Carmelites

Flos Carmeli Secular Carmelite Community was established in 1993 with the permission of Bishop Snyder, under the Washington Province, in Washington D.C. 

Today, we have about 26 members from 13 parishes in our diocese and two members from Georgia. Flos Carmeli has obtained canonical status as a result of the community’s demonstration of its ability to function as a Carmelite community: members willing to lead; community maturity; monthly meetings of formation, business and fellowship; an understanding of its service to the Church and the Order. 

Our mission is to be witnesses to the experience of God. Teresian Carmel is a commitment to live in allegiance to Jesus Christ, pondering the Lord’s law day and night and keeping watch in prayer. The goal will be to achieve the integration of experience of God with the experience of life: to be contemplatives in prayer and the fulfillment of their own mission. Under the protection of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, in the biblical tradition of the Prophet Elijah, and inspired by the teachings of Saint Teresa and Saint John of the Cross, we seek to deepen our Christian commitment received in Baptism. (From OCDS Constitutions) 

We meet as a community once a month, to foster our community spirit as well as to foster our vocation to Carmel. Our activities involve: prayer, socialization, formation in Carmelite Spirituality, and business of the community. We hold meetings on the First Saturday of each month at St. Joseph's Catholic Church, Mandarin, after 8:00 am Mass, we meet at the Cody Center.