Carmelites worldwide honour founder

BRISBANE’S discalced Carmelite community of contemplative women remembered the 500th birthday of their order’s founder, St Teresa of Avila, last week.

This October commences the 500th anniversary year since the Spanish foundress of the reformed, or discalced, Carmelites was born.

Discalced Carmelite friar Fr Greg Burke, from the Varoville community, celebrated  a thanksgiving Mass on October 19.

Fr Burke said the next year was a time to thank God for inspiring St Teresa of Avila’s boldness and courage in starting what was then seen as a revolutionary move in the Church in the 1500s.

St Teresa of Avila championed for women in the Church at a time when women’s gifts were not highly regarded in society and among Catholic clergy.

Encouraging women to live in enclosed communities helped to empower women and offer them specific ways to pray for the wider Church.

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1. Happy sacrifice: The Carmelite Sisters in Ormiston have decided to forgo daily Mass to be spiritually united with Catholics who cannot go to Mass because of the pandemic. Photo: Emilie Ng.

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