About 800 people — a congregation reminiscent of Christmas and Easter
— filled St. Monica Church in Moraga to celebrate the official opening
of the Carmel of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, a new foundation of the
Discalced Carmelites in the Diocese of Oakland.
Five nuns in brown habits and black veils and five novices with white
veils took their places in the pews as the Most Rev. Salvatore J.
Cordileone, archbishop-designate of San Francisco, celebrated the Solemn
Pontifical Mass on Sep. 21.
The Mass, which was in Latin with priests dressed in red and more than a
dozen altar boys serving, was celebrated on the Feast of St. Matthew.
The Rev. Gregory Eichman, FSSP, who was ordained to the Priestly
Fraternity of St. Peter in May, proclaimed the Gospel. His order is
dedicated to the traditional liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church.
Father Eichman, 27, is assistant pastor at St. Anne Church in San Diego.
His 19-year-old sister was among the Carmelite novices attending the
Mass.
Their parents, who live in Fort Wayne, Indiana, were making their first trip to California.
The Mass and following reception offered a rare opportunity to see the
sisters. Later that day, they returned to their monastery in the hills
of Canyon, which would then be enclosed.
The nuns will be behind
grilles, and just two of them will be designated to speak to the public.
"Today we rejoice and give thanks to the Carmelite sisters who are
establishing their enclosure with this Mass," Archbishop-designate
Cordileone said in his homily. "You have left the world to seek the more
perfect life, the life of single-hearted perfection in union with
Christ. Your life is a more perfect life because it is in anticipation
of the life of heaven. You leave the world to be exclusively with our
Lord. Your prayers sanctify us and bless us."
He called upon those "who must live in the world" to understand "how to
leave what is of the world while still living in the world. We must
learn to leave all that is sinful, all that is selfish, all that is of
the old self, so that Christ might make us new in his image."
At a reception after the Mass, supporters of the Carmelites gathered
around the sisters, wishing them well and asking for prayers.
The sisters, who in the course of a day, rarely speak, were smiling and gracious with their well-wishers.
Fifteen members of the Third Order of Lay Carmelites from Our Lady of
Mount Carmel Church in Fairfield filled a van, and four traveled by car,
to attend the Mass.
The group, which in addition to studying the Carmelite saints, performs
works of charity and outreach to meet the needs of the sisters.
"It's not very often that we can get in community with the sisters," said Barbara DiMarco.
Another attendee passing by, added: "They're angels."