Welcome to the Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites

Bought and read this while discerning a vocation to Secular Carmel. On the plus side, it contains much useful information relating to the current structure and mission of the Order and the Secular Carmelites. On the minus side, it's not very "welcoming" and contains a good bit of the author complaining, almost scolding, about the way some Secular Carmelite chapters do things, and a couple of the chapters seem more aimed at senior members involved in governing chapters than at newbies considering joining and looking for an overview.Since I read the book, I discovered that some of it was actually originally presented as talks by the author at conferences in the 90s or the early 00s, and apparently there had recently been some revision of Secular Order governance documents and there were issues going on. That's fine but it's also 20 years ago now, and may be less relevant to someone who is just discerning now and was not around for whatever happened back in those days.

This book summarizes very important aspects of the Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites.It should be a “must read” for all the Councils of OCDS Communities.

Perfect - for learning all about the Secular Order of Carmelites. Use this for those in the first stage of Formation.

I originally bought this book for my formation class as an aspirant into the OCDS (Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites). I think this is the audience for the book and can't really imagine why you would want to read it if are not thinking about becoming a Secular Carmelite. And, since it is evidently the only book in print as an introduction for Secular Carmelites, I guess the book has a bit of a monopoly. Reviewing it is kind of like reviewing the only restaurant in town.As an introduction to the OCDS, I have found this book very helpful. So much of the reading we do for OCDS is written for audiences of secluded religious (brothers and nuns) that it is nice to have something that discusses what it is to be a Carmelite lay person. However, it does read like a transcription of talks from a conference (which it is) which means the tone is colloquial and the style simple and clear. This is refreshing since so much of Carmelite thought and writing tends to be a bit more obscure and intellectual. But it also means that the book does not have footnotes, or ways for you to understand access other knowledge. I think it could benefit from some good footnotes and a bibliography at the back, which is why I am giving it four stars instead of five.I have bought two copies of this book, one paper and one Kindle. I do have to say that I am so thankful that this and the other books we are reading now comes in a Kindle edition. This way, I only take my Kindle to the OCDS meetings and have all the books I need in my one little purse instead of lugging around the Catechism, St. Teresa, Fr. Deeney, and the Bible.

I liked everything about this product. I.am going to give this to a person interested in learning more about Carmelites.

I found this book to be very informative about the mission of the Secular Order of the Discalced Carmelites. In fact, I found this book so interesting and informative that I have read this book multiple times within the last month (April 2016). The author, who is a Carmelite Friar, has been involved with this Secular Order on a global basis for many years and brings much wisdom to the discussion about what does it mean to be a member of the Secular Order of the Discalced Carmelites. If you are currently evaluating whether this Secular Order is right for you, I highly recommend purchasing this book as soon as possible. Very readable,

Five stars. The voice of the author is as a teacher or a father teaching his children. If you are discerning this text is awesome.

This book is on a series of conferences given by Fr Deeney regarding role of the Secular Discarded Carmelites. There are two or three articles of interest that will help not just those discerning the Carmelite spirituality but those committed members of the order.