Visits by the General Delegate for the OCDS

19 marca, 2017

During the months of January and February, Fr. Alzinir Debastiani, ocd, the Father General’s delegate for Secular Carmelite communities, made two important visits to OCDS communities.

The first was in Croatia from January 27th to 30th of this year at the invitation of Father Sreko Rimac, ocd, Provincial. He was accompanied by Father Dario Tokic, ocd.

Together, they visited the OCDS communities in Zagreb, Split and Krk, and also visited the Discalced Carmelite nuns in Brezovica.

Meetings with the Discalced Carmelite students and the assistants of the various communities were particularly important. Father General’s Delegate talked about the current situation of the OCDS in the world, its needs, and the importance of accompanying the communities and collaborating with them within the apostolic mission of the friars.

There are two formed communities in Croatia: Sombor y Zagreb-Remete, although the latter was divided in two last year due to its large number of members. Two other communities are in formation: Split and Krk. In Sofia, Bulgaria, there is another community founded in the late 60s around the nuns’ presence that is dependent on the Province. Within the harshness of the communist regime, they lived out their consecration in hiding. Thanks be to God, the community renewed normal activity from the year 2000 forward and currently has eight members.

Near Zagreb there was a flourishing community in Lasinja. The disasters of the 1990s war caused great damage, human and material, and dispersed the inhabitants of the area. May God grant that one day that fraternity will be recreated.

Afterward, between February 11 and 12, Father Alzinir Debastiani visited the OCDS communities in Sardinia. These belong to the Province of Central Italy. On Saturday the 11th, representatives of the communities of that city, Ozieri, and Bosa, met in the Discalced Carmelite monastery of Nuoro. The visit with the communities of Cagliari-Sant’Isidoro and Pula, as well as with some members of the new community that is forming in Cagliari, took place on Sunday.

There was time for sharing the activities of each community in a fraternal setting, reinforcing the bonds that unite all Sardinian Secular Carmelites in the selfsame vocation to the Teresian Carmel. God grant that new vocations come to the OCDS and to the friars and nuns of Sardinia.