Displaying items by tag: prior general

Fr Desiderio García Martínez, O. Carm. -- 2026
Easter Message from the Prior General

Dear brothers and sisters of the Carmelite Family: Christ is risen!

We joyfully celebrate the resurrection of Christ, which is the cornerstone of the Christian faith. Faith is born of a personal encounter with the Risen Christ and becomes a source of courage and freedom that leads us to proclaim to the world: Jesus is risen and lives forever!

The Midrash on Genesis recounts: “A king built a house. He then invited his friends to celebrate with a splendid feast. Everything seemed to be going well; the evening was proceeding perfectly, and everyone was happy. But as the hours passed, night fell. Then panic set in. They could not see one another, nor could they even enjoy the banquet. The king said: ‘What use is all this to me if I have no light to enjoy it?’ Then God said, ‘Let there be light, and there was light. And God saw that the light was good.’ And alongside the light there was eternal joy, an eternal feast, an eternal celebration...” (Bereshit Rabah / Gen 1:3). Christ is the Light that has conquered the darkness. With the Resurrection, the day of God enters the night of history. The Resurrection of Christ, a historical truth, is more than a mere biological reanimation of the corpse; it is the most decisive ontological leap of the human race. The Resurrection is an outpouring of love that broke the tragic bond between birth and death, transforming it into a blessed sequence: birth, death and life. God’s boundless love makes us immortal. Martín Descalzo, a Spanish writer, put it this way. “Throughout my life, I have dreamed of countless things. Now I know that… only by loving will I live forever; that the only parts of my soul that will have truly been alive will be those I devoted to loving, serving and helping others. And it’s taken me fifty years to realise it!”

The Paschal Mystery has ushered in a new era, a new world (cf. 2 Cor 5:17). Christ’s Resurrection has opened a new chapter in history, which will come to an end when all things are brought together in Christ, the one Head. Through baptism we have been buried with Christ in death so that we might rise to new life. And why rise? Let us recall Teresa of Ávila. “To rise, only to die again in the trials of love.” Only if we are risen can we give life! Alive to serve each day at work… Alive to care for our sick brothers and sisters… Alive to be sowers of justice and peace around us… This is the purpose of our lives: to rise, so that we may die again, every day, in love.” The world will believe if it sees that the Body of Christ is risen. And we are the members of the Body of Christ. Now more than ever we need an army of the risen, immune to death, to sadness, to discouragement… who heal broken hearts, comfort the afflicted, sow hope, and have a sense of humor; who recognize his presence in the Eucharist; who proclaim him as the one Lord of Life… It took only one night for the Lord to bring Israel out of Egypt; but it took forty years for the Lord to bring Egypt out of the heart of Israel.” What is there still in our lives that needs to be brought back to life?

May Mary, Mother of Mount Carmel, help us to understand this mystery of love that transforms hearts, and enable us to fully savor the joy of Easter, so that we, in turn, may share it with the men and women around us.

Fr. Desiderio García Martínez, O. Carm., the prior general, has the following schedule planned for the month of April 2026:

April 7-10, 2026: Provincial Chapter and Union of the Provinces ACV and Bética (España)
April 13-17, 2026: Provincial Chapter of the British Provine
April 18-20, 2026: Canonical Visitation of the French Delegation
April 21-24, 2026: Chapter of the General Comissary of Portugal.

OCARM-OCD General Councils Meet in Rome to Discuss a Variety of Mutual Interests

On March 12, 2026, the two General Councils, OCARM and OCD, met at the General House of the Discalced Carmelites. It was a relaxed occasion marked by fraternal dialogue. After praying the Third Hour, each member of the Council was introduced. The General Secretaries, Fr. Giampiero Molinari, O. Carm., and Angelo Lanfranchi, OCD, prepared the agenda:

1. Report on the OCARM General Chapter. (Malang, Indonesia, September 9–26, 2025). Fr. Desiderio García, O. Carm., Prior General, reported that they had just begun their six-year term and explained the title chosen to guide it: ‘You Must Do Some Work’ (R 20). Our Contemplative Fraternity DiscernsIits Mission.” Next, Fr. Rolf Nepomuk, O.Carm., General Councilor for the Americas, presented the main points of the Chapter’s final message.

2. Fr. Miguel Márquez, OCD, Prior General, outlined the themes they are working on during this six-year term: restructuring of our presences, growth and decline in certain geographic areas, collaboration and internationality, the most urgent challenges, and a review of the Constitutions of the friars and the Discalced Carmelites.

3. This year we celebrate the centenary of the proclamation of St. John of the Cross as a Doctor of the Church (1926) and the tercentenary of his canonization (1726). To mark these occasions, the Teresianum (Rome) and CITES (Ávila) are organizing an International Congress on June 22–26, 2026, titled: “Mysticism: Paradise Lost or Promised Land.” It will be available to follow online. Worksheets have also been prepared, which can be downloaded from www.carmelitaniscalzi.com for reflection and community meetings. 

4. This year we celebrate the anniversary of the bull Ut vivendi normam (January 30, 1226), which allowed the Carmelites to live according to the Formula vitae. A series of materials for community reflection is currently being developed. Fr. Richard Byrne, O.Carm., General Councilor for Europe, reported on possible initiatives that could be prepared: a joint letter from the Prior General and the General Superior, a Mass at St. Peter’s in Rome, an audience and message from the Pope, the Schola Carmelitanaat the CISA in September 2026, a special edition of Carmelus, etc.

5. Fr. Marco Chiesa, OCD, General Postulator of the OCD, presented the Latin texts (Proprium Missarum OCD – Lectionarium OCD) approved by the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. The OCARM will gratefully adopt these common texts to prepare the Proprium Missarum OCARM – Lectionarium OCARM. It was noted that the changes the Holy See is currently making to the Rite of Professions must be taken into account for the subsequent revision of the Rites of Professions specific to the OCARM and OCD Orders.

6. Work continues on a historical guide titled “Carmelite Rome.” This is a map (also available in digital format) designed to facilitate a pilgrimage to the most emblematic sites associated with Carmelite history and spirituality (Basilica of San Martino ai Monti, Church of Santa Maria Traspontina, Church of Santa Maria delle Vittorie, International Center of St. Albert, etc.).

Fr. Desiderio García Martínez, O. Carm., the prior general, has the following schedule planned for the month of March 2026:

March 5-19, 2026: General Council Plenary Sessions, Rome
March 10, 2026: Participation in the Chapter of the Congregazione Suore Carmelitane Missionarie di S. Teresa del Bambino Gesù (Santa Marinella)
March 12, 2026: Meeting of the General Councils of OCARM and OCD (OCD General Curia)
March 14-15, 2026: Episcopal ordination of Fr. Joshy Pottackal, O. Carm. Mainz (Germany)
March 23-26, 2026: Provincial Chapter, Province of Catalonia (Spain)
March 27, 2026: Round table and documentary screening Pablo Mª de la Cruz, O. Carm. CEU San Pablo University (Madrid)

During January 2026, two Carmelite hermits (Father John Mary, prior and Brother Chrisopher) from the Carmelite Hermitage of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Lake Elmo, Minnesota in the USA, spent some time at the General Curia of the Order in Rome on their way to Venice, Italy. 

Their hermitage, founded on May 14, 2003, has run out of room and cannot accept any new vocations. As a result, they are building more hermitages and a larger chapel. For this purpose, the two hermits travelled to Italy in order to go to Venice and procure tesserae (glass tiles) which will be used to create the mosaics for the new chapel.

Photo: Desiderio García Martínez O. Carm., (prior general) with Fr John Mary (prior of Lake Elmo) and Brother Christopher.

Fr. Desiderio García Martínez, O. Carm., the prior general, has the following schedule planned for the month of January 2026:

January 8: Visit to the Carmelite monastery of Carpineto Romano. Meeting with Sr. M. Valentina Rita Rossin, president of the St. Mary Magdalene de' Pazzi Federation of the Order's monasteries in Italy. 
January 12-13: Meeting of the priors provincial, commissaries general, and the general delegates of Europe.
January 18-23: Provincial Chapter of the Province of Pernambuco (Brasil) 
January 25-30: Provincial Chapter of the Rio de Janeiro Province

Dear brothers and sisters of the Carmelite Family: I wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year in 2026! May the Child Jesus fill you with his blessings and grant you peace.                        

1. A few years ago, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI illustrated this Holy Night, which we are about to celebrate, by reminding us that anyone who tries to enter the Church of the Nativity of Jesus in Bethlehem will find that the entrance gate has been largely bricked up. Only a small opening of about one and a half metres remains. As he pointed out, “the intention was probably to better protect the church against possible attacks but, above all, to prevent horses from entering the house of God.” This is providential, because "those who wish to enter the place where Jesus was born must bow down... if we want to find the God who appeared as a Child, we must dismount from the horse of our “enlightened” reason. We must lay aside our false certainties, our intellectual pride, which sometimes prevents us from perceiving God's closeness." What is humility if not lowering oneself in order to enter through the door of faith and find God? May the Christ Child teach us to bow down before the mystery of God. Let us also pray this Christmas for those who have to live in poverty, pain, sickness and abandonment, so that through our hands, the goodness that God, with the birth of His Son, brought to the world may also reach them.

2. The Music of Silence. Entering the Sacred Space by David Steindl-Rast and Sharon Lebell is a book that a friend gave me. The authors of this book remind us that the biblical stories of Christmas are full of “angels.” In fact, they are omnipresent in our lives. Voltaire, quite sceptically, went so far as to write mockingly that “no one knew precisely where angels lived.” Our era, happily freed from understanding reality literally, no longer concerns itself with the wingspan of angels, their gender, or how many can fit on the head of a pin. We focus on the meaning of their name: angel, which, as we well know, originally means “messenger, herald.” “Beings of light,” dedicated “totally to the service of God,” and defined, above all, by the mission they carry out. Mary and Joseph, through an angel, were able to meet the Lord. In our communities there too are many “angels.” To discover them, we must pause, connect with God, and contemplate our surroundings. Those who accompany our sick brothers and sisters to the doctor; those who quietly close or open doors every day; those who take out the rubbish for collection; those who bring in the mail ...; those who smile kindly every morning... All of them are inspired by an angel. Perhaps what Voltaire did not realise is that angels dwell in the community. That is where they live!

May the Child Jesus bless us, sustain our families and all those who have been forced to be far from their loved ones, their friends and their homeland. May He strengthen our leaders in their commitment to defend life and the most vulnerable. May our communities be the new dwelling place of the angels.

Fraternally in Carmel,

Fr. Desiderio García Martínez, O. Carm., the prior general, has the following schedule planned for the end of November and December 2025:

November 25-28: Meeting of the Union of Superiors General (USG)
November 29: Closing of the Congress on Titus Brandsma
November 30: Online Day of Retreat for Advent for the Youth who participated in the Jubilee Year earlier.
December 3-19: First Plennary Meeting of the General Council | Programming for the Six Year Term
December (TBA): Meeting of the OCD-OCARM General Councils

Joshy Pottackal, O. Carm., of the Province of St. Thomas, Has Been Appointed Auxiliary Bishop of the Diocese of Mainz

I am delighted to inform you that this morning, Wednesday, November 26, 2025, the Holy See has informed us that our brother, Fr. Joshy Pottackal, O. Carm., of the Province of St. Thomas in India, has been appointed Auxiliary Bishop of the Diocese of Mainz. This is the first time that a non-European bishop has been appointed in Germany. Fr. Joshy, 48, is a German national. 

The Bishop of Mainz, His Excellency Peter Kohlgraf, has stated that the new Auxiliary Bishop is a simple man with a big heart, hard-working, competent, and with good judgment. The fact that our brother Joshy is the first non-European bishop in Germany not only fills us with pride as Carmelites, but is also an important sign of the unity of the Church in diversity. Bishop Kohlgraft said: “We are called to live unity in diversity, with different paths of faith and cultural backgrounds. In this Church there are no foreigners.” 

"I am not a theorist with a doctorate. My sermons rarely last more than five minutes," Fr. Joshy said at his first press conference.

The official episcopal consecration is scheduled for March 15 in Mainz Cathedral. Bishop Pottackal succeeds the previous auxiliary bishop, SER Udo Markus Bentz, who was appointed Archbishop of Paderborn in 2023.
 
Dear brother Joshy, thank you for your dedication and generosity. We will pray for you in your new mission in the Church and in the world. May Our Lady of Mount Carmel, our Mother and Sister, always accompany you.

Desiderio García Martínez, O. Carm.
Prior General

Interview with Desiderio García Martínez, O. Carm., Elected Prior General in September 

During a recent stay in Rome, the recently elected prior general, Fr. Desiderio García Martinéz, was kind enough to sit with members of the Carmelite Communications office and answer a few questions.

The interview is in Spanish with English subtitles.

We hope you enjoy!

View the Interview ...