It is with great joy that we can announce that the Sisters’ plane tickets have been booked and that they will be arriving in Sydney NSW in early March.
Currently, plans are afoot for various public events, which we hope will include Holy Mass in Sydney and in Forbes in the week or so after their arrival. The Sisters will then make their way to the new Monastery in Mathoura and it is anticipated that there will be an opening Holy Mass in mid-March.
The Sisters who are travelling to the Wilcannia-Forbes Diocese to form the new Monastery come from a Carmelite order that can be traced back to a sixteenth century Spanish Carmelite Monastery founded by Saint Teresa of Jesus. Two daughter monasteries were established in Mexico. In 1927, the Community established a Carmel in California. Later, monasteries were founded in Nevada, then Nebraska, Pennsylvania and, most recently, in Idaho. The Most Reverend Columba Macbeth-Green OSPPE DD, Bishop of Wilcania-Forbes, invited the Sisters to establish a Carmelite Monastery and to continue their tradition in his diocese.
The four Sisters are fully professed, experienced nuns who have lived the monastic Carmelite life for many years: Mother Mariam Joseph, Sister Frances Teresa, Sister Maria of the Incarnation and Sister Juana Teresa of Jesus. Two of these were born and raised in Australia, so they have a particular joy in returning to their homeland after many years absence.
Their first Monastery in the Wilcannia-Forbes Diocese is a humble, quaint old cottage surrounded by trees on a few acres. Kangaroos, emus, magpies and cockatoos will be on hand to remind the Sisters that they are now part of Australia! Dust and shimmering heat will remind them to especially pray for those of the Diocese.
The primary mission of the Carmelite Order is to pray and offer oblation for the Church and the world. The Sisters live a life of poverty, entirely dependant on the generosity of others. With the formal opening of the new Monastery so close, now is a great time to set up a regularly weekly or monthly donation to assist with the Sisters’ ongoing upkeep. Details of how to make donations can be found here.
As always, please join with us in prayer for the new Foundation and, especially, that the sisters will enjoy a pleasant, uneventful journey to Australia.