Secretary's letter

Letter from Pat Darby
Provincial Secretary for the Central Jurisdiction
2008-2011 Term

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Our new councils are in place, and in this edition there is the OCDS Provincial Directory to help acquaint you with all of them.

Included in the Directory, are the new members of the Provincial Council, those returning, as well as our newly re-elected, President, Elizabeth Korves.

Also, we welcome our new Provincial Delegate Fr. Bonaventure Sauer, OCD, who comes to his new responsibility with new ideas and a fresh beginning.

Let us ask God to send the Holy Spirit into our Province and bless this term of 2008-2011 with new vocations, especially to the First Order, and harmony and gratitude that we have all been blessed with this holy vocation to Carmelite spirituality.

We ask this through the intercession of our Blessed Mother, Patroness of our Order.

I thank those communities who promptly sent in their information on their new councils, their annual dues, and included their rosters.

There are still some subscribers who have not as yet sent in their annual fees, so with the newsletter, we will include a friendly "Did you forget?"

I understand some members have been unable to reach me through my AOL email
address, so I am including another address that you may use, if you have trouble with
AOL. Someday I'm going to leave those people!!

My Regular Email Address is:
jmjtj33@aol.com and the alternate is: darby3366@yahoo.com

also, please feel free to call me @ 214-495-0597
Address: 315 N. Greenville Ave., #1214 Allen, TX 75002-9146

15th REGIONAL OCDS CONGRESS

Carmelite Seculars - Bringing Light to the World
September 11 through September 14, 2008
Houston, TX

For Information and Questions jeannice.theriot@gmail.com

Here is something I found in an old journal of mine. Sorry to say, that I do not know the source, but it speaks to us of our vocation:

"Contemplation is God's supreme gift, which enables the soul to love Him beyond all words and all thoughts, beyond all specific acts, interior or exterior. It is just remaining loving God, and all creation in Him with the very love of God Himself... The more faithful a person is to his call to this contemplative charism, the greater and deeper will be his/her actual service to the people of God. "

May our good God help us all remain faithful to this great gift.

Your sister in Carmel,

Pat Darby ocds, Provincial Secretary

Secretary's report

Letter from Pat Darby
Provincial Secretary for the Central Jurisdiction

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

As we prepare to bid farewell to our outgoing councils, thanking them for their service, please join me in welcoming our new ones and praying that these next years will be ones of growth in our vocation and love for each other.

Let us ask God to send the Holy Spirit into our Province and bless us all with grace-filled elections. We ask this through the intercession of our Blessed Mother, Patroness of our Order.

Included in the printed edition of this newsletter is the form "2008-2011 Community Councils and Officers" on page 1.

PLEASE USE THIS FORM TO REPORT YOUR NEW COUNCILS AND MAIL IT TO THE CENTRAL OFFICE.

It is very important to include all the information on your Treasurers as I find that I correspond with them frequently and need all of the information requested.

ANNUAL DUES INFORMATION
Community Members $30
Isolates $30
Aspirants $12
Individual Subscribers $18

You may pro-rate these when necessary; however, please be very clear as to what you are paying.

IMPORTANT!
When sending in your community dues for the year, please state your Community Name and City where you meet.

Isolates:
You are to collect their dues and include those $$ amounts in your total check. Isolates should be listed by name and full address, and will be added to the subscription list and their newsletters will be mailed from the Central Office.

REMINDER:
Your Annual Financial Statement should accompany your check for Annual Dues and letter listing Isolates.

PLEASE MAKE YOUR CHECKS PAYABLE TO "OCDS"

and mail to the Central Office
Pat Darby, ocds
315 N. Greenville Avenue #1214
Allen, TX 75002-9146
Email Address: jmjtj33@aol.com
Phone: 214 495-0597

I prefer to receive communications from you by email, as I check my computer every day and am in and out during the day; however, if you do not have a computer, please feel free to call me and if I'm not in, I'll return your call.

My Thanks to those Communities who sent in Membership Rosters. That is very helpful, so include it if you can.

And let us all remember to PRAY FOR VOCATIONS! Our Friars need more help!!

Let us pray for each other that we grow in, as our Holy Mother teaches, Humility, Detachment, and Charity!

Today is the Solemnity of Epiphany and so I will close with this prayer from the Word Among Us:
"Jesus just as the Wise Men did, I kneel before you, gazing on your glory in the Eucharist. May I become a tabernacle of your mercy, shining your light everywhere I go."

Happy New Year!
Your Sister in Carmel,
Pat Darby, ocds Provincial Secretary

Secretary's letter

Letter from Pat Darby
Provincial Secretary
October 2007

Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Please remember to include in your daily prayers and also your Community's prayers the petition for more vocations to the priesthood in our Province. We have a dire need for friars in our (province. Quoting from Fr. John Michael’s Pastoral Letter in the Winter Flos Carmeli:

"The direst need in our province is personnel for our nuns and our friars. Our secular order has plenty of vocations. In fact, we have more than we can handle! The California Province has many students studying for the priesthood. We have only two... Please pray for vocations."

Please remember to send Martha Hanley your Memorials and items that you wish published.

Martha's email address is:
tnmhanley@yahoo.com

Send inquiries and requests for additions and/or corrections to the number of copies being received and all donations/dues to the

Central Office
Pat Darby
315 N Greenville Ave., #1214
Allen, TX 75002
jmjtj33@aol.com
214 495-0597

ANNUAL DUES
JANUARY 1, 2008

Members at the time of First Promise pay annual dues of $30
Isolates pay their annual dues of $30 to the Community to which they belong. That Community sends their names and addresses and dues to the Central Office for mailing of the Flos Carmeli and recording of their information.
Aspirants who wish to receive the Flos Carmeli pay $12.
Subscribers outside of our Province pay $18.00 per year. This has been increased
due to postage and printing expenses.

These dues may be pro-rated. Please identify all monies that you send to the Central Office by listing your Community Name and the city where you meet.

In closing, I would like to quote something from Community and Growth by Jean Vanier which I think is a beautiful definition of "Community."

"A Community is like an orchestra: each instrument is beautiful when it plays alone, but when they all play together, each given its own weight in turn, the result is even more beautiful. A community is like a garden full of flowers, shrubs and trees. Each helps to give life to the other. Together, they bear witness to the beauty of God creator and gardener-extraordinary."

Let us all pray together for more vocations and also for our coming Spring elections. May the Holy Spirit grant us the gift of many new and holy men to serve and new councils dedicated to the charisms of our treasured vocation.

--Pat Darby, Provincial Secretary

Secretary's letter

Letter from Pat Darby
Secretary for Central Jurisdiction

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Because of a serious and unexpected illness, I am today making an announcement that was to be made in the October issue of the Flos Carmeli:

I am happy to announce that Martha Hanley [left] of the Cedar Rapids Community will be the new Editor of the Flos Carmeli, beginning with this edition and forward.

I had asked Fr. John Michael and the Provincial Council to accept my resignation as Editor some time ago. They accepted it and approached Martha to accept the position which she did and was to begin in 2008. However, as you know, sometimes our plans don't work out as we expect.

Due to this unexpected illness, I was unable to prepare and mail the current Flos Carmeli and Martha agreed to take over early. I want to thank her for stepping up on such short notice.

I have done this blessed job for 15 years and felt it was time for someone else to have that privilege. It has truly been a joy and a gift for me over the years and I have learned much from it and loved doing it.

I will continue on as your Provincial Secretary, so all annual dues, financial statements, inquiries will continue to be sent to the Central Office as always: 215 N Greenville Ave # 1214, Allen TX 75002. My e-mail is jmjtj33@aol.com My illness is improving and I hope to be back to normal soon.

For questions regarding your newsletters, write Martha at tnmhanley@yahoo.com

For a list of the conferences of the 2007 Western Regional Congress held in the Seattle area, and ordering information, you can go to
http://congress.ocds.info/recordings.htm

Now, I will have the pleasure of looking forward to our Provincial Newsletter and reading it from cover to cover. Again, it has been a pleasure and joy to be your Editor. May the Holy Spirit inspire our new Editor.

Your sister in Carmel,
Pat Darby,
of the Good Sheperd, ocds