Happy New Year from the Carmelites of Australia and Timor-Leste! On New Year's Day we also celebrate the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. So, we begin the new year with Mary. May she accompany us throughout the year with wisdom and love on our journey into God’s heart.

May the New Year be filled with an ever deeper awareness of God's presence around us and in us. We continue to pray for all those affected by COVID-19 in Australia and throughout the world. May we reamin safe and continue to support each other. 

Our 3 novices, Brs Constantino Barreto Amaral, Moises Soares and Manuel Xavier Gonzaga, made their first profession of vows as Carmelites on 14 December. They made their vows at Mass in Hera, Timor-Leste at the end of their Novitiate year. Fr Carlito da Costa Araújo, Provincial Delegate for Timor-Leste, received their vows in place of Fr Paul Cahill (Prior Provincial) who was unable to travel to Timor due to COVID restrictions. Constantino, Moises and Manuel join our 29 other brothers in first vows. The total number of those in formation is now 37. Congratulations, Brothers!

Year 9 students from our Carmelite Schools in Zumalai and Raimea, Timor-Leste, recently sat their final exams. If successful, the 62 students will graduate and begin their senior High School studies next year. Our thoughts and prayers are with all our students. We rely on the generous support of our friends to help transform young lives through education. If you would like to give the gift of education to our young people in Timor-Leste this Christmas, you can donate here. Thank you for your support. You are giving them a future.

In the Annual Report by the Church to the National Office for Child Safety, the Carmelites of Australia and Timor-Leste drew particular attention to its work with 2 East Timorese child protection experts to review progress in implementing the Province's Safeguarding Policy. This also included a risk assessment of the ministries in Timor-Leste. The report of the 2 experts highlighted that Carmelites in Timor-Leste have a good understanding of the policy and positive attitudes towards implementing it. In addition to making helpful recommendations, the East Timorese experts produced a training manual and ran three training sessions with seminarians, staff, volunteers, teachers and key community leaders, specifically focusing on the code of conduct.

16 young Carmelites in Timor-Leste recently renewed their vows to follow the Carmelite Way for another year. Brs Antonio Junias da Gloria, João Batista Caunan, Lucas dos Santos Martins, Samuel Lopes, Bonifacio Bragança Lopes, Caetano Soares da Silva, Celestino Soares, Elias Soares Sin, Fernando Gusmão, Jacob dos Reis de Carvalho, João Fernando Cabal, Paulo Martins de Araújo, Estavão de Deus Gomes, Julião Dos Santos and David Soares made their vows during Mass celebrated by Fr Carlito da Costa Araújo, Provincial Delegate for Timor-Leste. Br Francisco Xavirius Vieira Martins renewed his vows in a separate ceremony in Hatolia parish. Congratulations, Brothers! More photos

The Carmelite Library has been successful in its application for a Community Heritage Grant from the National Library of Australia, in the 2021 round of applications. The project is a ‘Significance Assessment of the Carmelite Library Rare Books Collection’. We are very excited about this recognition and look forward to working with an assessor in the coming year. The Library holds an important and growing rare books collection, with titles from every century since the 16th century. More story.