Work is proceeding well on the new toilet and shower block for our 27 boarding house students in Zumalai, thanks mainly to the generosity of students, teachers, families and parishioners of Our Lady of Mt Carmel Parish and School in Coorparoo (QLD). The project is expected to cost around $30,000.00. The boarding house enables children from outlying villages in the huge parish to attend school in Zumalai.

If you would like to contribute to this project please contact our This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

The Carmelites, Passionists and Blessed Sacrament Congregation have joined together to promote vocations at stand 98 during the Australian Catholic Youth Festival in Sydney from 7-9 December.

Fr Martinho Da Costa and Br Matthew Tonini are representing the Carmelites. Our new vocations brochure will be available at the Festival or by mail from This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. You can see the brochure here.

Remarkably, another 3,826 people have joined our Facebook family in the last month, bringing the total number of followers to 85,469!

We post stories, photos and videos about the life and work of Carmelites in Australia and Timor-Leste, Carmelite Spirituality, prayers, reflections and contemporary events.

Why not join our family? Find us on Facebook @carmelitesAET and click on ‘follow’ so you can see all our posts in your news feed.

Whitefriars College students are taking a stance in preventing violence against women.

Each year on White Ribbon Day people are encouraged to wear a white ribbon and paint one fingernail white as a symbol of their oath never to commit, excuse or remain silent about violence against women.

It is sobering to think that, on average, one woman dies each week as the result of male inflicted domestic violence.

How do the people of any nation cope with the aftermath of many years of the brutality of invasion, war, massacre and oppression?

Several countries have worked very hard to bring people to a sense of peace through a community process of healing.

Pat Walsh reflects on the process and spirituality of truth and reconciliation in Timor Leste.

Read this issue | Visit our JPIC page

Springs of Carmel, Peter Slattery's straightforward and succinct explanation of the Carmelite tradition, is now available from Amazon as an eBook.

Springs of Carmel is a refreshing account of the Carmelite spiritual tradition and the important people who have shaped its history.

Order from Amazon Australia  | Amazon US | Amazon UK, Ireland & Europe

Since 2001 the Carmelites have been committed to serving the people of Timor-Leste. As an integral part of the Carmelite family, Whitefriars is committed to the opportunities to support their work. This Timor-Leste Immersion experience allows students to live in the Carmelite communities of Hera and Zumalai. Here, the students become immersed in and open to the transformative experience of living in another culture.

Watch the video

Two weeks ago, a group of 27 people set out to walk the beautiful Lilydale to Warburton rail trail. Amongst the group there was a range of walking experience, some who had walked hundreds of kilometres and some who were unsure of their ability but willing to try none the less.

Over three days we walked beside still waters, through groves of eucalypts, past lush farm paddocks and fragrant rose gardens, then cooled our feet in tumbling streams.

Sunday 12 November was the anniversary of the Santa Cruz massacre when more than 250 East Timorese pro-independence protestors were killed in the Santa Cruz cemetery, Dili, in 1991.

A mass was held at St Joseph’s Carmelite Church in Port Melbourne to commemorate the massacre and pray for Timor-Leste.

Fr Januario Pinto, OCarm, was the celebrant of the Mass and was joined by Fr Paul Sireh, OCarm, and members of the East Timor Student Association. Read more...

The call to develop a sustainable economy is coming from many quarters of the globe: Pope Francis and people of faith worldwide; the United Nations; several world leaders and even some economists. 

JPIC Team member Peter Thomas offers a few thoughts on this year's Australian Catholic Bishops Social Justice Statement: Everyone's Business - Developing an Inclusive and Sustainable Economy.

Read this issue | Visit our JPIC page

The new Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Zumalai parish (Timor-Leste) is gradually taking shape. Emerging from behind the existing church made of sticks and grass, the new brick and concrete church will be a welcome, permanent addition for the people of Zumalai.

Money originally donated by parishioners for a new Church disappeared during the struggle for independence in 1999 when the parish centre was ransacked.

Led by Carmelite Paul Sireh, join us for our eighth annual pilgrimage along the beautiful Lilydale Warburton Rail Trail culminating at the Sancta Sophia Meditation Centre. We rank our own pilgrimage alongside the great Christian pilgrimage destinations of Jerusalem, Rome, Santiago de Compostela and Canterbury Cathedral in England!

Friday 10 to Sunday 12 November 2017.

More information & bookings

Earlier this year the Carmelite Family in Timor-Leste gathered for a seminar celebrating the 450th anniversary of the birth of St Mary Magdalen de'Pazzi. Born in Florence in 1566 St Mary Magdalen entered the Carmelite Convent there and became a prominent spiritual figure for the Carmelites and for Church reform.

Around 200 members of the Carmelite Family in Timor-Leste were present to hear Fr Antonio, OCD, talk about the life and writings of St Mary Magdalen.

'Let the poor speak!' Peter Thomas talks about the work of Dom Hélder Câmara, 'bishop of the slums', and Pope Francis in giving the poor a face and a voice in the church and the world.

'Both Hélder Câmara and Pope Francis are advocates of the poor. They both acknowledge charity but seem to witness to a more radical Christ-like position of being with the poor; of learning from the poor, of being in solidarity with the poor and of empowering the poor.'

 Read this issue | Visit our JPIC page

In the past month another 6,807 people have joined our Facebook family. Now we have 76,807 followers! Thank you for being part of our Carmelite Family. We hope that you will find here a place of reflection, prayer, inspiration and news from the Carmelites of Australia and Timor-Leste. We will continue to remember you in our Masses and prayers.

Find us on Facebook @carmelitesAET and click on ‘follow’ so you can see all our posts in your news feed.

‘We will not remain silently complicit in the destruction of our common home,’ says the message from the International Carmelite JPIC meeting in Fatima. ‘We urge our Carmelite Family to join us in a commitment to study, prayer and the performance of very simple gestures that will contribute to substantive change in our lifestyles. The culture of indifference is one of the key challenges within our communities and societies. Blessed Titus Brandsma, along with many other Carmelite saints, reminds us “We are not called to do great things. We are called to do the ordinary things in grand style.”’

The Carmelite Library at Middle Park is dedicated to the study of spirituality and mysticism. Its collection is quite unique in Australia.

It is the Province Library of the Carmelite Friars in Australia-Timor Leste and is open to the public. Set in the handsome surroundings of the Carmelite Hall, the Library is an ideal place to come and read, study or reflect. You can also borrow from our collection.

Read more about our Library | Visit the new Carmelite Library website

Deborah Guess writes about Radical Simplicity: Meditation and Ecological Care. ‘Meditation’, she says, ‘can bring about a change of heart.’ This change of heart is meaningless if it is not ‘expressed in specific ecological action and in a simpler way of living.’

The ecological crisis is also a summons to profound interior conversion. Pope Francis - Laudato Si'

 Read this issue | Visit our JPIC page

Our Facebook family has grown to over 70,000 followers! We are sharing our Carmelite spirituality mainly throughout the Asian region including with nearly 17,000 people in Timor-Leste. Our posts include news and events, Carmelite Centre events, Lectio Divina, reflections for feast days and reflections on the Word of God and Carmelite tradition. 61% of our followers are male and most followers are between 18-24 years old.

To join our family, find us on Facebook @carmelitesAET and click on ‘follow’. You will see all our posts in your news feed.

Seven of our young Carmelite students in Timor-Leste have received the ministries of Lector and Acolyte over recent months.

Brothers Cesaltino, Julião and David received the ministry of Lector and Brothers Anacleto, José, Frangelino and Silvestre received the ministry of Acolyte from Fr Paul Cahill (Prior Provincial).

Lectors proclaim the Word of God in liturgical assemblies, instruct adults and children in the faith and prepare them to receive....