Carmel of the Holy Trinity monastery on the grounds of St. Stephen Diocesan Center.
The arrival of five Carmelite sisters from the Philippines will enable the re-founding of Hawaii’s monastery
By Patrick Downes
Hawaii Catholic Herald
Carmelite Sister Mary Bernard Tescam’s Sept. 10 email to Bishop Larry Silva had good news.
“Peace! Your dream for Hawaii Carmel is slowly coming true by the grace of God.”
The message from Quezon City in the Philippines went on to announce that, with the approval of visas for three Filipino Carmelite sisters, they will arrive in Hawaii on Nov. 26.
The sisters will be the first of five nuns joining the Carmelite monastery at St. Stephen Diocesan Center in Kaneohe to save the convent from closing. The other two are expected early next year.
Death has reduced the number of sisters in Hawaii’s monastery to three — Sister Agnella Iu who is fully professed, Sister Elizabeth de Jesus who has made temporary vows and Sister Therese Veronica Wilson, a novice — far short of the six permanently vowed sisters required to have a fully functional Carmelite community.
According to Carmelite rules, without the necessary number of nuns to make proper decisions, new members cannot receive approval to advance in their vows.
Sister Agnella is the only sister left of seven who came from Hong Kong in 1973 to found the Hawaii Carmel, as Carmelite monasteries are called.
She will now be among those to re-found her monastery.
According to Sister Agnella, a “re-founding” means the current monastery in Kaneohe will be established “anew” by the three Hawaii sisters and the five new members from the Philippines.
The re-founded community will keep the name “Carmel of the Holy Trinity.”
Sister Agnella said that she will remain the “de facto prioress” of the community for some time after the arrival of all five Filipina Sisters — “perhaps three months” — “giving the new sisters time to adjust to their new surroundings and get to know each other.”
The new sisters are all from different monasteries in the Philippines.
Selecting a prioress
At a designated time, the sisters will hold a “chapter,” a decision-making meeting, to choose a prioress and adopt a “local rule of life” that will spell out times for prayer, recreation and other activities.
“The sisters will also make decisions about their finances and means of support,” Sister Agnella said.
She said that a newly chosen prioress, with the rest of the Sisters, will discern who will be on their formation team and “whether and when to admit Sister Elizabeth to perpetual vows and Sister Therese Veronica to first vows.”
Sister Elizabeth had professed her first temporary vows when there were enough sisters to canonically accept her, but now cannot advance to perpetual vows.
Bishop Silva, as the community’s ultimate local superior, has allowed Sister Elizabeth to renew her vows “on a year-by-year basis.”
“But this is clearly not the desired procedures,” he said.
Pictured in a 2014 photo are, from left, Sister Mary Caroline Chow, Sister Agnes Marie Wong and Sister Agnella Iu in their chapel at their convent at St. Stephen Diocesan Center. Sister Mary Caroline and Sister Agnes Marie died on Oct. 13 of that year. Sister Agnella is Hawaii’s last surviving Chinese Carmelite. (HCH file photo)
Sister Therese Veronica, a novice who entered the convent in 2014, has not been able to advance to any vows.
This situation left the Carmelites with the stark choice: either close and move the three remaining members to other monasteries, or find new sisters.
These were the alternatives given to Sister Agnella and Bishop Silva by U.S. Carmelite Father Daniel Chowning, a delegate of the Carmelite superior general in Rome.
Father Chowning came to Hawaii to examine the situation of the reduced community. His recommendation was to close the monastery and send its remaining members elsewhere.
“This was not a recommendation the sisters or I wanted to accept,” Bishop Silva said, “because we know the great value of the Carmel as a quiet source of prayer support to the people of this diocese.”
Father Chowning suggested another option: “re-founding” the monastery after adding enough fully professed nuns recruited from other monasteries.
“We decided to pursue this option and prayed that it would come to fruition,” the bishop said. “We thank God that it is now coming together.”
Bishop Silva and Sister Agnella decided to look to the Philippines for sisters.
“Because so many Filipinos live in Hawaii, there were a number of contacts we could explore through them,” the bishop said.
22 Philippine monasteries
Sister Mary Bernard, who helped recruit the sisters for Kaneohe, is a member of Carmel of St. Therese of the Child Jesus in Quezon City, Metro Manila, founded in 1926. Her monastery has 18 sisters.
The first Carmelite Sisters in the Philippines came from France. Today the religious order has 22 monasteries scattered around the country. Practically all the nuns are Filipinas.
The Carmel of St. Therese monastery had already sent sisters to help Carmel communities abroad, including monasteries in Wales, the United Kingdom, Palestine, Belgium and Mississippi.
Sister Mary Bernard described the selection process to the Hawaii Catholic Herald by email.
Those who volunteered for the Hawaii assignment were fully screened, Sister Mary Bernard said. Their suitability for the mission was discerned “first by their prioresses and the chapter of the community, then by the Council of the Association of Carmels in the Philippines together with the religious assistant.”
The screening and discernment followed a “long process” of consultation and dialogue, “even through texting,” Sister Mary Bernard said. After the sisters were approved, they were required to attend a 20-day “mission-orientation seminar,” offered by the Society of the Divine Word Missionaries to help them integrate into their assignments.
“This was our first attempt at properly preparing our sisters for going abroad to another Carmel,” she said.
The seminar, at the Divine Word Mission Seminary in Tagaytay City, was attended by priests and religious from different congregations. It was the first time contemplative cloistered nuns joined them.
Each monastery paid for the transportation and plane rides to Tagaytay, plus the seminar fee, food and lodging for their sister. The sisters, who come from different parts of the country, were each accompanied by an association council member.
For the last step of preparation, each sister stayed a while at each other’s monasteries to get to know each other and their communities, and to be exposed to different styles of leadership. Each monastery in the Philippines is autonomous.
“The Philippines itself has many varied cultures in each region so the adaptability of Filipinos is almost second nature to them,” Sister Mary Bernard said. But because they live cloistered lives, it was important “to acquaint them with each other’s local milieu.”
Hawaii will present another multi-cultural adjustment, that of the Hawaiian culture, the foundresses’ Hong Kong culture and the American culture.
“However, God always makes smooth the way; we trust in him,” Sister Mary Bernard said. “Love conquers all barriers of culture in the end.”
The sisters’ visas were processed with the help of the Honolulu diocese.
Sister Mary Bernard and Carmelite Father Danilo Lim, the religious assistant of the Association of Monasteries of the Discalced Carmelite Nuns in the Philippines, will accompany them on the flight to Hawaii and stay about a week here to help with their orientation.
In an email to Sister Agnella last month, Sister Mary Bernard said, “Behold, the day is come when the longings of your heart has been heard by the Lord: finally the Carmel of Kaneohe is starting to be re-vitalized once again.”
“Hopefully, the Lord will give them (the new Filipino sisters) the grace to persevere to the end, giving their lives to God for the church and the diocese,” she said.
“Let us re-introduce Carmel once again in the diocese for prayer and more vocations. A fire has been enkindled once again.”
Hawaii’s new Carmelites
Here are brief profiles of the five Carmelite Sisters coming from the Philippines to join the Carmel of the Holy Trinity at St. Stephen Diocesan Center. The first three are arriving Nov. 26. The last two plan to be in Hawaii early next year. Information and profiles are by Carmelite Sister Mary Bernard of Carmel of St. Therese of the Child Jesus in Quezon City, Metro Manila, who helped recruit them.
Sister Mary Angelica of God the Father, OCD
- Birth name: Angelica Belen Guevarra
- Age: 46
- Monastery: Carmelite Monastery, Lipa City (two hours by car from Manila)
- Profile: “A graduate of the University of the Philippines, Los Banos, and was pursuing a master’s degree in psychology when she joined Carmel. She is the sweet and sober type.”
Sister Assumpta John Theresa of the Risen Christ, OCD
- Birth name: Marinit Macapanas
- Age: 37
- Monastery: Carmel of St. Therese, Quezon City, Metro-Manila
- Profile: “A teacher in the secondary level; she is the street-smart type, who can deal with any situation.”
Sister Mary Francis of Jesus Crucified, OCD
- Birth name: Beatriz Apordo
- Age: 42
- Monastery: Cagayan de Oro Carmel, Cagayan de Oro City (two hours by plane from Manila)
- Profile: “The quiet type, but when she talks it will hit you between the eyes.”
Sister Mary Elizabeth of the Trinity, OCD
- Birth name: Verna Liza Sedo
- Age: 44
- Monastery: Carmel of Mati, Mati City, Davao Oriental (three hours by car to Davao City airport, plus two hours by plane to Manila)
- Profile: “A professional catechist, so easy to get along with.”
Sister Ann Therese of the Immaculate Heart, OCD
- Birth name: Rowena Mae Carmona Ocampo
- Age: 45
- Monastery: Carmel of Davao, Davao City, Davao Occidental (two hours by plane to Manila)
- Profile: “A graduate of the University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City, with a degree of fine arts in interior design. She is a pleasant personality who takes her Carmelite life seriously.”
