and Africa. A mass of thanksgiving and the renewal of vows united them all in the same church where they were novices.

The celebration in Rome consisted of a concelebration with the members of the community of the Generalate in the morning of September 9. After Fr. General’s homily, the Vicar of the Order, Fr. Zdenko Krizic, spoke and thanked the General on behalf of the Order, above all, for the God given gifts of a fine and pleasant disposition, an ability to listen and lots of patience. Members of the NavarreProvince, conventuals of the Teresianum, joined us for a celebratory fraternal lunch.

NEW FOUNDATION IN BOSNIAHERZEGOVINA

On the feast of St. Elijah, July 20, the first Carmelite priory was established in Bosnia Herzegovina, on the banks of LakeBusko, Zidine, in the province of Tomislavgrad, in the Mostar diocese. The church of St.Elijah was blessed and the altar consecrated by the local Bishop, Mgr. Ratko Peric; the large priory and the Centre of spirituality were blessed by our Father General, Luis Arostegui Gamboa during the solemn celebration.

The priory - “Carmel of St. Elijah” spirituality centre is located 730 meters above sea-level, in a mountainous region, that has been ecologically very well preserved, an hour by car from Split airport (in Croatia), and an hour and a half from Medjugorje. Besides the church and the part of the priory, there are 26 en-suite rooms to host future participants of the centre’s programme, a large hall for conferences and simultaneous translation boxes, several rooms for small groups, an interconfessional hall for prayer and meditation, a recreation room for guests, an internet centre and a small local ethnographical museum, everywhere accessible for disabled in wheelchairs. Outside, beyond the parking area, there will be sport’s fields and a park in harmony with the function of the centre. The entire project, 5000 square metres of living space, has made every effort to respect the beauty and the quality of the surroundings on the one hand, and the up to date laws regarding building standards of the European Union on the other.

In 2000 Mgr. Peric invited the CroatianCarmeliteProvince to make a foundation of a priory and spirituality centre in his Mostar diocese. When they heard of this the Tomislavgrad city council gave us a beautiful piece of land and many benefactors have helped us. The present community consists of four friars: three young priests and a brother, also young.

See the website:

The War in the Holy Land

The Carmelite communities of Stella-Maris, Haifa, our parish and convent of Carmelite nuns together with the local people have been through an intense month of conflict which suddenly exploded between Israel and Lebanon. There was a lot of tension during those days. The sirens would suddenly warn us of imminent danger and the subsequent explosion told us where the rocket had fallen. It was during the first days of the conflict that a bomb fell close to our sanctuary on Mt.Carmel, next to the road. There was no damage, as it fell on open land.

The bomb that fell in the garden of our parish, close to the house of the Sisters of the Rosary, did cause major damage. It smashed to pieces the windows facing north in our house and those of our sacristy. During those first days the city looked like a ghost town. Workers would only go in for a few hours, and shops remained shut for the greater part of the day. Needless to say all the pilgrims cancelled their trips. The Christian Arabs came to our sanctuary on Mount Carmel to ask the protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Elijah.

For a few days we offered hospitality to a number of families in the shelter beneath the church. The Carmelite nuns also offered shelter to people. The bombs destroyed several houses in the city, and killed a number of people, including Christians from our parish. In all this we were saddened at the thought of nearby Lebanon, where the desolation caused by the bombs, the many deaths, created a situation much more difficult than ours in Haifa.

Now all is over (at least this appears to be the case and we certainly hope so!) and life is returning to normal. We hope that by October or November that the pilgrims will come back, as they are also a support for the Christian families in the area and for our sanctuary. Also the parish apostolate and the school have returned to their normal routine.

There remain the consequences and the memories of the destruction and the deaths caused by the war, which will be difficult to forget. Above all, the problems at the basis of the conflict have not gone away, they require a lot of good if they are to be resolved. Prayer goes hand in hand with the efforts of men and women (not always enough) to find a just and long lasting solution all. This prayer has given strength to our communities and to the Christians here in Haifa to live through the most difficult moments.

Renato Rosso ocd, Vicar of our St. Joseph’s Parish, Haifa

N U N S

The beginning of a new foundation

With the rescript n° 10957/2006 the Congregation for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and the Societies of Apostolic Life (CICLSAL) on June 30 2006 agreed to the beginning of a foundation of a convent of Carmelite nuns in the city of Claket, diocese of Srabaya (Indonesia), with the nuns coming from the convent of Bajawa, Flores, also Indonesia.

Religious assistants

With the rescript n° FM 70 3/96 of the CICLSAL on May 12 2006 Fr. Roeland Van Meersch ocd, was reappointed Religious Assistantto the Federation of Carmelite Nuns in Belgium-Flanders.

With the rescript n° FM 55 1/2006 of the CICLSAL on July 26 2006 Fr. Jaime Alberto Palacio Gonzalez, ocd, was appointed Religious Assistant to the Association “Santa Maria del Monte Carmelo” in Colombia.

Change of jurisdiction

With the rescript n° 7353/62 the CICLSAL on May 4 2006 agreed that the convent of Kinshasa pass from the jurisdiction of the local ordinary of Kinshasa to that of the Superior General of our Order.

Elections

From June 19 – 23 the General Assembly of the Discalced Carmelite convents of the Navarre Federation, Spain, came together. The elections produced the following results:

President:Sr. Sagrario Fernandez, Pamplon – Echavacoiz

1st Councillor: Sr. Olatz, Donamaria

2nd Councillor: Sr. Maria Cruz, Calahorra

3rd Councillor: Sr. Maria Dolores, Fuenterrabia

4th Councillor: Sr. Justina, Ruiloba

NEWS FROM SEOULCARMEL

Sisters of Seoul Carmel are very blessed with making two foundations, one in Phnom Penh, Cambodia and the other in Dongducheon, Korea. On June 25, 2006, the first anniversary of sending our 5 sisters in Cambodia, they have given a good territory by the LocalChurch to establish a Carmelite Monastery. They are living in a temporary house and learning their language and culture. As soon as they got the territory, they put walls around it according to their custom. The sisters are in good spirits and well-adjusted to the new environment.

As for the Dongducheon foundation, we keep working on a fundraising. As the community was called to make this foundation, God has worked through the hopes and longing of many people for a peaceful reunification of South and North Korea, and our hidden ministry of prayer gave comfort to the faithful. On June 30 we had a magnificent ground-breaking ceremonial Mass. Bishop Lee, the bishop of the new diocese of Uijeongbu was a main celebrant along with an Aux. bishop of Seoul Archdiocese. 50 priests including Carmelite Friars and 1300 people came to welcome us. They have shown us such assurance by helping us with this foundation in their newly established diocese.

BENEDICT XVI TO OUR CARMELITE NUNS

The Holy Father Benedict XVI visited the Carmelite nuns in Villair de Quart during his summer break in Val d’Aosta, Italy. He left them a letter that said:

“To all the dear Carmelite nuns throughout the world.

To live with God, in communion with our crucified and risen Lord, in communion with His passion and His glory, is an act of love for humanity, which needs this sign of the presence of God, God with a human face. The Mother of our Lord shows us the way of the yes, always renewed, to the will of God.

Benedict PP.XVI

14th July 2006”

Marian prayer from the Angelus in Les Combes (Aosta):

July 16 2006-09-14

The Holy Father recalled: “By a happy coincidence, this Sunday falls on July 16th, a day when the liturgy recalls the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mt. Carmel. Carmel, a high promontory that rises along the western coastline of the Mediterranean sea, actually at the same height as Galilee, has on its slopes numerous natural caves, to which hermits have been attracted. The most famous of these men of God was the great prophet Elijah, who in the IX century before Christ strenuously defended the purity of the faith in the one and true God from the contagion of idolatrous cults. Inspired by Elijah, the contemplative Order of “Carmelites” arose; a religious family that counts among its members great saints like Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, Therese of the Child Jesus and Teresa Benedict of the Cross (her secular name, Edith Stein). The Carmelites have spread devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mt. Carmel among the Christian people, showing her to be a model of prayer, contemplation and dedication to God.

Mary, in fact, was the first, in an unparalled way, to believe and experience that Jesus, the Word incarnate, was the culmination and the summit of the meeting between humankind and God. She fully welcomed the Word, and “arrives happily on the holy mountain” (cf. Collect of the Memory), and lives for ever, in body and soul, with the Lord. To the Queen of Mt. Carmel I would like today to entrust all the contemplative communities spread throughout the world, especially those of the Carmelite Order, among which we remember Quart convent, not far from here, which I was able to visit during these days. Mary help every Christian to encounter God in silent prayer”. (From The Osservatore Romano, July 17-18 2006, 5).

ELIZABETH OF THE TRINITY

A)Video film “Sabeth”

On June 17, after the opening celebration of the year for Elizabeth for the Carmelite family, in Flavignerot-Dijon, the premiere of the video “Sabeth” was shown, in the presence of Fr. General and Mgr. Jean Sleiman, ocd.

Centenary package: 3 DVDs and booklet – PAL format. The package: 28 euros

2 versions of the package have been proposed:

1. French, English, Italian, Spanish or

2. French, English, German, Polish

n.b. NTSC format for America…: special controls..

Directed by Fr Massimo Manservigi, co-produced by Fr. Massimo, Fr. Sangalli ocd, and Dijon Carmel. This is available from Dijon Carmel, 21 160 Flavignerot (France), or by internet:

For further information see.

B. Another DVD 41minute video-slide show in French which invites us to discover the life of Elizabeth by Tatou Productions. “I am going to the Light, to Love, to Life” (In NTSC-American version)

Couvent des Carmes

600, rue Notre-Dame Est

Trois-Rivières (Quebec)

G8T 4G8 CANADA

Telephone: 1(819) 372-4826 Fax: 1 (819) 374-1262

Conference: “Elizabeth of the Trinity – the mystical adventure”

November 11 & 12, 2006

Notre Dame de Vie, Sainte Garde, 84210 Venasque (France)

Tel: 04 90 69 47 40 Fax: 04 90 69 47 71

Organized by the John of the Cross Institute (Toulouse), with lecturers from the Notre Dame de Vie Institute (Venasque), this talk is part of the overall framework of the Centenary celebrations of the death of Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity and coincides with the publication of the collected Works edited by Editions du Carmel in the collection “Recherches Carmélitaines”.

The Conference on Elizabeth of the Trinity consists of three themes: The Sources: Conrad de Meester, André Louf. Theological Experience: Jean-Philippe Houdret, Antonio-Maria Sicari, Jean Clapier. Pastoral enlightenment and legacy: Pierre Barthez, Francois Girard, Nathalie Nabert, Pierre de Cointet.

BASILICASTATUSFORHOLYHILLSHRINECHURCH

A decree of Cardinal Arinze sent to the local Ordinary of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee declared that our shrine church of HolyHill, "Mary Help of Christians", is now a basilica.

Archbishop Timothy Dolan read the Cardinal's declaration during the Mass that celebrated the Centenary of the founding of the first Discalced Carmelite community of friars in the United States of America 100 years ago in 1906.

Present on this occasion was V.Rev. Stephen Watson, American Definitor, Fr. Ulrich Dobhan, representing the GermanProvince, V. Rev. Fr. Matthew Azakath, Provincial of the MalabarProvince, Fr. Aloysius Rego of the Australian Regional Vicariate of the Anglo-IrishProvince, and numerous religious of the WashingtonProvince.

Dedication of the church as a basilica is being planned for sometime within the centenary year now underway, perhaps on the feast of Our Holy Mother St. Teresa (15 October).

FOUNDATION 50 YEARS AGO

Of “St. Joseph Obrero”, our Carmelite parish, Caracas (Venezuela)

On May 1 we celebrated with much solemnity the 50 years of foundation of our Carmelite parish of the friars of Catia, Caracas. The week of celebration began on April 23 with the solemn feast of St. Joseph Obrero. There were many meetings: with the infants, the children, grown ups, parents, with ourselves. There was a talk on the history of the parish in which the past was fused with the present so as to encourage us more to keep on being a “Carmelite family, sowing the seeds of the Gospel”.

Many people and organizations were involved to make this celebration possible; from the organizing committee to the spontaneous and anonymous collaborators. Many visitors who came to the celebrations added something special: there were Carmelite friars and students from all our houses, groups of the secular order, friends and neighbours. From Spain came Fr. Jose Leon Santiago; from the Guarnas Diocese Fr. Clement Medina; from Avila-Spain, by telephone, Fr. Cristobal Dominguez. Not forgetting the prayers of our Carmelite sisters from Chorros, Barquisimeto and Merida.

MEMORIAL OF FR. AGUSTINE MARIA OF THE BLESSED SACRAMENT

(Herman Cohen)

The sepulchre of this servant of God, founder of the Night Adoration and a collaborator in the restoration of Carmel in France in XIX century, has known various and providential vicissitudes. He died in Spandau-Berlin on January 20 1871, while assisting as a chaplain to plague-infected French soldiers, during the Franco-Prussian war. He was buried in the crypt of the sole catholic church then in Berlin. In spite of the bombs that fell on this church of St. Eduvigis during the second world war, the Carmelite tomb was preserved from destruction. They were able to translate it to a cemetery in Liesen street. But in 1961 the Berlin wall cut this cemetery in two. Many tombs were destroyed, but the tomb of Fr. Herman Cohen managed to be persevered, ending up on the Eastern side. There the mortal remains of this illustrious Carmelite remained in a tomb where it was constantly looked after by members of the secular Order in Berlin.

But for several years there was no cross on the tomb. Then, on August 28 this year, during a brief ceremony, a new cross was put in place. The idea and execution was that of Matthias Heinz, a Berlin artist. It is a tall cross made of white stone, representing the symbol of the Eucharist.