Carmelite Friar Mission Statement:
We Carmelite friars, followers of Saint Teresa of Avila and Saint John of the Cross, live as brothers in community. With Mary as our patroness, we serve Christ and His Church through ministries of prayer, presence, evangelization and pastoral care.

Mission News:

UGANDA UPDATE:
December, 2009


by Patrick Paul Kidega,
a Carmelite postulant, Uganda.

“If the Lord does not build the house, in vain do its builders labor,” Ps 127

Eleven months ago I packed my little bag to hit the road for the first time in my life. According to my father I was going away from my village to an unknown land. Before leaving, my father had this exhortation for me: “At your age you are supposed to marry and start a family, but since you are going contrary to the norms no women will marry a man without a future.” He said this because of my vocation to religious life with which he is not well conversant. But after seeing me so adamant about it he said, “If God calls someone no one can stop it; human beings can only delay us.” Nevertheless, hearing these words of exhortation from my father, I knew I was heading to this man without the future. But it was one month or so before the reality of what my father said hit me hard. I nearly collected my things for a return journey home. Had it not been for the experience of Fr. Larry I surely would have gone. It was a real dilemma for me that he always had to go downtown to the internet café to consult with California about the daily administration of the study house which he managed so faithfully. At the time, the Discalced Carmelite Order here in Uganda was like an army battalion without a commander because the superior of the mission, Fr. David, had to leave us due to his poor health. I am not yet a Carmelite but I do not need to be one to give a brief history of the Order I yearn to join. What is so interesting to note is that the midwife who saw the safe delivery of this Ugandan mission is now the man here to continue the foundation work. He was the then provincial, I mean the cowboy, as I love to call Fr. Stephen. And even more mysterious is the fact that it was the current provincial, Fr. Matthew, who being a provincial councilor at the time drove the last nail on the mission project by saying to the others that either we go or drop the whole thing at once. Thus the Ugandan mission came about. That is how God does His things.

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