The Carmelite Monastery in Launceston, Tasmania, recently received approval from the Holy See to join St Joseph’s Association of Carmelite Monasteries in the US.

The Carmels that are part of this Association choose to live a traditional interpretation of the Rule given to them by St. Teresa of Avila.

The principal aims of the Association are:

•  In the genuine Teresian spirit, to bear witness of love and obedience to the Holy Father and to the Magisterium of the Church.
• To foster fidelity to the Rule, the Constitutions and other documents, especially concerning contemplative life and enclosure, issued by the Holy See.
• To strengthen each other in living the cloistered contemplative life of Saint Teresa, and to give a clear witness that prayer is its primary apostolate.

In all the member monasteries of the Association, papal enclosure is observed, the full Carmelite habit is worn, and the traditional austerity of the Order is joyfully embraced.

Sprinkled into this blog post is artwork done by one of the Carmelite nuns in Launceston, Sr. Christina Mary of the Incarnation. She was tremendously encouraged by Pope Saint John Paul II’s Letter to Artists and continued on with her artistic works after entering religious life.

Launceston Carmel was founded from the Carmel in Adelaide, Australia, in June 1948 in the town of Longford, Tasmania. (Do you know that Australia was originally called by the early explorers “the Great South Land of the Holy Spirit”?)

The community moved to the present monastery built in the hills of West Launceston in April 1975 at the request of the then Archbishop Guilford Young to be nearer the priests and people. The parish priests in Launceston offer daily Mass which a small regular congregation also attend.