The Provincials, Commissaries and Delegates General of the European Geographical Area met together in Rome from the 16th to 18th September 2015. Having reflected on the current situation of the Order in each of the provinces, they discussed in detail the question of collaboration in the area of initial formation. A common European novitiate having been established in Salamanca, Spain, some years ago, they have now agreed to prepare the way for the establishment of a European International formation community for initial formation in Rome. Apart from their work in general assembly and in regional groups, the provincials were addressed by the Prior General, Fr. Fernando Millán Romeral, Fr. John Keating, Councillor General for Europe and Fr. Míċeál O’Neill, Prior of St. Albert’s International Centre in Rome, who also acted as chairman for the meeting. They also issued the following message to all Carmelite communities in Europe:

The Carmelite Provincials of Europe, meeting in Rome, from the 16th to the 19th of September, and fully aware of what is happening  to the thousands of refugees who seek to find a welcome in our countries, make an appeal to all our communities, to live in the spirit of our constitutions (No.114). “Social reality challenges us.  Attentive to the cry of the poor, and faithful to the Gospel, we must take our stand with them, making an option for the “little ones”. (...) to bring to our brothers and sisters a word of hope and salvation from their midst, more by our lives than by our words ... ; (...) allegiance to Jesus also means allegiance to the poor and to those in whom the face of Christ is mirrored preferentially.” Mindful that in the beginning we too were pilgrims, and urged by our contemplative and prophetic charism, we invite each community, to the extent that each one can, to be open to the kind of solidarity that this humanitarian situation demands and that the Church asks of us too.

Rome, 18th of September, 2015