Monastery provided spiritual presence to protect, pray for residents of 'Sin City'.
By Patricai L. Pastore
The prayerful presence and spiritual accomplishments of the Carmelite nuns is felt throughout the Terre Haute community, where they established the Carmel of St. Joseph Monastery 58 years ago.
Fourteen nuns cloistered within the Carmelite Monastery south of Terre Haute work, pray, serve the people of this community and serve the Lord in silence and solitude, said Bill G. Grimes, president of the Friends of Carmel, an organization of benefactors and advisers.
"We help support the sisters on the financial side and they take care of the spiritual side of things," Grimes said.
A Carmelite monastery already was established in Indianapolis when the archbishop decided an additional one was needed in Terre Haute.
He believed that Terre Haute needed a spiritual presence to protect and pray for the area citizens, said Mother Anne, who oversees the nuns at the local monastery.
She said his decision was made when Terre Haute was known for its houses of ill repute in the downtown area and was referred to as "Sin City."
"I'm sure that's why they came in the beginning," she said. "Now it's changed. They provide great support and spiritual comfort for the religious citizens. They have little opportunity to meet area residents because they are cloistered."
The sisters' prayer request line is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. They pray a minimum of six hours a day.
"We receive as many as 50 prayer requests a day," Mother Anne said.
The sisters put their skill and talent to work on personalized Christian greeting cards for their prayer-card ministry. Each card is individually created. Every selection has a meaningful and inspirational text that relates to the individual for whom it is designed.
"It's not just sending a card," Mother Anne has said. "It is inviting people to become a part of our life of prayer."
Each new task the group undertakes is met head-on with a newfound joy and energy.
This Carmel also has an iconographer in its midst. Sister Mary Grace of the Incarnation writes and sell icons, artistic and spiritual representations of an event or sacred person.
The nuns also create inspirational notebooks.
"The notebooks can be used on desks and other places where you can see them every day," Mother Anne said. She said each day a page can be turned to revive the spirit and give the recipient a lift.
The sisters first lived in a temporary monastery, an old colonial home with some adjustments made by Emil Zurchneid, a caretaker of the Indianapolis Carmel.
In the first nine years, the Carmelites established a routine of their lives of prayer, made additional adjustments to the house and cleared and landscaped the grounds. The start of their building project began in May 1948. The Carmelites baked altar breads for many parishes to help support themselves and to raise money to build their Carmel while knowing they could not cover all the building costs. They moved in gradually.
Help for this Carmel came mostly from people of modest means and from those who could support their faith with generous gifts, Mother Anne said.
The nuns at this Carmel experienced unexpected answers to prayers for vocation, she said. Mother Anne said their work touches the prayerful desires of many hearts throughout the community and has broadened the influence of the faithful far beyond the cloistered walls.
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Tribune-Star/Jim Avelis |
| Recognizable: Just inside the entrance to Allendale is the Carmelite Monastery. |
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CARMELITE FAST FACTS
-- The Carmel of St. Joseph, a Carmelite monastery, was founded in Terre Haute in 1947.
-- The Carmelite Order originated in the Holy Land in 1210 and was reformed by St. Theresa of Avila in 1512.
-- A building project to house the monastery in the Wabash Valley began in May 1948. The monastery was constructed in a three-phase building program. Groundbreaking for the first wing occurred in 1956; construction on the second wing started in 1961; and the chapel section was designed in 1969.
-- Carmelite sisters assisted with construction chores because of limited resources.
-- Millard Breinig, a Terre Haute cabinet maker, shared his free time teaching them how to build cabinets.
-- On Feb. 19, 1970, while in the midst of final building stages, a cornerstone was laid. It proclaimed: "Carmel of St. Joseph - the Gift of Friends."
Source: Carmelite monastery
PRAYER REQUESTS
-- Anyone may request Carmelite sisters offer prayers by calling (812) 299-1410. The prayer line is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
-- Get acquainted with the Carmelites of Terre Haute by visiting their Web site at www.Heartsawake.org.