Tag Archives: Carmelite community

Carmelites celebrate feast day with novena, Mass, feast

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By Maureen Smith
JACKSON – The Carmelite Community welcomed visitors for a novena leading up to the Feast of Mount Carmel culminating with a special Mass on Sunday, July 15, at their monastery in South Jackson. Eight priests concelebrated and the chapel was packed with well-wishers.

After Mass, the Sisters welcomed their visitors to stay for a picnic on the grounds. Earlier this summer, several Knighs of Columbus Councils donated work days to clean the grounds and repair some of the facilities. The Carmelites have been in Jackson since 1951. The cloistered nuns devote their time to prayer for the Diocese of Jackson and operate a gift shop on their campus.
Their website includes a description of their community: “Our Carmelite calling is in the tradition of St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross. In the context of our troubled world, we are called to re-create a contemplative presence, integrating solitude and silence in an atmosphere of sisterly Communion.
“As directed by St. Teresa of Avila, our life is aimed toward service of the Mystical Body of Christ; through prayer and contemplation of the things of God we are spiritually sustained by solitude and a life of simplicity.”
There is a community of secular Carmelites attached to the Sisters. These are laypeople who dedicate themselves to the charism of St. Theresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross. Those interested in learning more about the secular Carmelite community can contact Sondra Powell at scppowell@aol.com.

Mississippi Knights of Columbus dedicate summer weekends to Carmelites

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By Brett Kenyon
JACKSON – On Saturday, June 9, several dozen men of varying ages, backgrounds, skill levels, and from multiple Mississippi parishes gathered in South Jackson. Armed with chain saws, hammers and paint brushes the local representatives of the Knights of Columbus began tackling a mammoth project — restoring the South Jackson Carmelite Monastery to help the cloistered nuns in their mission.
The inspiration for the project began at Easter, when Father Lincoln Dall of Pearl St. Jude led a retreat for the sisters. “While I was out here, they told me there was a lot of help that they needed,” Father Lincoln explained. “They showed me a gazebo and a prayer hermitage that had been damaged maybe 10-12 years ago, and had just been abandoned. They told me how much they would like to have those up and running again.”

JACKSON – Members of several different Knights of Columbus Councils repair the gazebo on the property of the Carmelite monastery as part of a restoration project. (photos by Brett Kenyon)

That was the moment the Knights of Columbus entered the picture. As an organization originally founded to help widows and children, the project was a perfect fit for the Mississippi Knights, and the men quickly began putting together a plan under the organization of Knight Victor (Vic) Gray-Lewis of Jackson Saint Richard’s council.
“We’re just a group of Catholic men who love our Catholic faith,” Gray-Lewis said. “We’re just worker bees. We’re worker bees and that’s what we’re here doing today.”
The first weekend of work tackled two primary goals — restoring the grounds by removing years of overgrowth from the monastery walls and paths, and restoring the sisters’ gazebo to a safer, sturdier state. The purpose of the work goes well beyond aesthetics, however, as well-maintained grounds are a vital part of the sisters’ mission.
“The Carmelites are a cloistered order of nuns,” explains Father Lincoln, “their primary charism is to pray; to pray for the area and be a presence of God in a special way to the city of Jackson. They run a gift shop to earn a living and to cover expenses, but their primary purpose is to be contemplative and to pray.”
The thick trees and brush covering the monastery walls and encroaching on the sisters’ walking path has been all but removed. The shingles and broken screens have been removed from the gazebo and fresh paint and tar paper have been applied. There’s still plenty of work left to do. The Knights have returned twice now since the initial June 9 project, and they plan to keep coming back.
“The hope is, we’d like to take this project and make it a monthly effort,” Gray-Lewis explained. “If each council could take a month to work on maintenance, something minor just to help out the sisters here. We could do a monthly rotation or maybe even a bi-monthly rotation.”
To volunteer, email Father Lincoln Dall at lincoln95@hotmail.com or Victor Gray-Lewis at victorg@vicksburg.org.
(Brett Kenyon is a member of Jacskon St Richard Parish and serves as the Creative Services Director for 16 WAPT in Jackson.).

St Joseph – praying for the church in his sleep

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By Sister Donna Marie Degnan, OCD
St. Joseph, Mary’s spouse, patron of workers and fathers, continues to offer his gifts to the church.

A common sleeping St. Joseph Statue. (Image courtesy of Fontanini Company)

A common sleeping St. Joseph Statue. (Image courtesy of Fontanini Company)

Before the birth of Jesus, God sent His angels down to St. Joseph to relay messages to him in his sleep. In his dreams, angels sent him heavenly messages about Mary, Jesus’ name, and warnings of the danger that Herod threatened. God sent these angels with messages to St. Joseph in the late hours as he slept, so that in the morning, Joseph could relay those messages and act to protect himself, Mary and Jesus.
Even today, God depends on St. Joseph to help relay messages and answer prayers. As a carpenter, St. Joseph learned the importance of concentration and perfection; a demonstration that we, too, must exhibit patience while waiting for our prayers to be answered. St. Joseph takes each prayer he receives seriously and works hard to relay them to God in order that they may be answered in a way that is beneficial for our salvation.

Pope Francis shows the sleeping posture of a statue of St. Joseph he keeps on his desk while giving a talk during a meeting with families in the Mall of Asia Arena in Manila, Philippines, Jan. 16. The pope spoke about his devotion to St. Joseph, foster-father of Jesus, and his practice of writing prayers on pieces of paper and slipping them under the statue so St. Joseph could sleep on them. (CNS photo/Paul Haring) See PHILIPPINES-MARRIAGE Jan. 16, 2015.

Pope Francis shows the sleeping posture of a statue of St. Joseph he keeps on his desk while giving a talk during a meeting with families in the Mall of Asia Arena in Manila, Philippines, Jan. 16. The pope spoke about his devotion to St. Joseph, foster-father of Jesus, and his practice of writing prayers on pieces of paper and slipping them under the statue so St. Joseph could sleep on them. (CNS photo/Paul Haring) See PHILIPPINES-MARRIAGE Jan. 16, 2015.

There is a sweet tradition of placing prayers under a statue of sleeping St. Joseph at night. The petitioner hopes for an answer to his or her prayers as they sleep.
Surprisingly, Pope Francis is a strong believer in God’s dependability on St. Joseph while he is sleeping. The Pope has his own wooden Sleeping St. Joseph figure that he keeps in his room. He spoke about it at the World Meeting of Families in the Philippines in 2015.
“I would like to tell you something very personal. I like St Joseph very much. He is a strong man of silence. On my desk I have a statue of St Joseph sleeping. While sleeping he looks after the church. Yes, he can do it!  We know that. When I have a problem or a difficulty, I write on a piece of paper and I put it under his statue so he can dream about it. This means please pray to St Joseph for this problem,” he said.
As Christmas approaches and families look for gifts and traditions to incorporate into their celebration of the holiday, it might be good to consider adding a devotion to St. Joseph to your Christmas.
(Sister Donna Marie Degnan, OCD, is a member of the Carmelite community in Jackson. This story also contains an excerpt from a Vatican Radio report.)

Carmelite community honors Blessed Mother

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Bishop Joseph Kopacz, center, flanked by Father Jeremy Tobin, OPraem (l-r), Abbot Tom DeWane, OPraem, and Bishop Emeritus Joseph Latino, celebrated Mass at the Carmelite monastery for the Feast of Mount Carmel, Sunday, July 20. (Photo by Elsa Baughman)

 

 

By Elsa Baughman
JACKSON – Sitting in their private area in the  small chapel of their monastery, five Carmelite Sisters attended the Eucharistic celebration in honor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Sunday, July 20.
About 50 people, among them secular Discalced Carmelites and Filipinos from Couples for Christ, joined the sisters for the evening Mass celebrated by Bishop Joseph Kopacz and concelebrated by Bishop Emeritus Joseph Latino, and Norbertines Abbot Thomas DeWane and Jeremy Tobin. Music was provided by the Jackson Community of Discalced Carmelite Seculars led by Dorothy Ashley and Betsy Carraway.
During the homily, Father DeWane saluted the Blessed Mother under the special title of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, since Carmelites look to the Virgin Mary as a spiritual mother. “The tradition of Carmel is an emphas is on the interior life, the life of contemplation, the life of recollection, the life of prayer,” he said.
He noted these gifts of contemplation, recollection and lives of prayer are graces that all of us are invited to partake of according to the circumstances of our lives. He ended his homily thanking the Carmelite Sisters for “so loyally carrying out their tradition day after day.”

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Sister Jane Agonoy, OCD, reads during Mass to mark the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel at the Carmelite monastary in Jackson. Bishop Joseph Kopacz celebrated the Mass.

Sara Weisenberger, a member of Gluckstadt St. Joseph, said the presence of the nuns is for the spiritual enrichment of the diocese.
“They pray for all our intentions and I don’t think we pay too much attention to them. I think we need to be more aware and appreciative of their prayer ministry, Weisneberger said.”
Evelin Shaker is a member of Jackson Christ the King Parish but frequently goes to the 7:30 a.m. Mass at the Carmelite Chapel. She said she wanted to attend the Mass to honor the sisters in their celebration.
The Carmelite Sisters have lived in the monastery located on Terry Road since 1951. For many years, the nuns have operated a gift shop filled with religious articles to help support themselves.