Members
Joel Padgett
Devotional Name:
Joel of the Trinity and the Holy Family
​Secular Carmelite
I began my journey in Carmel in December 2017 and made my definitive promise as a Secular Carmelite in September 2023.
Before joining Carmel, I had been searching for something more in my spiritual life for some time, and when I learned about the Secular Carmelite way of life, it just clicked. The Carmelite emphasis on prayer, friendship and union with God, and the way of trust and love simply resonated with me in a special way. In addition, I discovered the tremendous blessing of growing alongside others and supporting one another within the context of a community that is united together around the same spiritual aspirations.
The Carmelite saint with whom I have always felt a special devotion and whose spirituality has most marked me is St Therese of the Child Jesus. However, as I have become acquainted with more Carmelite saints and their writings, they have each had a deep impact upon my life. It’s like getting to know my own family.
Jane Walsh
Devotional Name:
Jane of St. Therese of Merciful Love
Secular Carmelite
When I first learned there was a Secular Carmelite group in Terre Haute, I felt very inspired to visit the community. God had laid on my heart the desire to go deeper in prayer and have a more intimate relationship with the Most Holy Trinity. I have been involved with spreading the message and devotion to the Divine Mercy for many years.
I made my temporary promise as a Secular Carmelite in September 2023. I believe that God gave me the devotional name of St. Therese of Merciful Love as she consecrated herself to Merciful Love many times in her life. There are three Carmelite saints who are Doctors of the Church. They are experts on prayer and sure guides toward union with God.
My favorite quote is from St. Teresa of Avila:
“Let nothing trouble you, let nothing frighten you. All things pass away. God never changes. Patience obtains everything. Whoever has God lacks nothing. God alone is enough.”
Joan Dupire
Devotional Name:
Joan Marie Bernadette of the Divine Will
Secular Carmelite
I moved to Bicknell, Indiana in 1970. For many years whenever we drove to Terre Haute I looked up the hill and wondered what the church I could see from the road was. In the late 1980’s I joined a charismatic prayer group in Vincennes and participated in many charismatic masses. Finally, around 1994, I found my way to the Monastery and met Mother Mary Joseph. In 1996, my husband was diagnosed with stage 4 non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Throughout his 3 years of treatment Mother Joseph's correspondence with me was a great support. It was after my husband’s recovery that I met the secular community. I felt God was calling me toward the committed and structured prayer life of an OCDS.
Rebecca Olinske
Devotional Name:
Rebecca of the Divine Will
Secular Carmelite
I began to feel drawn to interior prayer and to adoration. I wanted to know Him and show Him to others. I felt drawn to Carmel. When I started coming to meetings I felt like I had found where I was supposed to be. I enjoy the intellectual aspect of formation. I am grateful to have a community. I have walked with many of the Carmelite saints at different times so it's hard to pick a favorite. I love St. Therese of Lisieux's "Little Way." I made my First Promise in September 2024.
Lauren Pate
Devotional Name:
Lauren of the Lamb of God
Secular Carmelite
In late summer of 2017, I was diagnosed with a rare form of aggressive cancer. It was during this time of enforced stillness and quiet that I had an opportunity to read and discover the teachings and history of the Catholic Church. I knew I had found the truth. What I found, also, was beauty and order that made life full of joy, even with physical frailty. I fell in love with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament at adoration. I learned to hear Him in the stillness and silence. I came into the Church in fall of 2019, taking Holy Mother Teresa of Avila as my confirmation saint. She chased me down and led me to search for a way to grow in the Carmelite spirituality that felt like home to my mind and soul. In 2023 I became temporarily promised as a Secular Carmelite, taking as my name, "Lauren of the Lamb of God.” Holding the Lamb close to my heart, I hope to follow Him, in simplicity, and to give my life for the Church in the secular world.
Nancy Londoño
Secular Carmelite
Feeling in my soul the desire to know and serve Christ in the way that was his will, the desire to pray incessantly for consecrated souls and serve the Holy Catholic Church awakens in me, and so in 2018 my path towards Carmel, seeking a deeper life of prayer and wanting to know my beloved Lord more and more to make him known to the world.
St. Therese of the Child Jesus and St. Catherine of Siena were the Saints who led me by the hand to want to consecrate my life to the service of Christ. Thus my desire to know Jesus more, to pray more deeply, to be his friend, his servant, his student led me to meet other souls who desire the same and with whom I can share this friendship and union with Christ. In Carmel I have discovered that I am not alone, I am strengthened by my community with its teachings, prayer, love and support because there we are not people seeking to grow alone, we are a family that deeply loves each other and desires to belong to Christ to carry his love. mercy and teaching to the whole world.
Donna Throneburg
Devotional Name:
Michael of the Divine Mercy
Secular Carmelite
I was raised in a Methodist church, filled with nice folks, but I always felt something was missing. At the Easter Vigil in 1985, I found myself at St. Joseph’s in Terre Haute. At the moment of Consecration, I knew immediately who had been missing all those years. I knew and believed that Jesus was truly present in the Eucharist, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. A year later, I was, again, present at the Easter Vigil to be received into the. Holy Catholic Church.
Like most converts, I found myself reading everything I could find about the Church. I was especially drawn to the writings of St Teresa of Avila and St John of the Cross. Again, I was searching. I was not content. I wanted more. My search led me to the Carmelite Monastery in Terre Haute where I was euphoric to find a Secular Community of people also seeking a deeper relationship with God.
Through our Community and our dear Sisters, I have been introduced to many other Carmelite saints and blesseds such as St. Therese, St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, St. Elizabeth of the Trinity, and valiant Carmelites like Brother Lawrence and the Carmelite Martyrs of Compiegne. These too have guided my journey.
Through quiet perseverance in prayer, the guidance of Carmelite saints and blesseds, the encouragement of our Community, and indeed to the entire Order of Discalced Carmelites, I am deepening my relationship with my Beloved who led me to Carmel.