Welcome seeker!

This website is offered by the friars of the British Province of Carmelites to help you explore a vocation to our way of life.

You may be wondering why you are reading these words. Maybe curiosity led you to these pages. Certainly something has stirred you. Maybe you are simply wondering what gift of life that God has for you, and your searching heart has opened up to the possibility that it might be found in a religious community. 
 
We, the Carmelite friars, are a community of brothers with aching hearts that are seeking God. We are a Catholic religious community following a pilgrim way that had its beginning over 800 years ago on Mount Carmel in the Holy Land.

As people of prayer we Carmelite seek a deep and life-giving relationship with God that has its expression in the service of the people of God. We are called to a life of prayer, community, and service.

We are part of a worldwide family of men and women who are on the same path but with different expressions. The Carmelite Family is made up of friars, enclosed nuns, apostolic sisters, and lay men and women. We all live distinct ways of living, but what unites us as Carmelites is our desire for God and the certain trust - even in times of doubt and darkness - of God's love for us.

The theologian Frederick Buechner says that “The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” Perhaps you are feeling called to that place by God.

We invite you to ponder these pages as you seek God's desire for you. There is always a listening ear among the Carmelites if your reflections on these pages stir your heart.

Carmelite wisdom

“The Lord loves us more than we love ourselves.”

​St. Teresa of Avila, Carmelite nun