What happened to Danvers Carmel?

[graciandelamadrededios]

After the news of Mother Dawn Marie appointed as Prioress, I have not heard any news of them.

[Bonkira]

They apparently closed, but I haven't been able to find out why or where the nuns have gone.

[Nunsuch]

https://www.salemnews.com/opinion/letter-remembering-the-nuns/article_89a483f8-1a73-11ee-bab7-7360f3243ef0.html#:~:text=The Discalced Carmelite Nuns of,Richard Cardinal Cushing of Boston.

 

[Sr Mary Catharine OP]

They closed last year. The sisters went to different monasteries. 

 

[GraceUk]

It does seem a shame when monasteries close and the nuns  go to different monasteries. Must be really hard for the older sisters who have lived there for a lot of years. One or two Carmels in the UK have amalgamated which seems a better idea than the nuns all going to different monasteries. 

[graciandelamadrededios]

The St. Teresa Association, the religious organization that encompasses the monasteries of Discalced Carmelite Nuns throughout the U.S. and Canada, took control of the monastery through “affiliation” on May 31, 2021, according to a former sister.

“Affiliation” is a relatively new process outlined in “Cor Orans,” a set of directives for contemplative nuns around the world, released by The Vatican in 2018. The document provides updated specifications about cloistered life regarding their autonomy, transferal and the eventual suppression (or closure) of monasteries, as well as additional rules and regulations.

The affiliation process suspends the status of a monastery and renders it dependent on another autonomous monastery of the same institute. This is done when The Vatican’s governing body determines that a particular monastery’s “autonomy of life” has been partially compromised, meaning that it is no longer able to properly manage monastery life and all of its vocational, governmental, liturgical, and economic functions.

In January 2023, it was announced to the Sisters and the community that the Danvers site would be closed and the Sisters dispersed. After the previous mother superior’s passing in 2022, a new local superior, Mother Dawn Marie, was appointed by the St. Teresa Association, and is now overseeing the closure and sale of the property.