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A Warning to the Carmelites of FairfieldLast month a couple of the nuns of the Fairfield Carmel were seen attending Mass at the FSSP apostolate, our parish in the ancient centre, Santissima Trinita dei Pellegrini. These are the sisters who have become famous throughout the Traditional Catholic world for their attempt to live the Teresian Discalced Carmelite life in the most authentic and faithful way possible.Puzzling as it may have been for strictly cloistered nuns to be out and about, it was cleared up a few days later with an article announcing that the Fairfield Carmelites are about to undergo...

[Catholic Caucus] Hermit priest doubles down on claim that Pope’s plans will ‘destroy’ contemplative ordersAn Apostolic Visitation confirmed the Franciscan chaplain 'was 100% correct in my assessment' that Rome is doing all it can to modernize traditional communities of nuns. Father Maximilian Mary Dean, the former Franciscan Friar of the Immaculate who now is the chaplain to the traditional Carmelite nuns in Fairfield, Pennsylvania, has once more spoken up. After his initial interview with LifeSite’s Jim Hale published last week, there were many comments on what he said about the general intention of Rome – namely to destroy the traditional...

[Catholic Caucus] Pope Francis’ plans will ‘destroy’ contemplative life: Franciscan friarThe chaplain insists that it is not only the traditional Latin Mass Carmelite nuns who are on the radar: contemplative life in the entire Church is at stake.Mon Oct 4, 2021 - 12:20 pm EDTMon Oct 4, 2021 - 1:23 pm EDT FAIRFIELD, Pennsylvania (LifeSiteNews) — A plan by Pope Francis ‘to overhaul’ the communities of cloistered nuns is threatening their way of life.LifeSite has published today an interview with Father Maximilian Mary Dean, a former Franciscan Friar of the Immaculate and the chaplain to the discalced Carmelite nuns of...

[Catholic Caucus] Viganò in Defense of Women’s Monasteries of Contemplative Life Dear friends and foes of Stilum Curiae, we receive and gladly publish this statement from Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano in defense of women’s communities of contemplative life. Good reading §§§ Statementin Defense of Convents of Religious Sisters of Contemplative Life With profound sorrow and strong indignation, I follow the events related to the Apostolic Visitations that the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life is carrying out in various Convents of contemplative women religious in the United States. The manner in which these Apostolic...

Cor Orans Revisited...Read Hilary's Cor orans, Part I HERE.[Editor’s Note: “Cor Orans” (“Praying Heart”) is the title of an April 1, 2018 document that implements instructions on how to apply Pope Francis’ 2016 Apostolic Constitution – “Vultum Dei Quaerere” (“Seek the Face of God”) addressed to Catholic women religious in contemplative communities. MJM]One of the abiding characteristics of documents coming from the current administration in the Vatican is the aspect of “bait and switch,” the clever couching of completely opposite intentions in pious Catholic language. Many of the critics-of-the-critics of Amoris Laetitia pointed to the “good” passages of that document...

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...

One aspect of Pope Francis’ character that seems little-explored by the Catholic and secular media alike is his apparent disdain for contemplative religious life – a facet of Catholic life that could be described as the most purely religious of all the Church’s undertakings. The world does not understand it or want it. Therefore, it is something of a thorn in the Bergoglian side, and he has repeatedly expressed his contempt for it. So when, in 2016 he issued a document on contemplative nuns, the faithful braced for impact. The Francis Vatican’s approach to the contemplative life is probably the...