Encountering the Risen Lord: Liturgy and prayer in Carmel today
Liturgical Congress – Tuesday, May 6 -Sunday, May 11, 2025
The Liturgy and Prayer Commission has organised an international liturgical congress to take place in Rome (Italy) from May 6-11, 2025, at the Istituto Madonna del Carmine “Il Carmelo”, the Carmelite center outside of Rome.
The overall theme of the Congress is: “Encountering the Risen Lord: Liturgy and prayer in Carmel today.”
Speakers will include Cardinal Arthur Roche (Prefect of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments), Míceál O’Neill OCarm (Prior General), Donna Orsuto (Pontificia Università Gregoriana), Anastasia di Gerusalemme Cucca OCarm (Prioress, Monastery of St. Stephen in Ravenna), Giovanni Grosso OCarm (President of the Institutum Carmelitanum), Michael Plattig OCarm, Désiré Unen Alimange OCarm, Giuseppe Midili OCarm (Pontificio Ateneo Sant'Anselmo), Valéry Bitar OCD (Teresianum), and Sabino Chiala (Prior of the Monastery of Bose) and others.
The congress is for all those who have an interest in exploring and understanding the beauty of Carmel’s prayer and liturgy so that it can be authentically carried forward in this generation as a means of transformation.
The primary focus of the congress is more pastoral than academic. It is open to all members of the Carmelite Family, that is, friars, enclosed sisters, members of the affiliated congregations and lay Carmelites.
Taking as its point of departure the ecclesial perspective, the commission’s hope si that participants will grow in their understanding of the particular Carmelite characteristics of liturgy and prayer under various themes.
The themes will be explored will include the role of liturgy within a synodal church, celebrating the Word of God, celebrating Mary and the saints of Carmel in their feasts and the art of celebration of the liturgy (ars celebrandi). The way in which these various aspects are inculturated in the different geographic areas of the Carmelite Family will also be explored.
In the course of the week, participants will spend a day in the city of Rome making, in particular, a pilgrimage to the Holy Door of St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City which will have been opened for the Jubilee Year.
Further details will be available in the coming months including the cost for participants and how to reserve a place.