CARMELITE INSTITUTE Newsletter 
Winter 2007

THE FORMATION OF FORMATORS

The “week-end” style pilot retreat program (an educational program for Carmelites in charge of formation) presented in Redlands, California, on January 10-12, 2006 was a successful endeavor. The 31 participants, including the two presenters and the Executive Director, was the ideal group number.

Crucifix in the Chapel of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel at El Carmelo Retreat House. View of the Sierra Madre Mountains.

The outcome of all first-time programs has two distinctive components that help assess the program. First, there are those activities that confirm the value and success of the program. Second, new lessons become known during the program and through the participant’s evaluations. The information and insights from the latter sources help improve the agenda for the program and naturally, this pilot retreat was not exempt from either of these components.

After reviewing the evaluations we determined that this program was of great assistance to those responsible for the formation classes in their communities. There is a place in the immediate future for this program in Carmel, particularly the O.C.D.S. and T.O.Carm. communities. We also recognized the need for an educational segment to present techniques to help formators with the planning and methodology to teach topics satisfactorily.

We are re-organizing the original agenda, incorporating new activities, and expanding the time of the retreat by one day. We will take the program to the mid-west and the east coast and offer it again in the spring and fall of 2008 respectively. The number of participants will be kept at 30 people to maximize the quality of the group discussions and the general interaction of the diverse members of the Carmelite family. Information will be available in the fall of 2007 and my hope is that we will meet the needs of our formation teams.

I thank the staff, the friars, our speakers, and the members of the OCDS West Covina community for all their help in making this retreat such a memorable experience. El Carmelo Retreat House was the ideal location    for our first program.

Mary E. Rodríguez-Harrington, O.C.D.S.

 

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celebrating 800 years of our rule   
 

As we greet the new year of 2007, Carmelites all over the world are looking forward to beginning the celebration of 800 years of Carmelite life!  Albert of Vercelli approved the Carmelite Rule sometime between 1206 and 1214, and the Church has never been the same since then. Carmelites have been the Lord’s own blessing to every age, as we try to remind our fellow Christians that “the Kingdom of God is right here among us.” 

And yet our contemporary world seems more wracked with war, violence, and hatred than ever before. Can we do anything about it? I earnestly hope so. Whenever people ask “What are Carmelites good for?”, we need answer in deeds, not words. Our unique gifts to the Church include a reflective silence and solitude, simplicity of life, prayerful dialogue with God, and a personal confrontation with evil, wherever we find it. 

How do we confront that struggle? Plan to join us this summer for our Carmelite Institute Conference.  We’ll be meeting (July 25-29, 2007) in Warwick, Rhode Island, where our theme will be The Prophetic Dimension of the Carmelite Rule. Please make an extra effort to follow in the footsteps of the first hermits of Carmel, who withdrew from the violence of the Crusades to embrace Elijah’s struggle against unfaithfulness. Our speakers will illustrate how Carmelites of many centuries have spoken and lived the truth, in some cases even at the price of their own lives.  

The Carmelite Institute exists to support you and the normal things that Carmelites do to make our world a more loving, life-giving, and prayerful place. We live to promote prayer, community, and service. Please remember that we want to be a part of your learning, growth, and formation as men and women who follow Jesus in the Carmelite way. Let us know how we can help you.

You can help us too!  We have books, videotapes and audiocassettes, and distance education courses that show the richness of our tradition.  By making use of our resources, you help spread the message of Carmel. And as we anticipate the move to a new office during this coming year, we’d also like to reduce our “inventory” as much as possible, so that we have less to move. If you can help us clear our storage shelves of some of these valuable items, we would be ever so grateful.  Visit us at www.carmeliteinstitute.org and see what we are all about.

Carmelites have enriched the Christian family, which we call the Church, for 800 years. We stand on the shoulders of spiritual giants, as we strive to follow their example in our own day. As we offer our prayers of gratitude to God for the gift of a new year, let’s resolve together to make it a time of grace and reconciliation for all people. May Our Lord bless you and Our Lady keep you in the New Year.

Leopold Glueckert, O.Carm.
 

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Distance education
Our Graduate from Spring 2006

Linda Miller converted to the Catholic faith in the spring of 1986 after reading the life of Teresa of Jesus (Hmmm, like Edith Stein!). On 1 October of that year she entered the secular order and made her final vows on 1 October 1993 at San Jose in Avila, Spain, which is Saint Teresa’s first foundation of the reform of Carmel. She is a past president of the Indianapolis OCDS community of which she has been a member for twenty years. Linda is also an active member of the Association of Contemplative Sisters.

Linda Miller, O.C.D.S.

Recently, Linda celebrated her 10th anniversary at AmeriChoice where she works as a benefit advocate for the Medicaid program for the state of Indiana which includes the Hoosier Healthwise Program for children, mothers, and expectant mothers and the Medicaid Select Program for the elderly and disabled. Her background is in social work and psychology and Linda had worked for 22 years in children’s services investigating abuse and neglect cases among the multiple responsibilities assigned to her.

When Linda read the Carmelite Institute’s distance education listing she realized that studying the courses would allow her to deepen her prayer life and grow spiritually. She enjoyed her interaction with the instructors of the program and said that the additional comments and information they wrote on her papers were “every bit as rich and helpful to me as the work that I did.” Linda further reflected on her experience in the program and concluded that, “looking back on what was indeed a lot of hard work I have to say that more than ever before I feel so privileged to be a part of Carmel.”

So Linda, may you who also love animals, traveling, and reading, be blessed with many more anniversaries with us in Carmel.

Mary E. Rodríguez-Harrington, O.C.D.S.

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Thank you Mike Wastag, O.Carm., for serving as secretary for the Institute. Sr. Lois Ann Wetzel, O.Carm., and Dianne Massiello. T.O.Carm., thank you for your service as members of the Board of Directors for two terms. God bless the three of you and we hope our paths will meet again soon.

 

 

Fall 2006 students at WTU "Peter" AHN SEUNG KWAN Korean Diocesan Priest JOHN HERTEL, O.CARM. PCM sabbatical studies DANIEL NOEL ROSAS, O.CARM. Philippines sabbatical studies JEFF SMIALEK, O.CARM. PCM student at Whitefriars ENRIQUE VARELA-NUNGARAY, O.CARM. PCM student at Whitefirars

 

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in memoriam The Reverend Ernest Larkin, O.Carm. August 19, 1922   ~  October 26, 2006

Eulogy for Ernest Larkin, O. Carm.
Wake Service, October 29, 2006, Phoenix, Arizona

A Man of Prayer

 I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you,
Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one. John  7:11

Thus did Jesus pray his priestly prayer at the Last Supper. This passage from John’s gospel reminds us, I believe, of Father Ernest Larkin who has left us for his Father’s house.

My dear family and friends of Father Ernest, and not least of all, his much loved Carmelite brothers, Ernie has not left us orphans. But, like Jesus, Ernie has left us a legacy, not of stocks and bonds, but of a priestly Carmelite life lived to the full. He worked ceaselessly throughout his life to foster in us bonds of love, of friendship and community. Ernie left us in the hands of the Holy Spirit who will continue Ernie’s ministry among us. Ernie’s work is done; he has gone ahead of us showing us what it means to live a committed life of love and ministry with faith, hope and love.   

Ernie has done his job well. This evening one can sense the bond of love and friendship that Ernie fostered among us. We shall need that bond as we mourn the loss of Ernie, the son of Helen and Clement Larkin, brother uncle, great uncle, fellow Carmelite to many worldwide, spiritual guide to countless directees and to all of us a dear and faithful friend.

In these capacities Ernie has been God’s gift to us. Ernie now shares in Trinitarian love with his much loved parents, his cherished sister Mary and the deceased Carmelite brothers to whom he was so devoted. On the back of the door to Ernie’s room at Saint Agnes hangs a collection of the remembrance cards of his beloved Carmelites, family and friends. He remembered each of them with love whenever he left his room. Family, friends and Carmelites meant the world to Ernie, and is it not impossible to imagine Ernie Larkin as anything other than a Carmelite and a priest?

Ernie’s accomplishments were numerous: degrees, awards, and a host of recognitions, too many to enumerate this evening. Yet, this evening I shall focus on what Ernie was at his very best. Fittingly as a Carmelite, Ernie was a man of prayer. Throughout his life Ernie studied prayer in the Carmelite tradition. Think of Mary Magdalen de’ Pazzi, Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, the Touraine Reform, Thérèse of Lisieux and his beloved Titus Brandsma. Indeed, Ernie studied other traditions: Ignatian, Charismatic, Centering Prayer, and for some long time now the Christian Meditation of John Main.

Ernie’s last book on prayer and meditation will appear in February at a National Conference in Phoenix, a Conference on meditation at which Ernie was to be the keynote speaker. He shall be much missed at this conference as elsewhere.   

Ernie studied, taught and wrote about prayer but most of all Ernie prayed, faithfully, simply, without show.  Ernie believed firmly, out of his Carmelite tradition, that contemplation as God’s loving presence, in some form, is what we can expect if we are faithful to prayer. This past June at the annual summer seminar on Carmelite Spirituality Ernie preached at a Eucharist that celebrated the sixtieth anniversary of his ordination as a Carmelite priest. In his homily at this Eucharist Ernie repeated several times his firmly held conviction: “Pray and God will come.”  Ernie’s intimacy with God gives that promise an authentic ring.

Ernie prayed with what his lifelong friend Roland Murphy called a leb somea, a listening heart, (1 Kings 3:9) a heart become wise with the wisdom that comes from fidelity to prayer. Ernie knew too that a commitment to prayer would render one’s heart compassionate and loving because prayer, in the beginning and in the end, is all about love. 

Ernie confided to me and, I am sure to others, that for him the turning point in his life of prayer was a commitment to a deep personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

Ernie knew that to follow Christ, or as the Carmelites say, to live a life of allegiance to Christ, is to become fully human. As a young priest in Rome Ernie studied Thomas Aquinas. He learned from Aquinas that God wants everyone to flourish humanly. Has not each and everyone of us experienced Ernie as one very decent and even charming human being who brought cheer and good karma—what Aristotle called the virtue of eutrapelia, wherever he lived in community, in friendship and, oh, so often in fun? Our Ernie loved a party.

Today and for many days to come we shall remember Ernie Larkin, gentle giant and yet so strong. To remember is to hope, to hope because what God accomplished in Ernie, God can accomplish in us.

Thank you, Lord, for the gift you have given us in Father Ernest Larkin. Each of us, I am sure, harbors the hope that we shall be as ready, as was Ernie, to hear the words of his mentor John of the Cross: “In the evening of life you will be examined in love.”     

Finally, each of us can say: Adios, mi hermano, mi amigo. Ernie, we bid you not farewell; rather, we bid you fare forward into God’s embrace.         

 

Keith J. Egan, T. O.Carm.

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a Dynamic duo at WTU! 

David Centner, O.C.D.

David J. Centner, O.C.D., is one of the members of the adjunct faculty at Washington Theological Union. He is currently teaching the course St. Teresa of Avila, Mystic and Doctor. It is offered by the union and is part of the program of Carmelite Studies, which is co-sponsored by the WTU and the Carmelite Institute. Dave is a graduate of the University of San Francisco and of the Teresianum, Rome. He holds a doctorate in theology with a specialization in spirituality. After completing his doctoral work in 1978, he expected to spend years teaching. Instead, he was called upon to use his talents in many unexpected ways. He has been on the staff Generalate of the Discalced Carmelites in Rome, has worked in a mental hospital, has opened a retreat house in Kenya, worked in formation in California, lectured extensively as a member of a pastoral institute of spirituality, and given retreats in Europe, America, and Africa. Here in Washington he serves as associate editor of Spiritual Life, the award-winning magazine of the Washington Province of the Discalced Carmelites. He says that he is happy to be back in the classroom after an absence of 24 years from teaching. In addition to his official duties, he finds time to exercise creativity as a writer, bread baker, and textile artist. Asked what he wants most to accomplish through these different venues of ministry, he replies simply: “I hope that everything I do may help to make Jesus known and loved. St. Teresa wanted to be a good friend of Jesus and to draw other friends to him. I can’t think of a more wonderful goal in life. And like Teresa, I count on Our Lady, whom we in Carmel invoke as both our Mother and our Sister, to guide me. And with so many real friends of Christ among my brothers and sisters in Carmel to help me on the way, I trust that this hope of mine will not be in vain.”

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Marc Foley, O.C.D., began teaching in the fall semester of 2005. David Center, O.C.D., joined the team in the spring semester of 2006.

This coming January 2007 Leopold Glueckert, O.Carm., will begin teaching history courses in the program.

 

Marc Foley, O.C.D.

Marc Foley is a Discalced Carmelite priest. He entered the Carmelites in 1967 as a lay brother. After several years, he discerned a call to ordained ministry, whereupon he began his studies for the priesthood at Catholic University in Washington, D.C., where he earned a B.A. in Psychology, graduated Psi Chi, Phi Beta Kappa and was voted the Outstanding Psychology Major of his graduating class. Continuing his education at Catholic University, he received a Master’s of Divinity. Upon ordination in 1981, he served as assistant pastor for four years in St. Florian’s parish in Milwaukee, WI. He was then transferred to Washington, D.C., where he served as the rector of formation from 1985-1992. During this time he earned a M.S. and CAS in Pastoral Counseling at Loyola College in Columbia, Maryland and was a therapist in private practice at both his residence and the pastoral center at Georgetown University. In 1993, his province decided to move the Carmelite House of Studies to Chicago. Fr. Marc and two other friars were assigned to this task. For the next seven years, he served as formation director and house superior.   

Since ordination, he has been involved in giving lectures and retreats throughout the country to both lay and religious groups on the works of St. John of the Cross, St. Thérèse of Lisieux and St. Teresa of Avila. 

Currently, he teaches courses on St. John of the Cross and St. Thérèse of Lisieux at the Washington Theological Union in Washington, D.C., gives retreats, does spiritual direction and is an active member of  The Institute of Carmelite Studies. Fr. Marc is the author of several books on Carmelite spirituality, including The Love That Keeps us Sane: Living the Little Way of St. Thèrése of Lisieux, A Study Guide of The Story of a Soul by St. Thèrése of Lisieux, John of the Cross: The Ascent to Joy, The Path of Merciful Love: 99 Sayings by St. Thérèse of Lisieux and A Season of Rebirth:Daily Lenten Reflections based upon the Lectionary. He has recently completed The Context of Holiness: Psychological and Spiritual Reflections on the Life of St. Thérèse of Lisieux and is currently working on The Ascent of Mount Carmel: A Reader’s Companion.

SPRING 2006 GATHERING AT WHITEFRIARS HALL


Back row: Mary Lou Cereghino, O.C.D.S.; Mary Harrington, O.C.D.S.; Dianne Massiello, T.O.Carm.;
Mary Margaret Yascolt, O.C.D.; Kieran Kavanaugh, O.C.D.; Tim Ennis, O.Carm.; Judy Murray, O.C.D.;
Michael Kissane, O.Carm.; Susanne Treis, O.C.D.S.; David Centner, O.C.D.; Phillip Thomas, O.C.D.;
Colette Ackerman, O.C.D.; Lois Ann Wetzel, O.Carm.; Connie FitzGerald, O.C.D.; Peter Lillian Di Maria, O.Carm,;
and Jan Sengers, O.C.D.S.  Front row: Gregory Ross, O.C.D.; Leopold Glueckert, O.Carm.; John Horan, O.Carm.;
Marc Foley, O.C.D.; and Mary Clare Trolley, O.C.D.  Missing in the photograph is Jack Welch, O.Carm.