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 t
o 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
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 t
o 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
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