Council Report July 05

REPORT FROM THE PROVINCIAL COUNCIL

We begin this report on a sad note. On April 30th, Elizabeth's mother died and just a week later on May 8th, Nancy's mother died. In both cases, our mothers were surrounded by family at the moment of death. Nancy and Elizabeth send their thanks to the many Carmelites throughout the province who've been holding them and their families in prayer. Its been a difficult time but both Nancy and Elizabeth have been amazed by the outpouring of love from around the Order and have found their friendship has deepened as they travel this particular part of the journey in unison.

Given the deaths, the Provincial Council was not able to complete the formation guidelines in time for the May meeting of the General Definitory. That turned out to be a good thing as further revisions were made in the following weeks and what we hope is our final version will be submitted for approval in Sept. In the meantime, copies of the draft are being sent out to all the communities so formation directors can start making any necessary changes.

During the third week of May, the Provincial Council traveled to Oklahoma City for our annual meeting and also to join the friars for a day at their chapter. Alas, we were a bit confused on our timing and missed joining the OKC community for their monthly meeting as we'd hoped (we were a week off). However, we did manage a very wonderful visit with our nuns in Piedmont who tried to recruit Elizabeth, as well as Pascal and Gerald's daughters. We also were able to meet the Missionary Carmelites of St Therese as they kindly hosted us for the first night of our stay before we moved to Mt St Mary's due to a conflict with a retreat later that week. Our first day was mostly sight-seeing including a visit to the memorial of the OKC bombing where Fr. John Michael told us about a young woman who had been a member of Little Flower Parish. We found her chair at the memorial and had her in mind as we toured the museum. We also nearly all melted away during a visit to the botanical gardens on a very hot day.

But our fun was soon followed by a couple days full of work in planning the upcoming councilor workshops, discussing our visitations procedures, more work in the formation guidelines, developing some guidelines for how to handle requests to start new OCDS groups, and a number of other things.

On Wednesday, May 25th, we spent the day with our friars at the chapter. Mostly the Provincial Council made presenations. First, Elizabeth spoke of what the Provincial Council is, how we see ourselves, what have we accomplished so far, what dreams do we have for the future, and finally what can the friars do for the OCDS. Then Elizabeth asked the friars to be sure when they invite us back in three years to ask the flip side of that question - what can the OCDS do for the friars? Nancy then gave a talk on the Constitutions. Gerald and Pascal presented our Statutes, and Amelia walked through our formation guidelines. And Fr John Michael presented some basic statistics about the OCDS in the province as well as contributing various comments along the way for all the presentations. After each presentation, there was some discussion with the friars and some very good questions.

We came away from the chapter with a much stronger sense of our connection with the friars and the possibilities for greater collaboration with them. The friars plan to concentrate on vocations over the next triennium and we're brain-storming ways in which OCDS might be able to lend a hand such as helping distribute brochures. The friars want to develop a provincial website which fits perfectly with our own plans to get a website for the seculars in the province up in the very near future. And we must share the word that Fr. Ralph Reyes passed along that in some higher corners of the Order, Fr. John Michael is considered the best Provincial Delegate in the Order. Of course, many of us already knew that! And knowing it, we are especially grateful that he has agreed to continue serving as our Provincial Delegate for this next triennium.

Besides all the official business of the chapter, we very much enjoyed joining the friars for lunch where they surprised Pascal with a birthday cake. And that evening, we took our new Provincial, Fr. Gregory Ross, out to dinner. And then on Thursday, a rather exhausted group of Provincial Councilors headed home to recover for a few days before setting about preparing our respected items for the workshops in New Orleans and Dallas.

Pascal, Amelia, Elizabeth and Fr. John Michael hosted a workshop for Local Council members in New Orleans on June 23-26. Fr. Gregory Ross was able to join us in New Orleans that Saturday morning to show his support of Seculars and participate in our discussions. Nancy, Gerald, and Elizabeth repeated the same workshop in Dallas on July 7-10. Both workshops were well attended although we were sorry to see that some of our communities and study groups did not send anyone to either workshop. A great deal of sharing took place on a broad range of subjects and the Carmelite charism was nourished abundantly for all who attended. A report from an attendee of each workshop can be found in this Flos Carmeli.

In the midst of the workshops, the Provincial Council has begun making visitations of our various communities and study groups. Gerald made the visitation of Baton Rouge in June. Elizabeth made the visitation of New Orleans, also in June . Nancy made the visitation of Austin and Georgetown in July.

We wish everyone a very blessed feast of Our Lady of Mt Carmel. These past few months have brought home for us what a wonderful gift it is to be called to her Order and what incredible people make up our brothers and sisters in Carmel. Praise be to God for all the gifts he has bestowed upon our Province!

Provincial Council:
Pascal Alfano, Gerald Alford, Elizabeth Korves, Nancy Thompson, and Amelia Wilken

Spring 05 Flos Carmeli

Spring 2005 Flos Carmeli

Elections

Two of our Study Groups have requested permission to hold elections. Permission has been granted to Knoxville TN and to Mobile AL to hold local elections. Because their status as Study Groups requires appointments (rather than election) of officers according to Statute XV. 2)., each group has been instructed to submit the result of their local election to myself and the Provincial council. The newly postulated officers are not to be installed until we approve their selected candidates for office. [2]

A note of clarification. When a member of our order is not eligible to be elected to office, a postulation is always possible. This means the candidate is submitted to a higher authority for approval. According to statute III.3.b., for instance, a sitting president who has served two consecutive terms is not eligble to be elected for a third consecutive term. Although not specified in our local OCDS statutes, the OCD Norms require a 2/3 majority vote in order to be posulated. For this reason, be sure to keep an accurate count of how many votes were cast and how many votes the postulated candidate received, when submitting anyone for postulation.

On 01-Mar-05, Fr. Gregory Ross was elected Provincial of our province to succeed Father Ralph. Frs. Marion Joseph, Stephen and Jesús were elected by the younger Fathers to go to the chapter. The older Friars going will be Sam Anthony, Raphael, and Henry. I will be attending the day of the chapter devoted to the Secular Order [Thur., 25-May-05] along with our OCDS Provincial Council. My picture was taken under Pope John Paul’s bunting on the day after he died. John Paul II died Saturday night at 9:37 pm in Rome. In these days of sede vacante (the empty throne) we pray the Spirit guide the cardinals in selecting a new pope. The conclave begins on Monday, April 18th.

Gregory was born 21-Oct-64 in Ft Worth TX, entered our order after studying at Notre Dame in Indiana on 15-Jul-89 at Marylake. He was professed Gregory of the Trinity 16-Jul-90, studied in San Antonio, then St Charles seminary in Philadelphia. Ordained 16-Dec-95 in New Orleans, he did post-graduate work in Rome from 1996-99. On his return from Rome he was appointed Student Master in New Orleans 1999-2005. He has served as Assistant to our New Orleans OCDS since 2000, and in Covington since 2003. Gregory is a mild-mannered man, a gentle soul from whose mouth no one has heard a harsh word. At least not yet! We look forward to his installation at the provincial chapter which opens on May 16 in Oklahoma City. We thank Father Ralph for his interest in the Secular Order. He is the first Provincial in our history to invite the Secular Order and our Nuns to participate in the provincial chapter. Our OCDS Provincial Council will be given a full day at the chapter on May 25. Originally scheduled for a half-day presentation by our present OCD Provincial Council as they planned the chapter agenda, former provincial Fr. Bonaventure, urged the Council to give us a full day.

Texas

Deacon Ray Jones was appointed Assistant to Waco on 15-Dec-05. Juanita Gonzales was appointed president of our OCDS Study Group in Waco, and Opal Gonzales as Director of Formation on 03-Feb-05.

Ann Dawson (congress photo) was elected president of Dallas, replacing Susan Ortega who has served as president last trienium. Pat Thompson was re-elected president of Austin. The only other communities I’ve heard from at this writing are Oklahoma City\Piedmont who elected former Formation Director, Deacon James Braezile president. Congratulations Jim, and to all our newly elected presidents and councillors.

Father Louis Pavlicek was appointed Assistant to Georgetown on 20-Mar-05. Lois Vasquez is president, Dora Zavala formation director, Paula Boyd & Dolores Ascona, councillors, and Ellen Monroe is secretary of our new Study Group in this small college town north of Austin. They meet on the 2nd Saturday of the month at St Helen’s church, 2700 East University Ave, for 8:00am Morning Prayer followed by 8:30 Mass, and retire to Pawlicki Center for their meeting at 9:30am. Former pastor, Michael Mulvey, who encourged this group to begin, has been reassigned to the chancery by Bishop Gregory Aymond.

On the last days of March and first weekend of April, the Austin and Dallas communities had a combined retreat in Belton Texas with Susan Muto, a renowed scholar from the University of Duquesne who has worked with Adrian Van Kaam in his Institute there. We highly recommend that our communities who are in close proximity to one another consider the possibility of joining in a combined efforts such as this. An inter-provincial effort is taking place in April between our Knoxville TN Study Group and a community in Asheville South Carolina on the apostolate. Hopefully we will hear more about this at our National Congress this fall. Picture of Susan on the day her nephew was killed. Victor Muto was her Godchild. As Susan explained Carmelite ”detachment,” she said she will go through her home looking at things she could give away. This could go to a friend, that to a relative. But then she comes across something she says, “Oh no, I can’t give that away. This one I want to keep. As Susan has devoted herself to her work in spirituality with Fr. Adrain van Kaam, she decided not to marry, so she has no children. Her nephew Victor was the closest she had.

Pat Darby, our provincial secretary, has been selected by our new provincial council to be our province’s representative to the National Council. [3-4]

Alabama

I accompanied Provincial Councillor Pascal Alfano to Birmingham for visitation of our community in that city. A group beginning in Madison Alabama joined us for this visitation. Pascal appointed Donna Lowe director of formation for this group, and approved the aspirants for clothing. As no one had a ritual, we decided to have them obtain a local priest in Madison to perform the investiture ceremony. This would also give them the chance to enlist the help of a local priest as their Assistant which they need in order to become an official OCDS Study Group.

The photograph was taken during the visitation. Pascal is seated to the right of Olga Coburn, president. This was held before their 2005 elections. Our Birmingham community, for years, has combined their yearly retreat with our Study Group in Mobile, Alabama. As this retreat is normally scheduled for the fall, they have graciously moved their retreat this year to May so as not to conflict with our national Congress in St Louis in the fall.

Arkansas

During a lenten mission in Mountain Home given in March, I found two OCDS members, Joan and Edith Dore. Joan was professed in 1996, and made her vows in Palm Bay FL (near the NASA launching pad) in 2002. Joan, I believe, retired to Florida from New York. Her son married Edith. Edith was professed in April 2000, and requested permission to make her Definitive promise. The Dores left Florida in June 2002 to live in St Peter the Fishman parish in Mountain Home Arkansas. I told them, as isolates they needed to connect with an OCDS Community, and offered them either Little Rock or St Louis. They preferred St Louis, saying they would rather travel there to present themselves to the council in preparation for Edith’s Promise. Thery also wanted to begin an OCDS Study Group in Mountain Home. I told them I was against Study Groups springing up by spontaneous combustion in isolated places. That first they need to attend to Edith’s Definitive Promise through St Louis. If the St Louis or Little Rock council saw a need to begin a Study Group in Mountain Home, then the councils could arrange that. I furnished them with the e-mail and phone of St Louis’ president and formation director, and e-mailed the president who said they would take care of the Dores.

Then Edith’s friends, Gerri Unger and Kate Sullivan came to see me about starting a Study Group in Mountain Home. They preferred to connect with Little Rock as it is an hour closer to Mountain Home than St Louis. I gave them the phone numbers of Little Rock’s president and formation director, and sent them a copy of our Rule and 2003 Constitutions. I also told them they had a baptismal right to gather and study Carmelite spirituality, but it would not be an OCDS Study Group until approved. [4-5]

I then was contacted by Peggy Lodewyks in Eureka Springs. She wants to begin a Study Group with her hermit friend Marlene Gonczy. They came to Little Rock, personally to introduce themselves and their situation at the April meeting.

Isolate Formation

Because of the reluctance the provincial council has experienced with with some of our local communities in taking on isolated aspirants for long-distance formation, I would like to remind our members that our provincial ban on isolate mail-order formation has been over-ruled by the new constitutions. Each community and Study Group should consider it their responsibility to care for isolated aspirants in their area who seek to enter our order.

Georgia

Fr. Jacek Szuster, pastor of St. Augustine’s, 211 N Pinetree Blvd in Thomasville, was appointed Assistant [on 14-Jan-05], to our OCDS Study Group that meets there each month. President John Puskar suggested changing the meeting time from the 3rd Sunday of the month to a weekday. “This will allow us more time together for pray, study time and meditation.”

As we begin a new triennium under a new pope, new Provincial, and newly elected local councils, we ask the Holy Spirit to guide us to live our Carmelite life for the benefit of our holy church. As you prepare to send your election results to Pat Darby, this would be a good time to update your membership roster. I would appreciate a copy of these rosters. I ask you to include birthdates (including the year, ladies!) 1st Promise and Definitive Promise dates for all professed members, and clothing dates for all novices. God bless our newly appointed secretaries.

Yours in Carmel,

Fr. John Michael Payne, OCD
Provincial delegate to OCDS