Monthly Archives: August 2026

News, Women's Communities

Foundress of the Parish Visitors of Mary Immaculate Declared Venerable

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In June, the Parish Visitors of Mary Immaculate received the joyous news that their foundress, Mother Mary Teresa Tallon, had been declared Venerable by Pope Leo XIV.  Mother Mary Teresa, born to Irish immigrants in 1867, founded the Parish Visitors in 1920, an order focused on a door-to-door ministry to reclaim “lapsed and uninstructed Catholics for the heart of the Good Shepherd.” Their members live a contemplative prayer life combined with a ministry that brings the message and love of the Good Shepherd to all, especially those Catholics who are most spiritually deprived and distant from the Church.

It was during a retreat in 1900, and through a further inspiration in 1908, that Mother felt that God was asking her to found a new religious institute.  Here, women would be trained to greater spiritual perfection while being engaged in a missionary apostolate in the parish setting, visiting homes to reach out to Catholics who had forgotten God’s love for them and the beauty of the faith.

Commenting on Mother Mary Teresa’s legacy for today, Mother Maria Catherine noted two of the foundress’ sayings: “Make every soul count” and “Make much of God.” Mother Maria Catherine added: “Both Pope Francis and Pope Leo XIV have reminded us of the dignity of every human person. We hear in their reminders the echo of Venerable Mary Teresa’s voice! Today, people are in such need of knowing their dignity as children of God; of their importance in His eyes; and of their call to know, love, and serve Him here so as to be happy with Him in Heaven.”

Mother died on March 10, 1954, after extreme suffering borne with patience and love for the Congregation, just as the Sisters had finished praying the Rosary around her bedside. The Parish Visitors Motherhouse is in Monroe, NY, with mission convents in the Bronx, Pennsylvania and Ohio. They also serve in dioceses in Nigeria and the Philippines.

You can read their magazine online, here: https://parishvisitorsisters.org/pv-magazine//

To read about the cause for canonization: visit here for Guild news. https://parishvisitorsisters.org/guild-news/

Prayer to Obtain favors through the intercession of Venerable Mother Mary Teresa Tallon

Cloistered life, Women's Communities

Carmelite Nuns of San Diego Celebrate 100 Years

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In 2026, the Discalced Carmelite Nuns of the Carmel of the Trinity in San Diego, California, are celebrating the 100th anniversary of their founding. On June 20th, Most Rev. Michael Pham, Bishop of San Diego,  joined the cloistered sisters for a celebratory Mass in their chapel.

It was Most Rev. John J. Cantwell, then bishop of the Diocese of Los Angeles-San Diego, who invited the Carmel of Santa Clara to send sisters to establish a new community in his diocese. Five nuns arrived on June 11, 1926.  The current monastery was built in 1932, now home to 14 nuns.

The Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mt. Carmel, rooted in the contemplative tradition of the Church, had its beginnings in the 12th century in the Holy Land, where, on Mt. Carmel, a small group of hermits, looking to the prophet Elijah as their inspiration and the Mother of God as their guide, came together under the Rule given them by St. Albert of Jerusalem. Some of them put down the sword of the Crusaders and, taking up the sword of the Spirit, dedicated themselves to a life where “each one will remain in his cell or nearby it, meditating day and night on the law of the Lord and keeping vigil in prayer.”

In the 16th century, St. Teresa of Avila initiated a reform of the Order and from Spain it spread throughout the world. Following the death of St. Teresa in 1582, her nuns made foundations in France, and then in the Netherlands. From there four American women, who had gone abroad to join the English-speaking Carmel of Hoogstraten, returned to their homeland in 1790 to found the first community of Religious women in the thirteen original States. They landed in Maryland, establishing the Carmel of Port Tobacco. They continued to grow and began the foundations of several other Carmel’s, including the Santa Clara Carmel in 1906.

It was from Santa Clara that the original five Foundresses, headed by Mother Emmanuel of the Passion as the first Prioress, came in 1926 to found the Carmel of San Diego.

This little band of Nuns arrived on the Feast of the Sacred Heart and stayed at a temporary house on Georgia Street in the North Park district while property was being sought that would provide for the needs of contemplative Nuns; somewhere close to the heart of the city, yet also apart, as their way of life demands. In May of 1932, the now six members of the San Diego Carmel, left their temporary house on Georgia street to occupy the beautiful monastery on Hawley Boulevard. The public is welcome to attend Mass in the monastery chapel, which is celebrated at 7:30 a.m. on Monday through Saturday and at 4 p.m. on Sunday.

Sr. Michaela Gresko, former prioress, says she has one prayer for this monastery: “It’s that, God willing, the sanctuary light burning day and night in our chapel and in our choir never go out, but that it always be a silent and unassuming radiance, softly shining in the night of our earthly life for those who need it in their lives, especially those living in darkness and unawareness of God, in order that they find their way to Him; that, regardless of the winds and storms of time and life, it keeps burning with a strong and steady flame of living love.”

Carmel of the Trinity
5158 Hawley Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92116

Phone: 619-280-5424
Email: info@carmelsandiego.com

Click here for Diocesan Newspaper Article