Cloister and Community: Life within a Carmelite Monastery

Rating:
Summary: Deconstruction of Conventual Life
Review: This book is about a community of Carmelite Nuns that went from a traditional experience of monastic life to a community with a novel interpretation of religious life. It is a painful read, it is the devolution of religious life. Experimentation into extinction, active and contemplative Roman Catholic communities reevaluated their faith and practice during and after Vatican II. Those who removed the basic reasons for existence; community, common symbols and common ministry and have not attracted a single new vocation for decades. The book is a documentation one such community that removed the distinctives of Carmelite life and now are in a difficult situation. How to leave a legacy without having new entrants to the religious life (at the same time justify all those changes)? Carmels are diverse i.e. Reno no grill, no enclosure, no habit, and no growth verses Carmel of Terra Haute grill, enclosure, habit, and growth. Let the reader remember one thing, there are healthy and growing traditional contemplative communities.