1 October is the feast day of St Thérèse of Lisieux famous for her teaching on the 'the little way of confidence and love' found in her autobiography, The Story of a Soul. Thérèse Martin was born in Alencon in France in 1873. Whilst still young she entered the Discalced Carmel of Lisieux. Her writings reveal a very human character. She frequently fell asleep during the long hours of prayer in the monastery chapel. She always had a strong sense of God's love for her and felt her calling was to be love. 'What matters,' she wrote, 'is not great deeds, but great love'. She died on 30 September 1897, just 24 years old. She was declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope John Paul II in 1997.

Some of our loyal donors have been supporting the Carmelites for over 30 years. They are our Lifetime Partners. Recently, we invited those in Victoria to join Fr David Hofman, Br Marcolino Gomes and our Fundraising & Development team, for a morning tea celebration in Middle Park.

We shared with them stories about the positive impact their support is making in Timor-Leste and Australia. We gave them a certificate, a pearl encrusted pin and a Timor-Leste bookmark. These small tokens are our way of saying Thank You – two words that we hold deep in our hearts for having them by our side. More story & photos

Yesterday members of the General Chapter shared a private audience with Pope Francis.

Receiving the General Chapter members of the Carmelite Order on September 21, Pope Francis urged them in the contemplation of God and in the service of His people, especially the poor.

Read the story & see photos   |   pdf   pdf Read the Pope's Address to the General Chapter

See the video (commentary is not in English).

Today the participants at the Carmelite General Chapter in Rome elected the members of the General Council who will represent the four geographic regions of the Order.

The General Councillor for Africa is Fr Conrad Mutizamhepo, from Zimbabwe (a mission of the Irish Province) who served in this role in the previous term (2013-19).

The General Councillor for the Americas is Fr Luis Maza Subero, a Venezualan friar of the Catalonian Province where he is currently Prior Provincial. More + photos.

As well as electing Fr Mícéal Prior General yesterday, the General Chapter elected also Fr Benny Phang as Vice Prior General, Fr Michael Farrugia as Procurator General and Fr Christian Körner as Bursar General.

Over the past 6 years Fr Benny, from the Indonesian Province, has served as the General Councillor for our region of the Order (Asia, Australia & Oceania). Fr Michael, from the Maltese Province, was re-elected as Procurator General - the Order's Canon Lawyer and liaison with the Holy See. Fr Christian, from the German Province, has served the past 6 years as Vice Prior General and has been elected to a new role as Bursar General for the Order.

Fr Mícéal O'Neill has been elected the new Prior General of the Carmelites. Fr Mícéal, a member of the Irish Province, is currently the Prior of St Albert’s International Centre in Rome. He has previously served on the General Council and has also worked in Latin America. He is a popular presenter and writer about Carmelite Spirituality, Social Justice and the care of creation.

We offer our congratulations and prayerful support as Mícéal takes up his ministry as Prior General.

Acclaimed Australian spiritual author, retreat master and scholar, Fr Michael Casey OCSO, gave one of the major addresses at the General Chapter. Fr Michael from the Cistercian Abbey at Tarrawarra (VIC) reflected on the theme of the Chapter, “You are my witnesses” (Is 43:10). From one generation to the next: called to be faithful to our Carmelite charism in terms of Tradition, Challenge and Witness. pdf Read Michael's talk.

The Provincial Council has appointed Gabrielle Fogarty as the new Moderator of the Lay Carmelites and Vera Cleary as Secretary. Both attended the recent Provincial Chapter in June. Gabrielle has previous experience of being on the Lay Carmelite Council and is currently the Chair of our Provincial Commission for Justice, Peace and the Integrity of Creation. Vera, a member of the Wollongong Lay Carmelites, also looks after the Lay Carmelite Resource Store. Two more members of the Lay Carmelite Council will be elected at the Lay Carmelite Assembly 6-9 October in Ormiston (QLD).

Some of our young Carmelite students in Timor are learning photography. The course is being taught by Mr Isidoro dos Santos Correia over 4 Saturdays covering the basics of camera use, lighting and composition. Isidoro recently graduated from Swinburne University (VIC) with a masters degree in communications and is offering the course free to our students.  Good photography skills are vital for recording the activities of the Carmelites in Timor and for involving our friends and supporters in our work. The students are: Brs Agostinho Dos Santos, Estevão Mendonça De Jesus, Estevão De Deus Gomes, Narcisizio Da Costa Vilanova, Alipio Godinho, Lukas Dos Santos Martins, Paulo Martins De Araújo, Gaudensio Do Rosario and Elias Soares Sin. More photos

On Wednesday 10 September Pope Francis gathered the 3 dioceses in Timor-Leste into a new 'ecclesiastical province' with Dili now becoming an Archdiocese and the dioceses of Baucau and Maliana being suffragan dioceses. The bishop of Dili, Virgílio do Carmo da Silva was also made an archbishop.

The Diocese of Díli has an area of 4,775 sq km, covering 5 districts in the central part of East Timor. Out of a total of population of over 667,000, Catholics number more than 630,000 (94.4%), who are spread across 30 parishes.  They are served by 149 priests, 132 men religious and 432 women religious.