Director of Vocations
St. Teresa's Motherhouse
600 Woods Road
Germantown, NY 12526
Tel: 518-537-5000
Fax: 518-537-5226
E-mail: vocation@carmelitesisters.com
1/06Web Page: http://www.carmelitesisters.com
Carmelite Vocation Decision Making Flow Chart
[This flow chart works only for discernment about women's communities.]
A. Contemplative Life
1. Am I called to live a purely contemplative life of prayer? [If not, go to B.]
2. Am I called to live a contemplative life of prayer according to the Carmelite charism? [If not, go to A.3.]
a. Each monastery of Carmelite nuns is like a facet on a precious diamond. It reflects the light of Carmel in its own distinctive and beautiful way. There are three associations of monasteries in the US. The communities in each association hold approximately the same outlook on Carmelite life. The three associations you need to explore are
i. Carmelite Communities Associated. Baltimore Carmel is a member of this association.
ii. Queen of Carmel Association.
iv. Lists of these carmels may also be found in the Carmelite Family section of our web page
3. Am I called to live a contemplative life of prayer according to some other charism? [If not, go to B.]
a. Am I attracted to Benedictine spirituality?
b. Am I attracted to Cistercian [Trappistine] spirituality?
c. Am I attracted to Dominican spirituality?
d. Am I attracted to Franciscan spirituality?
B. Apostolic Life
1. Am I called to live a religious life that ministers in some sort of apostolic service and yet is rooted in prayer? [If not, go to B.2.]
a. Which apostolic ministry am I attracted to or qualified for? Am I called to do this work in the US? Am I called to do this work in the foreign missions?
i. What religious communities do this ministry?
b. Am I attracted to an apostolic community that operates out of a Carmelite spirituality? If yes, go to C.
2. Am I called to live a life of service to others as a deeply prayerful lay person?
a. Then consider joining the Carmelite Secular Order
b. Consider becoming a lay member of Community of Teresian Carmelites. Go to C.6.
C. Apostolic Communities following the Carmelite Charism
1. Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm
The Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm are a Roman Catholic Religious Congregation of Pontifical Rite founded in 1929 by Mother M. Angeline Teresa McCrory, O.Carm. The Sisters have as their primary purpose their own sanctification and the edification of others in the Mystical Body of Christ through the practice of the Vows of Obedience, Poverty and Chastity.
The special end of the Congregation is to participate in the work of the Church by rendering assistance to the aged and infirm whom the Congregation receives and cares for with the aid of governmental and private funds and other voluntary contributions.
Entrance Requirements
Age: 19-35
Education: high school diploma or equivalent
Health: good physical and mental health
Attitude: sincere desire to serve Christ through the elderly
Contact Information:
Sr. Maria Therese, O.Carm.
Director of Vocations
St. Teresa's Motherhouse
600 Woods Road
Germantown, NY 12526
Tel: 518-537-5000
Fax: 518-537-5226
E-mail: vocation@carmelitesisters.com
Web Page: http://www.carmelitesisters.com
2.Sisters of the Divine Heart of Jesus
Within the Carmel DCJ can be found the perfect blend of the
contemplative spirit with a rich apostolate. God calls us to be
"mothers" of Christ today. John Paul II has rightly called the evil
of our present age the "culture of death." We are called to reverse
this with the Gospel of Life through our very lives and by the care and love
we give the children, the adolescents and the elderly we serve. "For what
you do to least of these, you do unto Me."
Vocation Requirements:
We joyfully welcome into our community young women with the following qualifications:
-Ages 18-30 (exceptions can be made)
-Good physical, mental and moral health
-Loyalty to the Holy Father and to the Holy Roman Catholic Church
Contact Information:
Vocation Director
10341 Manchester
St. Louis, MO 63122
Telephone: (314) 965-7616
E-mail: vocations@carmelitedcj.org
Web Page: www.carmelitedcj.org
3. Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart
We are a contemplative-apostolic Congregation serving God and the Church through our lives of prayer, penance, joyful and loving apostolic service. We share our life of prayer with those whom we serve. Our Congregation joins the spirit of Carmel (prayer and penance) with the active apostolates. Because devotion to Mary has always been characteristic of the Carmelite Order, our Congregation has a distinct Marian character. Following Mary's example, prayer is our life and soul, as essential to us as air or food is to our natural existence. We enjoy a close Community life praying, eating, recreating, and working in common. Our daily schedule includes: chanting the Divine Office together every morning, afternoon, and evening, daily Mass, praying the Rosary together in Community, an hour of mental prayer each day, time for daily spiritual reading and Community recreation, and engaging in our various corporate apostolic works:
Vocation Information:
Young women ages 18-35 who desire to live a deep union with God through prayer, strong fraternal life in community and apostolic charity wherever one is placed may seek entrance.
Contact Information:
Vocation Directress
Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Los Angeles
920 East Alhambra Road
Alhambra, California 91801
(626) 300-8810
E-Mail: beautyofcarmel@earthlink.net
Web page: http://carmelitevocation.homestead.com/index.html
4. Sisters of Mount Carmel
Mission and Ministry:
On an ordinary day what are we about? You will find her in a preschool, an elementary, secondary or university classroom, in a prison classroom, in a parish school of religion, or in someone's house conducting a scripture study, for you see, she is a teacher or pastoral minister. You may see her involved in health care, for she is a nurse, a dietitian, respiratory therapist, medical technologist. You may see her conducting retreats, giving spiritual direction, working with and for women, for she is walking the spiritual journey with others. She is a Sister of Mount Carmel ...She is, with St. Teresa of Avila, a "daughter of the Church."
Vocation Requirements:
We require that a woman who is interested in joining us...
* be a well-balanced individual (spiritually, psychologically, physically, etc.)
* be mature, independent, able to live in community with other sisters, and bring to the group a richness that is life-giving
* have completed high school and at least two years of college (preferably, have completed college.) - or -
* have some training to perform a professional ministry
* have no obligations to minor children
Contact Information:
Sisters of Mount Carmel
PO Box 476
Lacombe, Louisiana 70445-0476
Phone: 1-985-882-7577 - New Orleans line: 1-504-524-2398
Fax: 1-504-524-5011
E-Mail: mountcarmel@mindspring.com
Web page: http://mountcarmel.home.mindspring.com/
5.Carmelite Sisters of St. Therese of the Infant Jesus
Like our spiritual ancestors in the Teresian Carmelite tradition, our ideal of communal life is relatively small. Currently our thirty-one sisters come from all parts of North America, from a variety of racial and ethnic groups, and from a wide spectrum of educational and occupational backgrounds.
Our founder gifted us with the contemplative and missionary spirit of Saint Therese. We are united daily in our Eucharistic celebration of Jesus Christ, alive and risen, in the people of God with whom we serve and in the priests and ministers for whom we pray. We seek to become what we are, members of Christ who channel our communal energy through our personal embrace of the baptismal vows extended to their fullest in poverty, chastity, and obedience. Our goal is to be prophetic witnesses in the biblical spirit of Elijah on Mount Carmel, to give birth to Christ in our daily human existence in the spirit of Mary of Nazareth, the first Christ-bearer in human history, to be contemplatives in the spirit of our great reformers Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross, and to spread the Gospel by building the kingdom of God on earth according to the "way" of Therese, the Little Flower.
We undertake a wide variety of ministries as long as they are within our capacity. Currently, our sisters serve others in educational programs on all levels, in the medical field, in parishes, in offices, as well as in the maintenance and domestic occupations which support communal living. Our two communal projects at present encompass providing creative programs for the education of young children of the working class in urban areas and providing services for marginated people in rural areas.
Vocation
Information:
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