Diocesan and order priests share memories of Indianapolis Carmel
Carmelite Sister Jean Alice McGoff, prioress of the Indianapolis Carmel, displays a proclamation from Archbishop Daniel M. Buechlein at the conclusion of Mass on July 16 at the cathedral. Msgr. Joseph F. Schaedel, vicar general, left, presented the award on behalf of Archbishop Buechlein. Diocesan and order priests join archdiocesan seminarians Andrew Cope, second from right, and Martin Rodriguez, right, in showing their thanks to the nine Carmelite sisters who moved to Oldenburg on June 30. (Photo courtesy Denis Ryan Kelly Jr.)
By Mary Ann Wyand
They came to say “thank you.”
Twelve diocesan and order priests concelebrated the Mass of Thanksgiving for the Carmelite sisters of Indianapolis with Msgr. Joseph F. Schaedel, vicar general, on July 16, the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, at SS. Peter and Paul Cathedral.
Their smiles and applause as Msgr. Schaedel presented a proclamation to Carmelite Sister Jean Alice McGoff, prioress of the Carmel at the former Monastery of the Resurrection, at the conclusion of the Mass demonstrated their love and respect for the cloistered nuns.
The proclamation from Archbishop Daniel M. Buechlein thanked the sisters for their “constant praise of God through 75 years of prayer in Indianapolis,” which have been “a sign to all of the union of God with the world.”
On June 30, the nine sisters of the Indianapolis Carmel moved to Theresa Hall at the motherhouse of the Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis in Oldenburg to begin a new chapter in their lives of contemplative prayer.
Last spring, the Archdiocese of Indianapolis purchased their castle-like monastery for use as the Bishop Simon Bruté College Seminary.
After the liturgy, Father Eric Johnson, archdiocesan vocations director, reflected on the sisters’ lives of prayer in Indianapolis.
“I think it’s important that as a diocese we come together to celebrate,” Father Johnson said. “There are a lot of memories within the archdiocese. We’ve talked to a lot of people around the diocese that have memories of [the sisters and monastery], and what that place has meant to the imagination of the people of this city in terms of prayer in particular and the witness they have brought to that.”
He said archdiocesan seminarians who will live at the former monastery will benefit from the sisters’ long tradition of contemplative prayer there during the past quarter century.
“I think it’s a blessing for our seminarians as they step into that place that is already deeply rooted in the experience of prayer,” Father Johnson said, “and the experience of trying to discern God’s will and trying to open up their hearts generously … and humbly to what it is that God is calling them to do.”
Praising the Carmelite sisters, Father Johnson said they are “wonderful women that have been faithful in their service, … faithful in praying for the people of this diocese and praying for our seminarians and priests in particular. It’s important that we stop to offer gratitude for that and to recognize that.”
Benedictine Father Boniface Hardin, a Saint Meinrad monk who founded Martin University in an inner city neighborhood in Indianapolis, praised the sisters for their strong faith and said he always enjoyed celebrating liturgies at the monastery.
“I think their spirit was important to the community here in Indianapolis,” Father Boniface said. “We won’t forget them.”
Jesuit Father Thomas Widner, rector of the Society of Jesus priests and brothers in ministry at Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School in Indianapolis, frequently celebrated Mass with the sisters at their chapel and said he will miss them.
“It is partly sadness, partly hope, partly some joy,” Father Widner said about their move to Oldenburg. “It’s a lot of mixed feelings, I guess, because I’ve been out there regularly to celebrate Mass with them on Sundays. I’ve been doing that since the 1970s … while I was here in the diocese. When I left the diocese for many years [on ministry assignments], I would be out there on Christmas for Mass. They’ve been a great support to me personally … as well as to lots of others.
“Their life is a prayer,” he said, “... and I think that has enriched the local Church so much. I hope it continues to do so in the diocese. I’m sad that they’re leaving the city because I think the loss of a religious order in any city is a loss of a certain [type of] spirituality and a certain spiritual experience.”
Father John Hall, pastor of St. Martin of Tours Parish in Martinsville and administrator of Our Lady of the Springs Parish in French Lick and Christ the King Parish in Paoli, recalled childhood memories of participating in the sisters’ nine-day novenas on the monastery lawn.
He grew up in Our Lady of the Greenwood Parish in Greenwood, and helped his father, Joe Hall, set up the public address system each night of the novena in July leading up to the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.
“My Dad did the public address system for the novenas for a number of years at the Carmelite monastery,” Father Hall said. “I remember getting there at 6 o’clock and helping Dad adjust the microphones and test them.”
He was thinking about the priesthood while in grade school, and fascinated by the sight of thousands of people coming to the monastery to hear the priests preach and preside during Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, the rosary and the Litany of Mary.
Looking back, Father Hall said, he believes that his early experiences with Carmelite spirituality during the novenas had a part in his decision to study for the priesthood.
“There were different priests there for Benediction and talks so I got to know some of them,” he said. “Thousands of people would come for the outdoor novenas. During the 1960s, chartered buses would bring people to the monastery and they would sit on lawn chairs or blankets on the lawn. The sisters were inside the monastery. They were cloistered.”
Concelebrating the Mass of Thanksgiving for the sisters on the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel “brought back a lot of memories,” Father Hall said, of “helping my Dad with the novenas, and of the simpleness and niceness of it.” †