CHRISTMAS SCHEDULE OF MASSES, 2017

CHRISTMAS NOVENA, 2017

  

100th ANNIVERSARY YEAR OF FATIMA

Spiritual Life

Spiritual Enrichment through Writing

by Sister Mary Paul Cutri, OCD

Each order of religious life offers the Church a spirituality consistent with the inspiration of its founder.  In the Carmelite Order of Discalced Carmelites, Saint Teresa of Avila and Saint John of the Cross left, as heritage to their followers, many writings on prayer and the life of Carmel in the Church.  They spoke of what they experienced in response to the requests of many who sought to learn of God’s ways with us in a life committed to God in prayer.

For some religious, expressing themselves in writing comes as a response to the promptings of the Holy Spirit to share the riches of the unique spirituality in which they have been nourished.  In this spirit, moved by the teaching of Saint John of the Cross regarding solitude, I began several years ago to attempt to write on this subject.  In 2010, the Institute of Carmelite Studies published my book, Sounding Solitude, which is an approach to transformation in Christ by love. The twelve chapters of the book describe some experiences along the way of solitude’s intimacy, solitude’s savorings, solitude’s sufferings, love as its meaning and the power of transformation that takes place through Christ in us.  To spend time with the Lord in long periods of solitude and prayer is to begin to learn the ways of God and how we are to respond in the likeness of Christ to the work God is doing in us. In our desire for union with God, “God will capture the hearts of people, leaving them so touched by love that they have no desire other than to belong to God by consent, as they belong to God by creation and grace.  We are destined to be transformed in Christ by love.”

I have received comments, especially from our Secular Carmelites who have read the book, saying that it has helped them in their life of prayer.  All praise to God who both inspires and motivates us in sharing the gifts of grace God gives us.  It is all God’s work of love.

Door of Liturgical Prayer

Doors of Carmel

St. Joseph

Please join us as we pray the Novena to St. Joseph

We will begin our Novena on March 10th

and then celebrate his feast on

MARCH 19th,

St. Joseph, spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Prayer to St. Joseph

Blessed Joseph, husband of Mary,

be with us this day.

You protected and cherished the Virgin;

loving the child Jesus as your son,

you rescued him from the danger of death.

Defend the Church, the household of God,

purchased by the blood of Christ.

Guardian of the Holy Family,

be with us in our trials.

May your prayers obtain for us

the strength to flee from error

and wrestle with the powers of corruption

so that in life we may grow in holiness

and in death rejoice in the crown of victory.

Amen.

Carmel's History

   We, the community of the Carmel of the Assumption, had our beginnings in the early part of 1960 when Bishop William G. Connare invited Mother Marie Bernadette, prioress of the Carmel in Loretto, Pennsylvania, to found a new monastery in the Diocese of Greensburg, Pennsylvania.  Mother Marie Bernadette selected seven other sisters to accompany her, and in 1961 purchased a house in Lawson Heights known as the "Murphy mansion" as the site where the new monastery would be established.  Our property is situated on approximately 27 acres of land, a mile east of St. Vincent Archabbey, whose priests have faithfully served as our chaplains from the beginning to this day.  On May 26th, Sisters Catherine Marie and Mary Paul arrived in Latrobe to prepare the Altar Bread department and to begin cleaning the mansion for the Sisters who would follow a week later. On June 1st Mother Marie Bernadette and Sisters Anne Marya, Teresa, Miriam, Marie Elizabeth and Monica arrived.  The Benedictine Monks and Sisters and some members of the Sisters' families including Sr. Catherine Marie's brother, John Dowd, and Sr. Mary Paul's mother, Maina Cutri, and other volunteers were on the scene to assist us in readying the monastery for the day of the canonical establishment by Bishop Connare on June 10, 1961.  Bishop Connare was a faithful supporter of our Carmelite community throughout his life.  He would often visit us unexpectedly to find us in the midst of our many projects which he enjoyed observing.  He valued our life of prayer and our dedication to Our Lady of Mount Carmel whom he loved dearly.

 

   Three months after our establishment our novice, Sr. Marie Elizabeth, became the first to profess Carmelite vows in this diocese.  The following year the first two young women entered the community, one being our Sister Tanya.  By the late 60's our community was growing in numbers and needed to expand our living space.  The increasing demand for the Altar Breads we made as our means of support required an expansion of the work area in the monastery.  We eagerly embarked upon our first building project and engaged local contractors, the Pevarnik Brothers, to construct a wing onto the original mansion.  This addition to the monastery in 1970 housed a new altar bread facility on the first floor and twelve cells on the second floor.  Pevarnik Bros. had been the ones to remodel the Murphy mansion for our use in 1961 and had been faithful benefactors from the beginning.  Their mother and sister brought us our first meal from their own table on the evening of our arrival in Latrobe.  By 1972 there were seven new members in the Novitiate and a total of eighteen Nuns.  We were taking root here in western Pennsylvania.

   As the original mansion deteriorated we had it demolished in order to complete our monastery by extending westward from the work-wing adding a new Chapel, sacristy, bedrooms, kitchen, refectory, library, recreation room, infirmary section, and guest rooms.  By Christmas of 1982 we began to move into our new building which was completed by the dedication of our beautiful new chapel on March 25, 1983.

   St. Teresa encouraged her daughters to fidelity to the eremitical dimension of our Carmelite life.  This inspired us to construct two hermitages on our property to provide a place for the Sisters' annual personal retreat.  With a few helpers, the Sisters, with hammer and saw in hand, built these hermitages in 1972 and 1985, from materials salvaged from our previous building projects.  When we retire in solitude our intercessor prayer for all our benefactors abounds in thanksgiving for the blessing of these hermitages. 
 

   We experienced our first loss in death when Sister Mary Simon passed to the Lord in 1992 at the age of 94.  Our foundress, Sister Marie Bernadette, age 90, followed in 2000.  Five years later, 2005, Sister Monica died at age 73, followed two months later by Sister Catherine Marie, who had just celebrated her 86th birthday.  These beloved Sisters served the Lord so faithfully and now they pray for us from their place with God.  As the years passed, we rejoiced as eight members of our community celebrated the Golden Jubilees of their profession as Carmelites and four others marked their Silver Jubilees.  Together they represent many years of fidelity and generosity in Carmel's way of life.

   Unexpected intruders, termites, invaded our monastery entrance room in 2000.  We used the necessity of repairing the damage as an opportunity to add an upper room which has become library extension and meeting room. In 2007 it became necessary to consider the addition of an elevator to reach our offices and work rooms on the second floor as well as our basement laundry.  With some demolition we were able to install the elevator and add new rooms to replace those that were lost by the elevator shaft.  Our most recent improvement in 2010, was to repair the worn flooring in our Chapel and add new pews in preparation for our celebration of the Golden Jubilee of our foundation in 2011.

   We feel privileged to live among people of great faith who welcomed us to Latrobe fifty years ago and have assisted us until the present.  The Lord has blessed us through you, our supportive and generous friends who value our contemplative way of life and who assist us through prayer, service and alms.  It is with deep gratitude that we praise God for the Church of Greensburg and for our place in it.  Our hearts abound in thanksgiving!  We echo the words of our Holy Mother Teresa:  "The mercies of the Lord I will sing forever!"

Christmas Novena

Notable News

A Sister of Many Talents: Sr. Tanya Johnson, O.C.D.

Golden Jubilee

Tatiana or Tanya Johnson was born on July 6th, in Berkeley, CA. to the parents, Walter Johnson and Susan Harris .  She was the first-born of eight surviving gifted children.  Her family with five boys, worked creatively in outdoor projects which gave Sr. Tanya experience in gardening, landscaping and more recently bee-keeping.  She tends our hives of bees with devotion and has produced honey of the best quality for our use.

Tanya from the age of six had a religious and missionary spirit which moved her to desire the consecrated life.  Though she frequently went to daily Mass with her mother at a nearby Carmel, she first spent some time with the Maryknoll Sisters before coming to Carmel of the Assumption in Latrobe, PA. in 1962.

When she arrived in Latrobe, she immediately used her skills to help clear some of the grounds near our entrance, cutting trees, removing cement work and planting bushes.  Sr. Tanya enjoys working outdoors and providing us with food from a large vegetable and fruit garden, but that work is only a portion of her contribution to our community life.  She has great devotion to Our Blessed Mother and skillfully makes Rosaries to sell in our store.  Formerly she engaged in artwork for which she is also talented.  Sr. Tanya painted the images of the Way of the Cross which are hanging in our Chapel and used for Lenten devotions of the Stations.

Sr. Tanya’s indoor work in the monastery has been packing Altar Breads which we formerly baked but now distribute to our Diocesan parishes and to other parishes in nearby States. Her times of cooking for the community bring forth delicious new recipes, the fruits of her creativity.  There seems to be no end to her interests and the abilities God has given her in so many creative ways. 

Other interests Sr. Tanya has had for many years are archeology and genealogy, most likely influenced by her mother who shared the same fields of interest.  Sr. Tanya has retrieved much data regarding the Johnson and Harris families.  She also has a small collection of archeological artifacts.

We are blessed with a very gifted Sister whose work in community covers many fields.  As we celebrate these fifty years of Sr. Tanya’s profession as a Carmelite, we give thanks to God who has graced her with a call to prayer and service to which she has been faithful and continues to flourish in many ways.  Her fidelity to God and to our Queen of Carmel is manifest in her generosity and self-giving love.

We celebrate God’s infinite mercy in giving Sr. Tanya 50 years of profession as a Carmelite Nun.  With a public celebration of the Eucharist in August followed by a reception, we join her in offering thanks to God and in praising God’s goodness to her and to our community.  May Sr. Tanya have many more joyous and fruitful years ahead, all to the glory of God!