This month's newsletter from our Justice, Peace & Integrity of Creation Commission.

In this issue:
Nappies and other disposables
JPIC Calendar for July
NAIDOC Week
Prayer for Justice

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On 9 July our Deacons, Agostinho Exposto, Fausto Tilman De Araujo and Carlito Da Costa Araujo will be ordained priests in Immaculate Conception Cathedral, Dili, Timor-Leste by Bishop Virgilio do Carmo da Silva, S.D.B., Bishop of Dili.

Fr Paul Cahill (Prior Provincial), on behalf of the Carmelites, will formally present the deacons to the Bishop for ordination.

In the weeks following the Ordination, each of the new priests will celebrate masses in and around Dili as well as Masses of Thanksgiving in their home villages of Seloi, Bei Kala and Lauana.

Congratulations, Agostinho, Fausto and Carlito!

The Lay Carmelites in Australia and New Zealand continue to flourish.

On the Gold Coast (QLD) a new Lay Carmelite community is forming under the guidance of Norm Harding, TOC and has been meeting for more than 12 months.

Over the last 12 months 10 people have been received into the Lay Carmelites, 5 more have made their first profession and 3 have made their final profession as Lay Carmelites.

Br Agedo Bento will make his Solemn Vows (life commitment) in the Carmelites during Mass at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Middle Park on Saturday 16 July (the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel).

You are warmly invited to share this special occasion with Agedo, his fellow-Carmelites and members of the Carmelite Family.

You can download your invitation here.

You can read more about Agedo here.

In the last 2 weeks Pope Francis has announced the appointment of 2 Carmelites as Bishops.

Fr Paul Horan of the Irish province will become Bishop of Mutare in Zimbabwe and Fr Francisco de Sales Alencar Batista will become Bishop of Cajazeiras in Brazil.

Fr Paul has been worked in Zimbabwe since 2001 and is presently the Prior of the Pre-Novitiate house in Nyazure, Rusape. The Irish Carmelites have been missionaries in Zimbabwe for the past 70 years.

Fr Francisco is presently Secretary General of the Carmelites. He was Prior Provincial of the Carmelites in Pernambuco from 2005-2011.

Fr Paul Cahill (Prior Provincial) has announced the first round of changes to communities and ministries following our Provincial Chapter.

Fr Martinho Da Costa, after assisting at Our Lady of Mt Carmel Parish, Coorparoo QLD for the past 3 months, will move to Wentworthville NSW to be part of the Carmelite community there and to assist in the Parish.

Fr Paul Sireh will finish his term as Parish Priest at Coorparoo and begin a sabbatical early in August.

Fr Wayne Stanhope, who has been involved in forming our young Carmelite students, will move to Coorparoo as Parish Priest and Prior of the Carmelite Community there.

Br Pedro Armaral will be ordained deacon in Flores (Indonesia) on 7 July.

We wish all these brothers well as they take up these new appointments.

The Carmelite Centre Melbourne recently held a 3 day symposium on Creation Spirituality inspired by Pope Francis' encyclical, Laudato Si'.

Catherine Sheehan from the Media and Communications Office of the Archdiocese of Melbourne reports:

THE CARMELITE Centre in Middle Park is currently holding a three day symposium on Creation Spirituality, inspired by Pope Francis’ encyclical, Laudato Si’. The symposium began yesterday with Philip Harvey, Librarian at the Carmelite Centre, giving a brief welcoming address to the attendees. Mr Harvey drew upon the Pope’s reference to the earth as a ‘home for everyone’, saying that the context for the symposium is that we ‘fall into awareness’ regarding the need to care for creation.

Welcome to the June issue of our Justice, Peace & Integrity of Creation newsletter.

In this issue:

Reflections on Hiroshima
Non-Violence & Just Peace Conference
Daniel Berrigan sj, RIP
JPIC Calendar for this month
Prayerful Reflection for June

Visit our JPIC page

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This week all 5 Carmelites living in Zumalai, Timor-leste, will be attending a week-long assembly of the Diocese of Maliana according to Br Antonio Olavio. As well as Br Antonio, Frs Manuel Almeida (Parish Priest), Augusto Galhos, Anselmus Dhegu and Br Carlito Da Silva will be attending. 

Maliana Diocese has a population of 240,000 Catholics, 10 parishes, 90 missions, 15 diocesan priests and 20 priests belonging to religious orders or congregations and is led by Bishop Norberto do Amaral.

Please keep our Carmelites and the Diocese of Maliana in your prayers.

Following the Provincial Chapter, Fr Fernando Millan Romeral (Prior General) and Fr Benny Phang (General Councillor for Asia, Australia & Oceania) visited Whitefriars College.

Fr Fernando spoke about the changing face of our Province particularly in relation to the growing number of Timorese Carmelites, one of whom is Fr Angelino Dos Santos, Chaplain at the College. In recognition of the connection and commitment of Whitefriars College to the Carmelites and the people of Timor-Leste the Timor-Leste flag is now a permanent feature of the College landscape.

Br Carlito Da Silva recently graduated from the Institute of Religious Studies (ICR), Dili, receiving his Licentiate of Education.

ICR is a formation centre in Dili, Timor-Leste, which has 300 students studying to be teachers and social workers. For the past 6 years Br Carlito has been studying and practising his teaching skills.

At the moment he is working in the Carmelite Boarding House in Zumalai looking after the students and teaching in local schools. He also helps out in the parish preparing families and candidates for the Sacraments of Baptism and First Communion as well as those preparing for marriage, and offering days of recollection for students in Government schools and for youth in general.

Congratulations, Carlito!

The 2016 Provincial Chapter of the Carmelites of Australia & Timor-Leste was held from 25-29 April in Brisbane.

35 Carmelites were present including 14 from Timor-Leste together with 17 lay members of the Carmelite Family.

For the first time since the Carmelites in Australia took responsibility for the Carmelites in Timor in 2001 almost all Solemnly Professed Carmelites in Timor-Leste were able to attend and fully participate in the Chapter.

Click here for more information and photos from the Provincial Chapter.

Welcome to the JPIC Newsletter

Welcome to the April issue of our Justice & Peace newsletter.

In this issue

Easter & Creation

Care for all that Exists: A Symposium

JPIC Calendar for April

200th Anniversary of Appin Massacre

Prayerful Reflection

Visit our JPIC page

Download this issue

Welcome to the March issue of our JPIC Newsletter.

In this issue

Fr Denis Andrew reflects on our experience of violence

Your invitation to the Carmelite symposium on "Care for all that exists"

International Women's Day - 8 March
National Close the Gap Day - 17 March
Earth Hour - 19 March
Your JPIC calendar for March

Prayers and reflections about personal conversion and justice & peace.

Visit our JPIC page

Download this issue

Welcome to the first edition of our JPIC Newsletter.

In this issue, Fr Paul Gurr reflects on our fascination with violence. Read Dr Martin Luther King's 6 Principles of Nonviolence and an Inter-faith Prayer for Peace.

Pope Francis issued his 2016 World Day of Peace message: Overcome Indifference and Win Peace on 1 January. "The first kind of indifference in human society is indifference to God, which then leads to indifference to one's neighbour," he said. Read more in this issue.

There is also a reflection on Australia Day and about Blessed Titus Brandsma, a Carmelite who witnessed to nonviolent action in his life and death in Dachau during World War II.

Your JPIC calendar for February is also in this issue.

Download this issue here.

Br Sean Keefe (Chaplain, Whitefriars College) has been awarded the Order of Australia Medal (OAM) for his services to the City of Manningham and his long-term commitment to Timor-Leste.

Br Sean has previously been honoured as Citizen of the Year by Manningham Council in 2011.

Click Read More for an updated story about Br Sean, his involvement at Whitefriars College and in Timor-Leste.

38 young Carmelites gathered in Malang recently for a special program for those in their first 5 years of ministry for members of the Asia-Australia-Oceania region of the Order.

Frs Angelino Dos Santos, Martinho Da Costa, Roque Soares Da Cruz and Carltio Da Silva travelled from Timor-Leste for the meeting. Fr Wayne Stanhope travelled from Australia to be one of the presenters at the meeting. Topics included Nurturing Carmelite Vocation, Consecrated Life in the Midst of the People, Finding the Balance in the Tension between Community and Ministry, Boundaries and Intimacy in Ministry and Carmelite Lifestyle in a Changing World.

Read more & view photos

There was a bit of confusion about names when Br Matthew visited St Joseph’s School where he taught before he joined the Carmelites.

Matthew took the opportunity to explain the difference and introduce the Carmelites to the students.

While in Hillston NSW Matthew also helped out at community Christmas Carols.

Click for more photos.

One year ago today Man Haron Monis walked into the Lindt Cafe in Sydney's busy Martin Place and took 17 staff and customers hostage.

Just over 16 hours later the siege ended with the deaths of Katrina Dawson, cafe manager, Tori Johnson and Monis himself.

Today we remember the victims, their families and friends and the emergency personnel involved in our thoughts and prayers.

carmelitesaet   carmelitesaet   

Today is the Feast of St John of the Cross, Carmelite and Doctor of the Church (1542-1591).

Pope Francis has called the whole Church to celebrate a Year of Mercy.

Mercy is one of the works of love.

"In the evening of life, we will be judged on love alone" - St John of the Cross.

Read more about the Carmelites and the Year of Mercy.