Welcome.  I am Fr Iain Matthew.  I want to give you some idea of our life, to help you in your vocational discernment.  If you would like to know more, we would like to help you do that.

As I write this, it is thirty years and one week since I knocked on the door of the Discalced Carmelite priory near Oxford to begin my novitiate.  It has been both a hard and an easy road.  What is certain is that it gets better as time goes on.  Lots of discoveries, lots of humdrum stuff, lots of mistakes.  The Lord has been immensely patient and very kind.  Now, at 48 years old, I want to say that it is a privilege to be here; and I am grateful.

The Discalced Carmelite friars trace their roots to Mount Carmel in the Holy Land, the scene of Elijah’s prophecy and a symbol of beauty in the Bible.  In the twelfth century AD, a number of men lived a combined life of community and solitude, gathered around a chapel dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Soon they spread to Europe, particularly to England, and became more active in their ministry.

Our own Carmelite Order is called Discalced because it was given a new impetus in the 16th Century, at which time walking shoeless [discalced] was a sign of renewal.  Nowadays we sure wear shoes but we most definitely look to St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross, who instigated that reform, as the inspiration of our life.

What they gave and what we try to live, is a commitment to personal prayer as friendship with Christ, the one whom we know loves us.  This means spending time, either separately or together in chapel, in silent prayer.  This is the core of our life and we consider it to be our main contribution to the Church: to be communities of men for whom friendship with Jesus in prayer is what makes their lives tick.

Fundamental to our vocation is St. Therese’s call to ‘be love at the heart of the Church’.  Prayer, as loving companionship with the living God, lifts up the Church, and is a source of healing for the world.  That is what makes the prayer dimension of our vocation so vital.
We have a community timetable which structures this: we fail, and allow other things to take over.  We give in to individualism and to the simple demands of ministry and the speed of life.  But we do recognise that to be a failure, and our life is best when prayer is most clearly enshrined in the daily rhythm.

We have ministries.  We try to serve the church - and to make a living.  Some of us are brothers.  Most – nearly all – are priests.  We work hard; sometimes too hard.  Our age profile is on the high side, and our older men continue to dedicate themselves to ministry long beyond what in society would be regarded as retirement age.  This is partly because it is a natural fruit of spending time with God: to want to communicate that.  We do that by contact with people, by priestly life, by writing and counselling, by retreats and parish ministry.  We do it too by community life.

This is maybe where I fall down most: my individualism and privacy is continually challenged by the call to be together, in imitation of the first Christians spoken of in the Acts of the Apostles.  Despite my avoiding being in community at times, I have to say that it is with my fellow Discalced Carmelites that I feel most myself, most able to relax.  And when I do make the effort, community is good.  When I don’t the community has been patient.

Our communities are in the following places:
in England, Kensington, London (a family parish and a spiritual centre);
Gerrard’s Cross (a very lively parish);  Boars Hill, Oxford (a spirituality centre and publications house); Preston (a spirituality centre);
in Scotland, Glasgow (a small parish in the city, with outreach to the Discalced Carmelite nuns and lay people);
in Ireland, four houses in Dublin (a parish in the north, a central church, a retreat centre, a house of speciality); Derry (a spirituality centre); Loughrea (a spirituality centre with outreach in the town and parish).
Our men have also contributed to the establishment of the Discalced Carmelites in Nigeria – so well that in just twenty years there is a flourishing presence there.

Most of our men are Irish.  I think that gives a warmth to community life, though this warmth also owes a lot to the legacy of St. Teresa.  Some of us are British.  Then there are men coming too from other countries, which enriches the mix nicely.

My own ministries over the years have included a lot of work in our parishes; academic work; retreat ministry (which I found rather a slog sometimes, but I can see that it has a special relationship with that emphasis on prayer I spoke about); formation – that is, working with men who are trying their vocation with us.  Right now I am in the community of friars in Kensington, London.  It is a central city parish, and I also do some chaplaincy work at one of the local universities.

Our formation normally involves an introductory period (six months to a year) called postulancy; an intensive novitiate for one year; five years of study, at the end of which one may make final vows of poverty, chastity and obedience.

Our communities comprise three, four, five, maybe six friars each.  Throughout the world the Discalced Carmelites are organised into provinces (ours embracing Ireland and UK, with associated presences in Nigeria and Australia).  The province as a whole is under the leadership of a provincial superior, an office which is elected every three years.  Unlike monks, who stay put for life (the vow of stability), we as friars get moved around every so often.  This can be the place where our vow of obedience cuts most ice.

Let me end by saying: ours is a humble life; it is not spectacular.  But it does fulfil a real calling in the Church.  I have seen from others who have walked this path that, if you are generous, it can lead you to holiness.  Its centre is the mercy of God.  That’s a centre worthy of a man’s life.