Carmelite Retreat Program
Below you will find a list of all of our Carmelite Retreats for 2025. Click on any one to learn more about it and to register. Alternatively, you can click here to go straight to the registration page for all retreats.
PRESENTER: Fr Paul Maunder, OCD
This year is the centenary year of the canonisation of St Therese of Lisieux, an opportune time to review Therese’s teaching on her famous way of love alone that leads humble souls straight into the heart of God, into the mystery of Divine Love. St Therese found this doctrine authoritatively confirmed and recommended by St. Paul as a way better than all others. Fr Paul will reflect on the riches of these two classic spiritual writings as they combine to shed inspiring light on each other.
WHEN: February 14 - 16, 2025 • 6pm (Fri) - 12:30 pm (Sunday)
WHERE: Mt Carmel Priory, 247 St Andrews Road, Varroville, NSW
COST: $330/person
(Price is inclusive of all meals and accommodation)
St. Therese’s Letter to her Sister Marie
PRESENTER: Mr. Kirk Willcox
Trappist monk Thomas Merton, who died in 1968, was a prodigious writer whose opus is still highly relevant in today’s world. “The ever renewed mission of the Spirit to the soul that is in the grace of Christ is to be understood by the analogy of the natural breath that keeps renewing, from moment to moment, our bodily life.”
WHEN: February 1, 2025 • 10am - 4pm
WHERE: Mt. Carmel Priory, 247 St. Andrews Road Varroville, NSW 2566
COST: $30/person (Please BYO lunch)
Thomas Merton, a Prophet for our times
PRESENTER: Fr. Gerard Moran, OCD
Today we will meditate on Jesus’ call and prepare to celebrate the great season of Lent-Eastertide which we enter into on Ash Wednesday. “Now is the favourable time; this is the day of salvation!” (2 Cor 6, 2).
WHEN: March 1, 2025 • 10am - 4pm
WHERE: Mt Carmel Retreat Centre, 247 St Andrews Road, Varroville, NSW
COST: $30/person (Please BYO lunch)
Repent, and Believe the Good News (MK 1,15)
PRESENTER: Fr. Paul Maunder, OCD
“The poetry of Second Isaiah is extraordinarily beautiful”. Fr Paul will reflect on the deeply moving prophecies of this mysterious prophet of the Babylonian Exile foreshadowing the profound suffering and glorious exaltation of Christ in his saving Paschal Mystery.
WHEN: April 5, 2025 • 10am - 4pm
WHERE: Mt Carmel Retreat Centre, 247 St Andrews Road, Varroville, NSW
COST: $30/person (Please BYO lunch)
Lenten Reflections - Second Isaiah
PRESENTER: Ms. Tricia Watts
Come and enjoy a reflective weekend using the songs and prayers of the Taize Community. We will focus on the power of singing, silence, sharing and walking together in harmony.
WHEN: March 28 - 30, 2025 • 6pm (Fri) - 12:30 pm (Sunday)
WHERE: Mt Carmel Priory, 247 St Andrews Road, Varroville, NSW
COST: $330/person
(Price is inclusive of all meals and accommodation)
Walking as Pilgrims of Peace - a Retreat in the Spirit of Taize
Hope: Present and Eternal
PRESENTER: Mr. Matthew Delasey, OCDS
In this 2025 Jubilee ‘Pilgrims of Hope’, we will explore hope as our desiring of God and our hope to attain to God in eternal life. Hope reorients our memory of the past and thoughts of the future to the present, freeing the soul to be filled by God. Hope, then, receives an encounter with Jesus Christ, to know Him in this present life as what is hoped for in fullness in eternity.
WHEN: May 3 2025 • 10am - 4pm
WHERE: Mt Carmel Retreat Centre, 247 St Andrews Road, Varroville, NSW
COST: $30/person (Please BYO lunch)
PRESENTER: Mr. John Charadia & Artist Tutors
Contemplative art invites us to an encounter, which is a gift, a spiritual gift that has the potential to bring us into a deeper relationship with God. Participants will explore artistic ways of expressing personal connections with the spirituality of Advent and Christmas. This professional learning is especially designed for participants who plan to engage with the annual Christmas Storey Art Exhibition and Competition.
Note: Preferably, participants should participate Thursday evening to Friday, but can choose to just attend Friday, with the following options:
OPTION 1: June 12 - 13, 2025 (6pm Thursday - 4pm Friday) (Arriving in time for dinner and departing after lunch)
COST: $230/person (including $30 for art materials)
OPTION 2: June 13, 2025 (Friday 8.30am start) Meals & workshop
COST: $85/person (including $30 for art materials)
WHERE: Mt Carmel Priory, 247 St Andrews Road, Varroville, NSW
The Artistic and Spiritual Dimensions of the Christmas Story
PRESENTER: Ms. Jill Ditton, OCDS
Saint Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face died of tuberculosis at the age of 24 years in a Carmelite convent, in Lisieux, a small town in Normandy France. She led a quiet life and had limited social contacts, with few opportunities to fulfill her boundless desire to be a missionary and win souls for Jesus. As she was dying she sensed that her mission was about to begin, and she said to her sisters, “after my death, I will let fall a shower of roses” and she has.
Come and spend time and learn of some of the many miracles or (roses) the Saint has sent.
WHEN: June 7, 2025 • 10am - 4pm
WHERE: Mt Carmel Priory, 247 St Andrews Road, Varroville, NSW
COST: $30/person (Please BYO lunch)
The Roses of St. Therese
PRESENTER: Fr. Bernard Hancock. OCD
Luke’s Gospel has been called the beautiful book. In this Gospel, we discover our God who invites us all to conversion of heart and a life-giving friendship with Him. Come and spend a day reflecting on and praying this wonderful Gospel.
WHEN: August 2, 2025 • 10am - 4pm
WHERE: Mt Carmel Retreat Centre, 247 St Andrews Road, Varroville, NSW
COST: $30/person (Please BYO lunch)
The Beautiful Book
Finding Inner Peace in a Chaotic World: The Timeless Wisdom of St. Teresa of Avila
PRESENTER: Fr. Ransom Rapirap, OCD
Almighty God, in these turbulent times, we seek your peace. Guide us through the teachings of St. Teresa of Avila, that we may find serenity, hope and love.
WHEN: October 17 - 19, 2025 • 6pm (Fri) - 12:30 pm (Sunday)
WHERE: Mt Carmel Retreat Centre, 247 St Andrews Road, Varroville, NSW
COST: $330/person
(Price is inclusive of all meals and accommodation)
PRESENTER: Fr Gerard Moran, OCD
How hard it is to believe that God loves us and to live in the trust that such love awakens! St. Elizabeth of the Trinity wants this so much for us. During these days we will ask the Lord with her help to understand these truths more deeply.
WHEN: June 20 - 22, 2025 • 6pm (Fri) - 12:30 pm (Sunday)
WHERE: Mt Carmel Priory, 247 St Andrews Road, Varroville, NSW
COST: $330/person
(Price is inclusive of all meals and accommodation)
Let yourself Be Loved
PRESENTER: Ms. Barbara Stenning, OCDS
Praying the ‘Our Father’ with reference to St. Teresa of Jesus & Romano Guardini
WHEN: July 5, 2025 • 10am - 4pm
WHERE: Mt Carmel Priory, 247 St Andrews Road, Varroville, NSW
COST: $30/person (Please BYO lunch)
The Our Father & The Saints
Guided Retreat: A Week with Carmelite Saints
PRESENTER: Fr. Aloysius Rego, OCD
The Carmelite Saints have much to offer us in our journey to God. Three of them - Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, Therese of Lisieux - have been given the title ‘Doctor of the Church’, that is official teacher of the way to holiness. During this week we will explore selected themes in each of their spirituality, which can assist us in our quest for intimacy with God.
WHEN: September 14 - 21, 2025 • 6pm (Sunday) - 12:30 pm (Sunday)
WHERE: Mt Carmel Retreat Centre, 247 St Andrews Road, Varroville, NSW
COST: $1,085.00/person
(Price is inclusive of all meals and accommodation)
The Beatitudes
PRESENTER: Mr. George Morkel, OCDS
The Beatitudes, sometimes regarded as “beautiful attitudes” are much more than that. We will explore the depth of what Jesus meant by these words, perhaps better understood as His blueprint of how to live in the Kingdom of God “on Earth as in Heaven”.
WHEN: November 1, 2025 • 10am - 4pm
WHERE: Mt Carmel Retreat Centre, 247 St Andrews Road, Varroville, NSW
COST: $30/person (Please BYO lunch)
Canticle of the Creatures
PRESENTER: Dr. Robert Gascoigne
In his ‘Canticle of the Creatures’, St. Francis of Assisi praised God with all his creatures, especially Brother Sun and Sister Moon. Pope Francis began his encyclical Laudato Si’ (2015) with the opening words of the Canticle: ‘Laudato Si’, mi Signore’, ‘Praise be to you, my Lord’. In Laudate Drum (Praise God) (October 4th, 2023) he returned to this theme. Pope Francis reminds us ‘that our common home is like a sister with whom we share our life’ and that ‘this sister now cries out to us because of the harm we have inflicted on her by our irresponsible use and abuse of the goods with which God has endowed her.’ (Laudatory Si’, 1, 2). In this retreat, on October 4th, the feast day of St. Francis, we will reflect on his ‘Canticle of the Creatures’ and learn from Pope Francis’ messages in Laudato Si’ and Laudate Deum.
WHEN: October 4, 2025 • 10am - 4pm
WHERE: Mt Carmel Retreat Centre, 247 St Andrews Road, Varroville, NSW
COST: $30/person (Please BYO lunch)
PRESENTER: Bishop Greg Homeming, OCD
“A prayerful consideration of the important events in the life of Jesus reveals the Man and teaches us to pray and live”.
WHEN: August 22 - 24, 2025 • 6pm (Fri) - 12:30 pm (Sunday)
WHERE: Mt Carmel Priory, 247 St Andrews Road, Varroville, NSW
COST: $330/person
(Price is inclusive of all meals and accommodation)
Spirituality & the Life of Jesus
Called to Be
PRESENTER: Ms. Lorraine Murphy, OCDS
We will explore how to “rest in God’s love” - the frequent invitation issued by Jesus to his disciples. Reflecting on those who have gone before us in their writings: St Augustine in his “Confessions”, St Teresa of Avila in her “Interior Castle”, St Therese in her “Story of a Soul”, St John of the Cross in his poetry and Dorothy Day to “rediscover the mystic” that lies within each of us.
WHEN: September 6, 2025 • 10am - 4pm
WHERE: Mt Carmel Retreat Centre, 247 St Andrews Road, Varroville, NSW
COST: $30/person (Please BYO lunch)
PRESENTER: Fr. Ransom Rapirap
Advent, a season of preparation and anticipation, invites us to reflect on the interplay between darkness and light. St. John of the Cross, a 16th-century Carmelite mystic, illuminates this paradox in his teachings. As we journey through Advent, let us delve into the mystery of darkness and light, guided by St. John’s wisdom.
WHEN: December 6, 2025 • 10am - 4pm
WHERE: Mt Carmel Retreat Centre, 247 St Andrews Road, Varroville, NSW
COST: $30/person (Please BYO Lunch)
Darkness & Light: Embracing the mystery of Advent in the teaching of St. John of the Cross
