Carmelites refuse to abandon old rule

BY OUR ROME CORRESPONDENT
NUNS FROM 22 ultra-conservative Carmelite convents are set to be expelled from their order for violently refusing to adopt the modern rule of the congregation. The sisters have refused to adhere to the revised 1977 Carmelite constitution, which allows a degree of "opening up to the world", in keeping with the Second Vatican Council. Eighty per cent of Carmelites worldwide approved the new rule, but as it was about to be officially sanctioned in 1990, a mainlyfemale ultra-traditional group presented their own revised draft.
The 22 convents part of a
dissenting group of 125 communities of Carmelite nuns who voted to keep the old rule are so adamant about the changes that they have refused to negotiate with Carmelite Superior General Fr Camillo Maccise.
One of the most militant conservative convents, at Lerna, in Spain, has even written to Fr Maccise explaining that they want no contact with the Carrnelite Fathers, "preferring to proceed on their own". They are known to have tacit support from the Vatican.
Now Fr Maccise is to write to all Carmelite communities worldwide asking them whether ties with the 22 dissenting convents should be maintained.