Dear friends and members of the Carmelite Auxiliary,

Since our last newsletter, we have had an unusual summer! At the end of July, our whole community came down with Covid, and this knocked us off our collective feet for about three weeks. We had “dodged the bullet” for over two years, so it was our turn in God’s good timing. Fortunately, we all recovered without lasting effects, but “the plague” took away any idea of celebrating our 40th anniversary of moving in to Georgetown on July 30 of 1982. Yes, this past July marked 40 years of residing in Georgetown, and we had wanted to commemorate the bold faith of our Mothers and Sisters who took possession of the newly built monastery that summer.

But it looked as though God was going to let us celebrate our 40 years in Georgetown by sending us into exile! On September 8th, feast of the Nativity of Mary, all of Georgetown was placed under mandatory evacuation orders due to the Mosquito Fire, and that included us! The fire, which had started almost 20 miles away near Foresthill, was coming right through the forest towards us, heading for Wentworth Springs Road and the Main Street of Georgetown.

We prepared as calmly as we could, collecting prescription medicines, changes of clothing, blankets, food, water, and identification documents for the Sisters. The 12 of us headed out our driveway in 4 vehicles, feeling like Abraham, “not knowing where we were going.” It did not seem possible that the Lord would let His Mother’s house burn down on her birthday. Fortunately we were welcomed in Roseville at the house of Jim and Patty MacEgan, where we had supper. The MacEgans were out of the state, at a family wedding in Colorado, but their daughter Marykate and her husband and mother-in-law acted in their stead as our hosts. They began to network among themselves, to figure out where to house 12 cloistered nuns for an unknown amount of time. The answer was soon in coming.

Christ the King retreat center in Citrus Heights, run by the Passionist community, opened its arms to us. It just happened that there were no overnight guests at the Holy Cross building that weekend, so we drove over and took over. There were other guests meeting there in the daytime, but we were given first choice to use the chapel, we were allowed to eat in the dining hall with the other guests, we had the run of the grounds for the duration of our stay. Natalie Svistoonoff made herself available to us and helped us with our every need. We had Holy Mass every morning, offered by one of the Passionists, and we even got a little recreation in with Father Phil, who good-naturedly shot baskets with some of the Sisters at the basketball court.

Father Jim graciously let us use the kitchenette in the Holy Cross building and we quickly outgrew its capacity, from all the donations of the Carmelite Auxiliary members – YOU! YOU were outstanding in your generosity and big heartedness! Once you found out that we were refugees, you stepped forward with offers to provide meals, do shopping, get us any supplies we could need, and you delivered your gifts with big smiles and hugs. We couldn’t lack for anything. In the dining room, we would bring in our latest “feast” and spread it out on the serving table like queens. Financial support was also coming in. We joked about having the Carmelite branch of the Bank of America with us!

On September 12th, feast of the Holy Name of Mary, we packed up and moved our caravan to the Marello Youth Retreat Center in Loomis, where the Oblates of St. Joseph were about to transition us into Act Two of our evacuation drama.

The Marello Youth Retreat Center is essentially one big room, with a living room / kitchen at one end, and a chapel at the other. Partition dividers pull across from wall-to-wall to make two smaller rooms in the middle. We moved in and set ourselves to living as much of our monastic life as we could. We kept a lot of the schedule that we have at home, with 6 AM Morning Prayer and mental prayer and then 8 AM Mass. With the help of a bell that the Oblates loaned us, we were called to meals and prayer. We had lots of time for manual work, which in our case was house cleaning. The Sisters had not brought their work aprons, but they improvised with large plastic trash bags, duct-taped together, and covered their habits that way. Yankee ingenuity! No wonder the Desert Fathers advocated manual labor to the hermit contemplatives, to balance out their body and soul combination. We had time for siesta, for spiritual reading, for recreation and walking about the property.

And we had visitors! Intrepid Auxiliary members did shopping for us, brought us meals, and made our days bright with their smiles when making a delivery. It was fun to meet some of you in person. We can’t thank you enough for your no-holds-barred generosity, and the prompt way you leapt into action to help the wandering Carmelites of Georgetown. In fact, the meals were so abundant that we were able to share a supper with both our hosts. We had a spaghetti feast with the Passionists, and later a heavenly homemade Mexican “comida” with the Oblates – and with leftovers for the next day!

The good news came in the evening of Sunday the 18th, as a soft rain fell: the evacuation orders were lifted. We were free to go home. We spent Monday packing and cleaning, and left on Tuesday like a modern-day Wagon Train, winding our way up the road to Georgetown. Nothing ever looked so beautiful as seeing our driveway again, and finding our monastery standing untouched. The Blessed Sacrament was reserved Wednesday morning, and when the Lord was home, then we felt like were really home too.

Thank you, one and all – too many to name individually, but known to the Lord, and to us. We’ll never forget your goodness to us, and we’ve “got you covered” in our grateful prayers both now and forever – AMEN!

Your grateful Carmelites of Georgetown, Mother Mary Bethany and Sisters

Auxiliary News

Rosary Walk: Please join us!! Sunday, October 16 is the day set for the Rosary Walk Dedication at the Monastery. Many have worked so hard to complete this Rosary Walk, and we are eager to show it off. We will gather at 10:30 AM with Father William Ryan to bless the Walk, and we would be so happy for you to join us. The location is just to the right as you come through the main gate at the Monastery off of Fox Run Road. The Monastery address is on the header above. Please contact me on our email, carmelitehelpers@gmail.com, so we know how many to expect. Parking is to your left as you come through the gate. After the ceremony, we will have a salad lunch.

Our 2022 quilt will be raffled off at the 2023 Luncheon in February!

Quilt Raffle: Our beautiful quilt is finished! The theme of the quilt is Love, and the hearts are appliquéd onto their backings and then hand embroidered for a dimensional appeal. This lovely quilt measures 72” x 72”. Raffle tickets will be available at local churches as soon as we are able to set up dates to come to your church.

Luncheon Date set: The Luncheon is set for February 11, 2023, and will once again be held at St. Mel’s Hall in Fair Oaks. If you have raffle items or would like to donate an Auction item (please, no used items) please contact us.

Church Visits: We would like to visit your church to sell raffle tickets for the quilt and Luncheon Tickets. But we need your help! Please help us set up a date when we can come to your parish on a Sunday morning to advertise our luncheon. If you can help me get a date at your church, contact me ASAP.

In Christ, Patty
carmelitehelpers@gmail.com

Newsletter #35 - October 2022