Traverse City Carmelite Monastery Update

Update, January 28, 2012:  Here are a couple of photos as found in the Traverse City newspaper, the Record-Eagle for January 23:

Greg Galla, of Grand Traverse Construction, gathers extra wood trim in the chapel in the Carmelite Monastery, where a nearly year-long renovation project is nearing completion.

Will Kolstad, of Conrad Schmitt Studios, in New Berlin, Wisc., touches up the gilding around the main altar at the chapel in the Carmelite Monastery, where a nearly year-long renovation project is nearing completion.

From the Discalced Carmelites of Traverse City who keep us posted on the renovations:

“On the feast of Corpus Christi we transferred the Blessed Sacrament with an outdoor procession to our temporary chapel.  The organ pipes were removed from the chapel a few days later, and the renovations should begin very soon, God willing.

“Our temporary chapel [pictured below] (formerly the visitors’ parlor) is nearly the same size as the tiny sanctuary in our first monastery, a remodeled home on Peninsula Drive.  We are even re-using some of the original furnishings!  The nuns are learning to pray together in very cramped quarters, giving us a deeper appreciation for our founding Sisters who lived this way for 10 years.  We hope to be back in our renovated chapel in a mere 5 months!

“Two exciting things developed since we first sent out our brochures in Lent:  we will have a large traditional tabernacle made of gleaming white marble, and our statues will be of hand-carved polychromed wood, a centuries-old process that will make them unique and lifelike.  Please join us in prayer for the families whose generosity has made these additions to our chapel possible.

“We cannot thank you enough for your support, and we ask for your continued prayers that the chapel renovation will be brought to a successful completion for God’s glory.”

__________________________________

For those who would like to send a donation, the Sisters would be eternally grateful!

Carmelite Monastery of the Infant of Prague

3501 Silverlake Rd.

Traverse City, MI 49684-8949