The links below will help you find a Secular Carmelite Community near you in the United States.
If you live in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, there are three Secular Carmelite Communities.
Two podcast episodes about discerning a call to Carmel
- A Call to Carmel as an OCDS with Colleen Sollinger, OCDS
- Testing and Discerning a Vocation to the Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites with Colleen Sollinger, OCDS
What is the Discalced Carmelite Secular Order?
Discalced Carmelite Seculars are members of the Carmelite family of the 16th-century reform of St. Teresa of Jesus. Discalced means shoeless. St. Teresa's followers wore sandals rather than shoes, a practice which distinguished them from Carmelites of the Ancient Observance. These followers are present in the modern world as friars, enclosed nuns, and Seculars.
Who are we?
Discalced Carmelite Seculars come from all walks of life, from every level of education and from every type of work. They are Catholic laypersons over the age of 18 (married or unmarried) or ordained diocesan priests or deacons. There are more than 45,000 Discalced Carmelite Seculars worldwide and more than 6,000 in the United States. They gather in canonically erected communities or recognized study groups under the guidance and leadership of the order.
What is the foundation of Carmelite life?
The following principles of the Rule of Saint Albert, written for the hermits on Mount Carmel in the 13th century, guide Carmelite life today:
- Living in allegiance to Jesus Christ
- Being diligent in meditating on the law of the Lord
- Giving time to spiritual reading
- Participating in the liturgy of the Church, both the Eucharist and the Liturgy of the Hours
- Arming themselves with the practice of the virtues
- Seeking interior silence and solitude
- Using prudent discretion in all that they do.
What is required of Discalced Carmelite Seculars?
The Secular's obligations can be summarized by the 6 M's:
1. Meditation. A suggestion is thirty minutes each day.
2. Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer, and, if possible, Night Prayer from the Liturgy of the Hours.
3. Mass. Daily, if possible.
4. Mary. Every day, Seculars express devotion to Mary. Their primary devotion is to imitate Mary in "reflecting on [all these things] in her heart" (Luke 2:19).
5. Meetings. Seculars are called to communities whose members have made a commitment to one another. Meetings consist of formation, information, and fellowship.
6. Mission. Seculars share in the Carmelite mission of knowing God so God can be known.
You may find links to Discalced Secular Carmelite Communities in some other countries using these links:
The Carmelite Conversations Podcast is an apostolate of the Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites community of Our Mother of Good Counsel in Dayton, Ohio. Discalced Carmelite Seculars are practicing members of the Catholic Church who, under the protection of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and inspired by St. Teresa of Jesus and St. John of the Cross, make the commitment to the Discalced Carmelite Order to seek the face of God for the sake of the church and the world. For more information about Secular Carmelites, visit our website.
