CV NEWS FEED // A lay Carmelite community in North Dakota was recently dissolved after members raised concerns that progressive ideology had compromised their spiritual formation — a development one member sees as part of a wider struggle within the Church.
Bryon Herbel, a Catholic revert and member of the now-dissolved lay Carmelite group in the Diocese of Bismarck, moved to North Dakota in 2020 as a retiree and found himself increasingly drawn to prayer and Carmelite spirituality — particularly the teachings of St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross.
Invited to join a local O. Carm. (Order of Carmelites) lay community affiliated with the Province of the Most Pure Heart of Mary, Herbel initially found joy in the prayerful fellowship and spiritual formation. But that optimism faded as troubling trends in the assigned materials emerged, he wrote in a recent Crisis Magazine article.
“[M]y naive enthusiasm for the O. Carm. ‘brand’ began to wane after being told the first-year formation materials discouraged us from reading any of the original writings of Teresa of Avila or John of the Cross,” Herbel said. “That seemed incomprehensible to me.”
Instead, they were assigned texts focused heavily on social justice, eco-theology, and progressive theology, according to Herbel.
One book, Climbing the Mountain: The Carmelite Journey, edited by Johan Bergström-Allen, featured gender-inclusive Bible translations and endorsements of liberation theology, political activism, and participation in United Nations climate initiatives.
“There was an emphasis on finding ‘God’s loving presence within’ but a near absence of any mention of dying to self to follow God’s will, or spiritual warfare with suggested means to identify and resist demonic temptations, or potential for deceptions in discernment,” Herbel wrote.
The text also referenced Gustavo Gutiérrez, a leading figure in liberation theology, and made statements equating the Church’s teaching on the right to life with economic rights such as unionization and employment.
Concerns escalated when members discovered that the book’s editor, Bergström-Allen, is an openly gay lay Carmelite and a public signatory of a civil rights statement from New Ways Ministry — a group the U.S. bishops have criticized for promoting dissent on Catholic sexual teaching.
Local members brought the matter to their priest advisor, who referred it to the diocesan bishop. The bishop’s appointed censor reviewed the material and deemed it unsuitable. The bishop then suspended the community’s formation process until faithful materials could be provided.
However, when the group reached out to the Carmelite Provincial Office in Darien, Illinois, requesting alternative resources, they were told they must use the assigned materials. When the Bismarck group failed to comply, the provincial office suspended them as well.
The provincial office, the group later learned, had also signed the same New Ways Ministry statement. Left without formation resources or the ability to welcome new members, the lay Carmelite group dissolved.
Looking back, Herbel said the situation reflects broader tensions within the Church. He compared the situation to the 16th-century tensions within the Carmelite order, when St. Teresa of Avila’s push for a stricter observance of the Carmelite rule led her to break away from the established norms of her time.
“For St. Teresa, following the guidance of the Holy Spirit required her to challenge her existing organization to the point of breaking unity in order to fully surrender to the will of God,” Herbel wrote.
Herbel urged Catholics to approach lay associations with careful discernment, cautioning against assuming that a well-known Catholic group will necessarily provide sound formation. He warned that some communities may be compromised by teachings at odds with Church doctrine, especially in areas related to politics and sexuality.
“Proper instruction and formation in authentic traditional Catholic spirituality certainly does exist,” he said, “but so do many counterfeit versions.”
The post Lay Carmelite says ‘woke’ ideas are eroding order, true Catholic formation appeared first on CatholicVote org.