The Congress of Lay Carmelites was held in Rome from September 15-21, 2024 to Discuss Formation, Service, Fraternity and Prayer
The Carmelite retreat center Il Carmelo, located in Sassone, Italy, hosted 200 members of the Carmelite Laity from 30 nations for a week of conferences and sharing experiences about formation, service, fraternity and prayer in their lives and in their local communities. The theme of the Congress was Lay Carmelites: Called to ignite the world.
From October 15, 2023 to March 25, 2024, local communities reflected on a questionnaire, sent by the International Secretariat for the Laity. A total of 643 responses were received from all five continents. These responses were used to prepare an Instrumentum Laboris, a preparatory document that guided the discussions of the Congress.
At a later stage, the Congress was held in Sassone. The Lay Carmelites, in addition to the presentations and the sharing of experiences, had the opportunity to share meals and free time, as well as to participate in the papal audience and to visit the city of Rome.
The third phase will be to implement some of the ideas raised at the Congress and to present some proposals to the General Chapter of the Order to be held in 2025.
In addressing the theme of the Congress, the Congress agrees with the emphasis of Pope Francis on the need for openness of our Church; to go out to others to reach out to the human peripheries. One participant expressed: “We want to emphasize that we are mission, a laity in action, that we seek to go out of ourselves and out of the comfort of our communities, to set out on the road (...) the love of God, like the Prophet Elijah, burns our hearts and impels us to share that love with others to change the world”.
Luis José Maza Subero, General Councilor, who is the liaison between the General Council and the International Secretariat of the Carmelite Laity, expressed the following at the closing of the Congress: “The Carmelite Order is promoting the role of the laity, an example of which was this Congress, in which our laity expressed themselves in the final paper. “Our Order has much to offer to the world, as Carmelites we have been able to live this Congress as a transforming experience, we return different from how we came, prayer and shared fraternity gives us strength for the mission; we have seen how the Spirit in our diversity, acts and urges us to move forward. We are not building for today. We are not working for tomorrow. We are forging a path for eternity”.
A book is being prepared by Edizioni Carmelitane containing the presentations and other materials from the Congress, to make the ideas presented during the week available to those who could not attend, as well as to those who are interested in the latest developments in the Lay Carmelite communities.
