Kuching

New Council

 

Secular Carmelites are challenged to be zealous . . .

 

KUCHING – Fr Aloysius Deeney OCD, General Delegate to the Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites (OCDS) from Rome, gave a retreat to members of OCDS Kuching from 13 – 14 October. About 27 members (including 8 from Miri) attended the retreat.

 

With the theme “With zeal I’m zealous for the Lord God of Host” (words of Prophet Elijah and motto of the Carmelite Order), Fr Aloysius explained the difference between being jealous and zealous. Jealousy is emotional and zealous is spiritual. He also talked about two other bad fruits which are anger and pride. He gave examples of characters of good and bad fruits and how to recognize them. According to him, the bad fruits need not be destroyed but can be converted into virtues. For example, from jealousy to zealous; anger to charity and pride to humility. Conversion is only possible when God is in charge. As a reminder, he quoted St Teresa of Jesus (Avila), founder of the Order, “Fix your eyes on the crucified Christ.”

He challenged the community with this question, “How zealous are we in praying that others believe and accept Jesus Christ as the Son of God?”

 

Towards the end of the retreat, Fr Aloysius initiated the following new appointments:

Adeline Lee, Fr. A.Deeney, Alice Chiw, Juliana Lim

  1. He appointed 3 members to form the new Council to constitute the immediate authority of the community. They are:

President – Alice Chew

Councilor – Adeline Lee

Director of Formation – Juliana Lim

The new Council then appointed Jane Maken as the secretary and Catherine Sim as the treasurer.

  1. He formed the Miri Chapter (3 couples & 2 singles) to become part of OCDS Kuching.
  2. He appointed Cynthia Lim to co-ordinate the Miri Chapter.
  3. He also admitted John Suhara to the community. In the Rite of Admission, John received the scapular as the habit of the Order, The Constitutions of OCDS and the Bible from Fr Aloysius. John shall enter into Formation for a period of 2 – 3 years before he takes his Temporary Promise.

 

The retreat ended with the Sunday Eucharist celebrated by Fr Aloysius on 15 October. On that particular Sunday, while all the churches celebrate Ordinary Sunday, the Carmelite Chapel celebrates the Solemnity of St Teresa of Jesus, founder of the Order. It was a joyous day for the Carmelites.

 

After the mass, Fr Aloysius had a dialogue session with some parishioners of the Archdiocese who are interested to know about OCDS Kuching. This was held at The Archbishop Hall, Carmelite.

Juliana Lim

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