Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Praised be Jesus Christ!

We are all poor beggars. We all stand in poverty before the Lord asking for His providence.

Our mission, still in its earliest stages, and is to simply carry out the instruction handed down both physically and spiritually by the last Prioress of the Carmel, to “keep the spirit of Carmel alive in the monastery.”

In the heartbreaking loss of the physical monastery itself, this mission has become to keep the spirit of Carmel alive in our local community and, God willing, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. The Carmelites at Ephesus is an association which will be bound by the Rule of Saint Albert and made up of celibate women who are spiritually, psychologically, and financially free to live a life of Carmelite hermitism in community with others. We will utilize both the instruction of the Prioress who outlined her ideas of the fellowship which was to be formed in the monastery and classical aspects of the eremitical life.

God, in His infinite wisdom has placed each one of us into a particular time, place, family, and circumstance, and none of these occur as a coincidence or mistake, none of these were haphazard assignments, but exist for the sake of the salvation of our souls and for the good of the Church and the world, and we are to respond accordingly.

We are NOT interested in managing a decline!

Carmelite spirituality is uniquely simple and its hermitism represents one of the more ancient forms of contemplative life, which has grown and blossomed into a rich tradition over the centuries. Mount Carmel has given us given three doctors of the church and its own litany of saints, one of whom, Saint Terese of the Infant Jesus, might not have been canonized had it not been for the devotion to her cause which spread from Philadelphia into every state in the Union. The loss of the Carmel of Saints Joseph and Anne was a tragedy for our Archdiocese and for the Catholics of Philadelphia, but there is no tragedy that God does not desire to rectify by the cooperation of those who love Him, there is no injury that He does not wish to heal by His power, and there is no community that His love abandons.

We are local and ordinary, because this is where God does most of His work. The Carmelites at Ephesus are simply interested in living the life of Carmel, beneath the tumult of the world. For this reason, we have chosen not to adopt a strict devotion to the Traditional Latin Mass. The liturgy wars prove a dangerous distraction to a contemplative life, and our Archdiocese has always been friendly to the thriving Latin Mass community in Conshohocken. We are neither Latin Mass Catholics nor Novus Ordo Catholics, we are simply Catholic, simply Carmelite. This is not the kind of organization that I foresee turning heads or gaining the media attention of a trailblazing ‘traditional’ foundation. Nor do I foresee us garnering any profound support, and that is by design - entering the arena of the radical Hegelian dialectic is a short road to burnout, and Carmelites are not attention seekers, our goal is not to shatter the earth, or make ground breaking achievements. Our goal is stability, consistency, and perseverance. No amount of stone or good architecture, important as they are, can supply for fickle hearts.

We are to live a life as responsive stewards of what has been given us, stewards of the Carmelite charism, to live a life of prayer in community for the good of the Archdiocese, the Church, and the world, to offer each other support, encouragement, and ongoing formation in our humanity, prayer, in Carmel, and in our faith, and to live simply without a thousand extraneous cares as to keep in mind what truly matters. We are to live as women in love with our Divine Spouse.

Ephesus was the last home of the Mother of God on earth, and it is her contemplative example we wish to emulate. Please keep this, still in its infancy after nearly five years, in your prayers.

May God bless you all,
Jacqueline (Teresa of Jesus Crucified)