In Pennsylvania, Carmelites Plan a “Micro Village” According to St. Teresa’s Vision

Catholic World Report ^ | 4/8/19 | Jim Graves

[marshmallow]

Eleven sisters are the founding members of a new hilltop monastery in the Diocese of Harrisburg.

Eleven Discalced Carmelite Sisters of Fairfield, Pennsylvania are establishing a new monastery on a 40-acre, hilltop site in the Diocese of Harrisburg, just eight miles from the historic town of Gettysburg. The nuns were originally part of the Carmel of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph in Elysburg, also part of the Harrisburg diocese, but as their community has grown, the 11 sisters, according to the Carmelite custom, separated to form a new community. Both groups had previously separated from a Carmelite community in Valparaiso, Nebraska.

The Carmelite sisters wear a full habit and live and pray in community. They use the Extraordinary Form of the Mass and Divine Office. They live a life of penance, and enjoy few of the benefits or comforts of modern technology. The sisters rise for prayers at 4:30 a.m., fast often, do not eat meat, do not drive or own cars, use candles for light, and lack many appliances, such as a dishwasher. The bulk of the community is young, with most sisters in their 20s and 30s. They rarely leave their cloister, except for such things as medical emergencies. They do not have an active apostolate; as their website indicates, “The primary mission of the Carmelite Order is to pray and offer oblation for the Church and the world.”

It is the desire of the nuns to build a monastery, mostly of stone, in a style envisioned by the well-known Carmelite St. Teresa of Avila (1515-1582). The sisters have reached out to lay friends to help fundraise for the project, which is estimated to be $12 million. So far, $4 million has been raised, allowing for the completion of two of the stone buildings, with work starting on......

[2banana]

12 sisters building a $12 million compound?

[Governor Dinwiddie]

Kind of negates "vows of poverty".
 

[Teflonic]

It’s really interesting that the Amish are helping them. They share many of the same tenets, bet they will recruit many new sisters from the Amish communities nearby.

[Campion]

They’re not planning on having only 11 sisters.

[2harddrive]

It looks increasingly like the fire at Notre Dame cathedral in Paris was an act of ISLAMIC JIHAD planned just for Holy Week!

[Mrs. Don-o]

When you build in stone, you're building for permanence. They are anticipating growth. They are not building a $12 million monastery for eleven women.

Plus, monastic chapels typically have a part behind a grille for themselves (the cloistered community) and the rest of the nave open for the equivalent of a noncloistered congregation. That's how the cloistered Benedictines do it, anyhow. They are building on a monastic parish model, which will spiritually serve worshippers in the whole area.

I wish I lived near there. With the Traditional Latin Mass and the sisters singing Liturgy of the Hours it wold be like heaven.

[Mrs. Don-o]

They're setting up a working farm village for heaven's sake (yes), a church, and living quarters: a village built of stone. See if you can do that for $12 million.

This is community property, not personal property; and its set up for austerity, not middle-class comforts. The description says they "enjoy few of the benefits or comforts of modern technology. The sisters rise for prayers at 4:30 a.m., fast often, do not eat meat, do not drive or own cars, use candles for light, and lack many appliances.." And no travel! "They rarely leave their cloister, except for such things as medical emergencies."

It says they're doing it on the model of how St. Teresa of Avila did it; and if that's so, they won't even have carpets, curtains or shoes (except sandals.)

That's very much along the lines of traditional monastic poverty.

I can see why the Amish "get it."

[Larry Lucido]

How much do stones cost?

[Larry Lucido]

Ah, got it.