winter 2006 Flos Carmeli
Provincial Delegate’s Pastoral Letter
Visitations
Visitations of our provincial groups and communities began last March with Birmingham, Alabama. Fr. John Michael and Provincial councilor Pascal Alfano made the visitation. They are shown in this photograph with Donna Lowe who was appointed Director of Formation for the new group in Madison near Huntsville AL.
In June, Provincial Councillor Gerald Alford made visitation of Baton Rouge. He is shown here with former president, Henrietta Albright, New president Paul Sandau, Councillors Barbara Kahn, Carolyn Dupry and Formation director Frances Locker. Elizabeth Korves visited New Orleans in June. In July Provincial Councillor Nancy Thompson visited Austin and Georgetown Texas. Pascal Alfano visited Vidalia LA. In August Provincial Councillor Amelia Wilken visited Alexandria LA and Jackson MS. Also in August, Gerald Alford visited McAllen and Kileen Texas. I have been processing these visitation reports with the Provincial Council, and they are now ready to be sent out to the local Councils.
Visitation was made in September of Waco and San Antonio by Elizabeth Korves, Knoxville TN in October by Gerald Alford. Pascal Alfano was scheduled to visit DeRidder LA and Thomasville Georgia last fall, but had to cancel when hurricane Katrina wiped out his home in New Orleans. Gerald Alford has since visited DeRidder, and the last news report I received from Thomasville was last March, so I don’t know what’s going on there. I think Amelia might try and visit them this year. Elizabeth Korves made visitation of Atlanta and Lawrenceville Georgia in November, and Nancy Thompson visited Mobile in November. These fall visitation reports are still being processed witrh the Provincial Council.
Georgia
Visitation by Nancy Thompson. At the request of the Visitator and of President Paul Schubert, on 29-Nov-05 I appointed Fr. James Coleman spirtual Assistant to our group in Mobile.
Louisiana
The newly elected council of our 100 member Lafayette OCDS Community read our Provincial Statute VII: ”Communities are encouraged to limit their size in order to maintain a strong sense of intimacy within the community. The more the members know one another and share with one another, the greater the opportunity to love one another.” They then met with the Provincial Councillors present at the New Orleans workshop in June to work out details of how to split the community. The first thing they did after returning home from that meeting was to enlist the help of the Christian Brothers to host the new community to be formed from the old which meets at our Nuns’ Monastery. The Nuns had made it know they were unable to host more than one OCDS meeting per month. Fr. Bertrand, their Assistant, offered to serve both communities. It was decided to have both meetings held at the same time and on the same day to make it easier on Father. The two communities could simply stagger their conference times. Since the Christian Brothers live right down the street from our Nuns, those who car-pool to the meeting would be able to continue unaffected by the split.
The split of the community was made at the August meeting: 43 members remain at the nuns, and 43 members will form the new community. At the November meeting the new group chose as their community patron, “St Joseph, Guardian of Carmel.” On 14-Dec-05, the Bishop of Lafayette gave his permission for a second OCDS community to be formed in his diocese, and Our Fr. General erected the new community on Christmas Day 2005.
Our Provincial Council prefers a more leisurely transition when a new community is formed. The new group needs to meet for about a year to truly get to know one another and meld into a true community. We made an exception in this case, with the approval of our General delegate in Rome. We have never had anything like this happen before in our province, where a community split right down the middle: the council was split, those in formation were split, everything right down the middle. Since this was not the traditional forming of a new community from a mother community, the regular slower pace of transition did not seem to apply. We congratulate the two Lafayette communities for taking this difficult journey, and wish them many blessings as they get to know one another better in their new smaller communities.
R.I.P.
Many are still missing from the August hurricane Katrina. Two of our Carmelites whom we know drowned are Marion Stearns from Chalmette, a low lying suburb of New Orleans, and Nancy Murphy from Bay St Louis MS. “Nancy served as councillor to our Gulf Coast community from 2002-05. She did not evacuate and was drowned when her home flooded," reports the President of our Mississippi Gulf Coast community.
Marion Sterns
Marion Beckendorf Stearns, a homemaker and business owner, passed away on Monday, August 29, 2005, due to Hurricane Katrina. Marion made her profession as a Carmelite on 25-Jan-92, and took her definitive Promise 19-Sep-99. She leaves behind her husband Arthur and children Shelley, Scott, Shandra, Shad and Stephen. Marion had five grandchildren. She was a parishioner of St Mark’s in Chalmette. The family finally got her body at the end of November, and had her wake and funeral Mass at Our Lady of Prompt Succor in Westwago on Saturday December 3rd. Seven members of our OCDS community attended, led the rosary and litany of Loretto. They were asked by her husband to sing the Salve Regina at the Mass. The priest mentioned Carmel many times in his homily.
Andrew Garay
The family of Dr. Andrew Steven Garay sorrowfully announces his death on October 10, at the age of 79. Andrew was born in Pecs, Hungary, the fourth of seven children born to Lajos and Irma Garay. He was educated in Budapest, Hungary, and was elected to the Hungarian Academy of Science. He was head of the Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics of the Hungarian Academy of Science in Szeged, Hungary, until 1975, when he immigrated to the United States with his family and settled in College Station, Texas.
He served as a professor of biochemistry and biophysics at Texas A&M University until his retirement in 1994, when he was honored by the University with Professor Emeritus status. He participated in the U.S. Department of State Fulbright Program in Hungary from 1994 to 1995. He had great fondness for his many students over the years. Andrew taught at academic institutions around the world and published many articles in English, German, and Hungarian in scientific, religious and philosophical journals. His principal research interest was the origin of life.
Andrew was a founding member of St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church in College Station, a member of the local Word of Lite community, and a member of the Secular Order of our Lady of Mount Carmel, under the name of Andrew of Jesus Crucified. He was the first president of the Brazos Valley Symphony Orchestra.
He is survived by his wife of 37 years, Margit Garay, children, and 13 grandchildren.
A memorial Mass was held Oct 14, at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church in College Station. Andrew's remains will be placed in the Garay family crypt in Pecs, Hungary…
--obit from Bryan’s College Station Eagle, 13-Oct-05
It was the Edith Stein’s feast day (Aug 9th) when we buried Mattie Wright in Calvary cemetery in Little Rock. She had died 30-Jul-05 in California where she had gone to live with her daughter in her old age. Her son Clemon was joined by her daughters Anne and Sarah for the simple burial service in the family plot in south Little Rock. Fr. Richard SVD, pastor of the parish where she raised her children, conducted the service along with Fr. John Michael, who as provincial delegate, represented her Carmelite family. Other Carmelites in attendance were Formation Director Mary Armstrong, Councillor Ginger Crews, treasurer Grace Wrape, secretary Tricia Cromwell, and Adelaide Newton.
Mattie had said to her youngest daughter Sarah, “I want you to preach at my funeral.” She chose wisely. Sarah said, “We honor her by living lives of honesty, integrity and righteousness.” Mattie was a woman of color who joined this lily white community of Carmelites in Little Rock when she was 70. Race was never an issue with Mattie. She had risen above all such barriers that still run deep in people of her age who live in the South. She was truly a woman of the world, who avoided extremes, and stood tall as a woman of faith and prayer, not lacking in the wisdom that shines forth in the children of God. Mattie made her OCDS profession on 02-Jun-84 and her Definitive Promise on 08-Aug-87. It was the most beautiful red wood casket I have seen in years. She passed on from us with grace and dignity. The following Saturday, our Little Rock OCDS Community attended Mass for Mattie prior to our community meeting at the nuns.
Visitations
Visitations of our provincial groups and communities began last March with Birmingham, Alabama. Fr. John Michael and Provincial councilor Pascal Alfano made the visitation. They are shown in this photograph with Donna Lowe who was appointed Director of Formation for the new group in Madison near Huntsville AL.
In June, Provincial Councillor Gerald Alford made visitation of Baton Rouge. He is shown here with former president, Henrietta Albright, New president Paul Sandau, Councillors Barbara Kahn, Carolyn Dupry and Formation director Frances Locker. Elizabeth Korves visited New Orleans in June. In July Provincial Councillor Nancy Thompson visited Austin and Georgetown Texas. Pascal Alfano visited Vidalia LA. In August Provincial Councillor Amelia Wilken visited Alexandria LA and Jackson MS. Also in August, Gerald Alford visited McAllen and Kileen Texas. I have been processing these visitation reports with the Provincial Council, and they are now ready to be sent out to the local Councils.Visitation was made in September of Waco and San Antonio by Elizabeth Korves, Knoxville TN in October by Gerald Alford. Pascal Alfano was scheduled to visit DeRidder LA and Thomasville Georgia last fall, but had to cancel when hurricane Katrina wiped out his home in New Orleans. Gerald Alford has since visited DeRidder, and the last news report I received from Thomasville was last March, so I don’t know what’s going on there. I think Amelia might try and visit them this year. Elizabeth Korves made visitation of Atlanta and Lawrenceville Georgia in November, and Nancy Thompson visited Mobile in November. These fall visitation reports are still being processed witrh the Provincial Council.
Georgia
Visitation by Nancy Thompson. At the request of the Visitator and of President Paul Schubert, on 29-Nov-05 I appointed Fr. James Coleman spirtual Assistant to our group in Mobile.
Louisiana
The newly elected council of our 100 member Lafayette OCDS Community read our Provincial Statute VII: ”Communities are encouraged to limit their size in order to maintain a strong sense of intimacy within the community. The more the members know one another and share with one another, the greater the opportunity to love one another.” They then met with the Provincial Councillors present at the New Orleans workshop in June to work out details of how to split the community. The first thing they did after returning home from that meeting was to enlist the help of the Christian Brothers to host the new community to be formed from the old which meets at our Nuns’ Monastery. The Nuns had made it know they were unable to host more than one OCDS meeting per month. Fr. Bertrand, their Assistant, offered to serve both communities. It was decided to have both meetings held at the same time and on the same day to make it easier on Father. The two communities could simply stagger their conference times. Since the Christian Brothers live right down the street from our Nuns, those who car-pool to the meeting would be able to continue unaffected by the split.
The split of the community was made at the August meeting: 43 members remain at the nuns, and 43 members will form the new community. At the November meeting the new group chose as their community patron, “St Joseph, Guardian of Carmel.” On 14-Dec-05, the Bishop of Lafayette gave his permission for a second OCDS community to be formed in his diocese, and Our Fr. General erected the new community on Christmas Day 2005.
Our Provincial Council prefers a more leisurely transition when a new community is formed. The new group needs to meet for about a year to truly get to know one another and meld into a true community. We made an exception in this case, with the approval of our General delegate in Rome. We have never had anything like this happen before in our province, where a community split right down the middle: the council was split, those in formation were split, everything right down the middle. Since this was not the traditional forming of a new community from a mother community, the regular slower pace of transition did not seem to apply. We congratulate the two Lafayette communities for taking this difficult journey, and wish them many blessings as they get to know one another better in their new smaller communities.
R.I.P.
Many are still missing from the August hurricane Katrina. Two of our Carmelites whom we know drowned are Marion Stearns from Chalmette, a low lying suburb of New Orleans, and Nancy Murphy from Bay St Louis MS. “Nancy served as councillor to our Gulf Coast community from 2002-05. She did not evacuate and was drowned when her home flooded," reports the President of our Mississippi Gulf Coast community.
Marion Sterns
Marion Beckendorf Stearns, a homemaker and business owner, passed away on Monday, August 29, 2005, due to Hurricane Katrina. Marion made her profession as a Carmelite on 25-Jan-92, and took her definitive Promise 19-Sep-99. She leaves behind her husband Arthur and children Shelley, Scott, Shandra, Shad and Stephen. Marion had five grandchildren. She was a parishioner of St Mark’s in Chalmette. The family finally got her body at the end of November, and had her wake and funeral Mass at Our Lady of Prompt Succor in Westwago on Saturday December 3rd. Seven members of our OCDS community attended, led the rosary and litany of Loretto. They were asked by her husband to sing the Salve Regina at the Mass. The priest mentioned Carmel many times in his homily.
Andrew Garay
May 20, 1926 – October 10, 2005
The family of Dr. Andrew Steven Garay sorrowfully announces his death on October 10, at the age of 79. Andrew was born in Pecs, Hungary, the fourth of seven children born to Lajos and Irma Garay. He was educated in Budapest, Hungary, and was elected to the Hungarian Academy of Science. He was head of the Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics of the Hungarian Academy of Science in Szeged, Hungary, until 1975, when he immigrated to the United States with his family and settled in College Station, Texas.
He served as a professor of biochemistry and biophysics at Texas A&M University until his retirement in 1994, when he was honored by the University with Professor Emeritus status. He participated in the U.S. Department of State Fulbright Program in Hungary from 1994 to 1995. He had great fondness for his many students over the years. Andrew taught at academic institutions around the world and published many articles in English, German, and Hungarian in scientific, religious and philosophical journals. His principal research interest was the origin of life.
Andrew was a founding member of St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church in College Station, a member of the local Word of Lite community, and a member of the Secular Order of our Lady of Mount Carmel, under the name of Andrew of Jesus Crucified. He was the first president of the Brazos Valley Symphony Orchestra.He is survived by his wife of 37 years, Margit Garay, children, and 13 grandchildren.
A memorial Mass was held Oct 14, at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church in College Station. Andrew's remains will be placed in the Garay family crypt in Pecs, Hungary…
--obit from Bryan’s College Station Eagle, 13-Oct-05
Mattie Wright
Mattie Cornelius Wright, 1912-2005
Little Rock Community
Little Rock Community
It was the Edith Stein’s feast day (Aug 9th) when we buried Mattie Wright in Calvary cemetery in Little Rock. She had died 30-Jul-05 in California where she had gone to live with her daughter in her old age. Her son Clemon was joined by her daughters Anne and Sarah for the simple burial service in the family plot in south Little Rock. Fr. Richard SVD, pastor of the parish where she raised her children, conducted the service along with Fr. John Michael, who as provincial delegate, represented her Carmelite family. Other Carmelites in attendance were Formation Director Mary Armstrong, Councillor Ginger Crews, treasurer Grace Wrape, secretary Tricia Cromwell, and Adelaide Newton.
Mattie had said to her youngest daughter Sarah, “I want you to preach at my funeral.” She chose wisely. Sarah said, “We honor her by living lives of honesty, integrity and righteousness.” Mattie was a woman of color who joined this lily white community of Carmelites in Little Rock when she was 70. Race was never an issue with Mattie. She had risen above all such barriers that still run deep in people of her age who live in the South. She was truly a woman of the world, who avoided extremes, and stood tall as a woman of faith and prayer, not lacking in the wisdom that shines forth in the children of God. Mattie made her OCDS profession on 02-Jun-84 and her Definitive Promise on 08-Aug-87. It was the most beautiful red wood casket I have seen in years. She passed on from us with grace and dignity. The following Saturday, our Little Rock OCDS Community attended Mass for Mattie prior to our community meeting at the nuns.
--Fr. John Michael Payne, OCD
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