THE GENERAL DELEGATION OF ISRAEL AND EGYPT 

Fr. Cyril Makker (Egypt) has been officially installed as the Parish Priest of our Haifa Parish, the >Latin Parish=, on 25^th November.

 

Our brother Carmelite Nilo Geagea (Lebanon, of the Roman Province) celebrated his 80^th anniversary of profession in our Haifa monastery (Stella Maris).   Frs. Arnaldo Pigna; Provincial of Rome, and Rocca Visca flew in for the celebrations.  In all two hundred people were there.  The Patriarch of Jerusalem presided at the Eucharist together with his auxiliary Bishops.

 

Last August, in our parish in Haifa, we celebrated the golden jubilee of the Patriarch, Michel Sabbah and his auxiliary, Mgr. Bathish.

 

The AStella Maris@ Project:  the District Council has accepted the Project and is now formerly asking the views of the public for a fixed period of sixty days.  Confirmation from the District Council ought to follow.

 

Having received the agreement from the Commission for Art and Architecture, our old Parish Church in Haifa can now be restored.  This Church is presently being used for worship by Jewish converts to Christianity.

 

Fr.Flavio, the Delegate and his Council opened our Priory, Me=ady, in Cairo on the 28^th November, which will be the formation house.  Frs. Antony, Elias (Lebanon) and Albert (Mexico) make up the community.

 

PARIS PROVINCE

 

An echo from the Extraordinary Definitory in Santiago, Chile.

 

Lisieux: The renovated house is ready to receive members of the Order who would like to join an international community as desired by the Extraordinary Definitory in Lisieux and recalled by Fr. General in Chile.  Provincials and Superiors who may be interested should first contact the Provincial of the Paris Province.  We trust in St. Therese of the Child Jesus to bring about such a community.  Other news: the 2005 de Lubac Prize was awarded to Mrs. Baiba Brudere on 25^th November in Rome, for her thesis: Le sacerdoce commun chez Thérèse of Lisieux, directed by Fr. Francois Marie Lethel ocd from the Teresianum (http://www.zenit.org/french/ : cf. 28^th November 2005).

Dijon: The year of AElizabeth@, will run from the Feast of the Trinity >06 to >07 (11^th June 2006-3rd June 2007), several events have already been planned.  The diocesan opening of the Year in Dijon will take place on 11^th June, presided by the local Archbishop, Mgr. Roand Minnerath.  Then the Carmelite opening will be on 17th-18th June, with a Eucharistic celebration with Mgr. John Sleiman, Archbishop of Bagdad, presiding, together with Fr. Luis Arostegui, our Fr. General.  Several talks are planned: Dijon, Paris, Venasque (11th-12th November 2006, organized by the Institute of St. John of the Cross, from the Avignon-Aquitaine Province - institut.jean-croix@carmel.asso.fr in collaboration with the Institute of Notre Dame de Vie).  We shall keep you informed. We recall the words of Fr. General in Chile, that everyone can organize a celebration A...with the goal of spreading and sharing the life and spiritual doctrine of Blessed Elizabeth@.  The official websites are: http://elisabeth-dijon.org or http://carmel.asso.fr/elisabeth. You will find in the latter the famous prayer of Elizabeth in 29 languages.

 

Bagdad: Fr. General informed us in Chile that we now have postulants in Bagdad. A Novitiate was officially opened there on the 15^th October and that 4 candidates are now in formation.  The situation continues to be tense and  insecure on many levels (thefts, murders, kidnaps, suicide bombers...)  Certain areas are full of Sunni Muslims who have chased out Shiites and others... The Christians of Iraq are preparing for Christmas and the visit of Fr. General and Fr. Robert Paul, one of the Definitors, to Bagdad last Christmas is still very fresh in their memories. Mgr. Sleiman, the Christian community, our brother Carmelites and the Iraqi people in general really deserve our support and prayers.

 

 

THE FOURTH CENTENARY CELEBRATIONS

OF OUR CARMELITE PRESENCE IN POLAND

 

With the letter of John Paul II of 14^th December 2004, addressed to Fr. Stephen Praskiewicz, the then Provincial of our Cracow Province (Osservatore Romano, Polish edition, 2005/2), began the year long celebrations of the Fourth Centenary of our presence in Poland, which ended on the solemnity of St. John of the Cross, this year, with the recital of his poetry and that of Karol Wojtyla (John Paul II), by a theatrical group in our Church in Cracow.  Throughout the year there  were many religious and cultural celebrations: in Wadowice our Fr. General inaugurated the work of the AJohn Paul II Centre of Spirituality@: in the National Sanctuary of Czestochowa, in the presence of those who live the Carmelite spirituality in Poland there was a day of thanksgiving for the presence and ministry of the Teresian Carmelites in the country, during which a letter from Fr. General was read out; there were symposiums on the impact of our Carmelite spirituality on the religious and spiritual formation of the Polish people, at Cracow University as well as our centre in Poznan; there were celebrations in the royal cathedral of Wawel in Cracow and in our house in the same city there was a thanksgiving Eucharist, presided by Polish Cardinals and Bishops. From 1^st May to 15^th August 2005 there was a pilgrimage in Poland with the relics of St. Therese of the Child Jesus, as a key part of the year long celebrations of our presence in this country.

 

We note that the Teresian Carmel in Poland, with its four centuries of history, today consists of two thriving Provinces (Cracow and Warsaw) with about 400 Religious. Congratulations. 

THE SCAPULAR OF JOHN PAUL II DONATED TO OUR CHURCH IN WADOWICE 

 

On the 23^rd November 2005 the scapular that John Paul II wore was donated to our Church in Wadowice, where Karol Wojtyla was born, at a formal ceremony attended by a large number of the faithful.  The precious relic was placed next to the altar of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, where the young Karol Wojtyla first received this Marian garment. The ceremony took place during a Eucharistic celebration presided by Fr. Albert Wach, the Provincial of Cracow.  The homily was preached by Fr. Stephen Praskiewicz, the ex-Provincial, who received the relic from the Personal Secretary of the deceased Pope, and who evoked among other things the Pope=s own words: AI always wear the scapular which I received on the day of my first holy communion from Fr. Silvester@ (cf. Communicationes 41, 15.4.2005).  Fr. John Grennan, the Provincial of the Anglo-Irish Province, was also present at the celebration. He greeted the entire assembly and spoke to them about St. Simon Stock and the origins of the scapular devotion.

 

NOTICES

 

We would like to inform the Provincials and the Carmelite Nuns that one year ago a new Prefect and Under Secretaries were nominated for the Congregation of the Institutes of Consecrated Life and the Societies of Apostolic Life (CIVCSVA).

 

The Prefect is no longer His Eminence Card. Edward Somalo, but His Eminence Mgr. Franc Rodé, C.M.

 

The new Under Secretaries are: Rev. Fr. Vincent Bertolone, M.S.P. and Rev. Sister Henriette Rosanna, F.M.A.

 

Could the Provincials communicate this to all those who do not have access to the Internet; we are still getting mail addressed to the former Prefect and Secretaries, which does not speak well for the Order...

 

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