[Catholic Caucus] Carmelite SOS: “Cor orans is the death-knell of Carmelite monasticism”

What's Up With the Synod? ^ | May 25, 2018 | Hilary White

[ebb tide]

St. Teresa of Avila, pray for us in this hour of darkness.

I have been contacted by a community of Carmelites who have seen the document, and are desperate to try to warn the remaining faithful Carmels of the Teresian reform.

Today’s piece for the Remnant contains some of their remarks:

Today I received an email from a monastery of cloistered Carmelite nuns about the new document from the Vatican’s Congregation for Religious. They’re helping me examine this document, having kindly volunteered to serve as consultants, to help me understand it from an inside position. These, I might add, are not what we would consider a “traditionalist” community. They have only the Novus Ordo Mass and use the new rite Divine Office in their native vernacular language. For obvious reasons I can’t identify them, even to say what country they are in.

Writing to me in English, by way of introductory comments in their longer analysis of the document that will be forthcoming, Sister T, fully professed and a senior member of the monastery’s council, said, “The Cor Orans document is the death-knell of Carmel. It signals the end of the contemplative monastic life. Not only does it destroy the autonomy of the Monasteries, something Our Holy Mother St. Teresa was extremely insistent about, but it also removes the Superior, dissolves her authority and power, removes the financial independence of each Monastery, and destroys the specificity of each charism.

“This is a disaster. Especially for Carmel.”

[ebb tide]

Ping

[Falconspeed]

Thanks for the article. I shall talk about this with a few nun friends of mine. The goal is to be loyal to the religious founder and to ignore the politicians in Rome.

[BlessedBeGod]

He's trying to destroy prayer.

Just like he ordered that masses should be concelebrated at seminaries instead of being said separately (resulting in fewer masses, the mass being the most important prayer of the Church), he's going to destroy the most important foundation of prayer, the contemplative orders.

With this, it's impossible to deny he answers to Satan. Who else would want less prayer?

[Slyfox]

Monastic orders were among the very first autonomous, self-directing, incorporated organizations (although in communion with the Church) in the world.

Now Frankie wants to control them and tear up their letters of incorporation just like Henry VIII's henchmen did?

[sockmonkey]

Thanks for the ping. My daughter entered religious life on the Feast Day of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel.

I follow Hilary White on Twitter @HilarityJane66 but she stopped posting in mid November.