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Home / News & Publications / Michigan Catholic News / 2007 / Carmelites continue ministry of prayer in elder years

Robert Delaney of The Michigan Catholic
Published November 30, 2007

Robert Delaney | The Michigan Catholic Sr. Teresa Margaret, 92 (seated) and Sr. Mary Joseph, 86, are two of the Discalced Carmelites nuns at the Monasteryof St. Therese in Clinton Township who benefit from the Retirement Fund for Religious collection.

Clinton Township — Advanced age has not kept Sr. Teresa Margaret and Sr. Mary Joseph from the ministry of prayer for the Church and its people that is the charism of the Discalced Carmelites of the Monastery of St. Therese of the Child Jesus.

Sr. Teresa Margaret, 92, and Sr. Mary Joseph, 86, are two of the older sisters at the Clinton Township monastery who benefit from the annual collection for the Retirement Fund for Religious, being taken the weekend of Dec. 8-9 in churches throughout the Archdiocese of Detroit.

As cloistered nuns, the Discalced (pronounced Dis-cals-ed) Carmelites lead lives of prayer inside the confines of the monastery and its garden. They gather for daily Mass and the Liturgy of the Hours – the seven daily prayer times of monastic life.

"I entered at age 19, and I've been happy every since," says Sr. Teresa Margaret.

The former Louise Gertrude Turnwald grew up on a farm in Saginaw County. She recalls that she was attracted to a life of contemplative prayer, but also to the missions, and that her pastor advised her to follow the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Following that advice led her to join the Discalced Carmelite community, which was then in Detroit, she says.

In the more than seven decades she has spent in the order her greatest joy has been "being close to God in prayer and being part of a very loving, caretaking community," she says.

In her younger years, Sr. Teresa Margaret also contributed her talent as an artist, doing fine lettering and design work for the cards sent out to people who have been enrolled in the Carmelites' Spiritual Treasury – who are remembered at Masses and in the Liturgy of the Hours at the monastery.

Collection helps retired religious What: Annual collection for Retirement Fund for Retired Religious When: Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 8-9 Where: All Catholic churches Why: With fewer younger members earning incomes, many religious orders struggle to care for older members. Impact: Last year's collection raised nearly $30 million nationwide.

In more recent years, she has helped in transferring her original designs to computer images, so that they can continue to be printed by modern printing methods.

And she says her contemplative prayer of late has focused increasingly on the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

Sr. Mary Joseph says she entered the Carmelites at age 18 because "I liked to pray for people."

While even most women drawn to the religious life would probably find the life of a cloistered nun confining, Sr. Mary Joseph describes it as "a gift from God."

And the cloistered life can still be a good choice for a young woman today "if she's ready to accept our rule and constitution, and wants to live in the presence of God for the Church and for souls," she says.

Mother Mary Elizabeth, the monastery's prioress, says the assistance from the Religious Retirement Fund and from individual donors is "a tremendous blessing" to her community.

"Most religious communities today have a sizeable number of older sisters and a minimal number of younger sisters. One way or another, we depend on the appreciation and the kindness and the people. Were it not for their generosity, we couldn't keep this place going," she says.

Except for one "extern" sister who spends her days outside the cloistered section of the monastery to meet with the public and do the monastery's shopping, the sisters only leave the cloister when necessary for medical care.

The public is invited to visit the monastery to pray in the chapel, shop its small bookstore or to join the sisters (separated from the public by a screen) for 7 a.m. daily Mass.

Inquiries about vocations are welcome, and Mother Mary Elizabeth points out that the community now offers inquirers a chance to live at the monastery for three weeks to see whether they are compatible with the cloistered life.

The men's branch of the Carmelite order was founded in the Holy Land in the 1200s, during the Crusades. "Perhaps some of the Crusaders decided their efforts would be better spent in prayer than in fighting," Mother Mary Elizabeth says.

When the Carmelites had to leave the Holy Land with the collapse of the Crusader kingdoms, they relocated to England and then spread to other European countries.

The first community of women Carmelites dates to about the year 1450. The Discalced Carmelites were founded by St. Teresa of Avila in 1562 as a reform movement to return the Carmelites – men and women – to their contemplative roots ("discalced" meant that they were unshod – that is, they wore sandals instead of shoes, which was intended as a symbol of their more rigorous lifestyle).

The Monastery of St. Therese of the Child Jesus is at 35750 Moravian Drive in Clinton Township, (586) 790-7255.