Interview: The War on the Traditional Contemplative Heart of the Church

The message is clear. Tradition may be tolerated in appearance—but not in substance.

It is becoming increasingly clear that the so-called “war on tradition” within the Church did not end with the passing of Pope Francis.

Instead, under Pope Leo XIV, it merely changes attire—swapping open disdain for traditional Catholicism with a faint aroma of incense and an occasional Latin antiphon. The outward gestures may suggest a more accommodating papacy, but the underlying agenda remains alarmingly consistent: the systematic suppression of Traditional Catholicism in all its manifestations. Including contemplative religious communities.

This continuity is no more evident than in the way Pope Francis’ Cor Orans continues to shape Vatican oversight of contemplative life. Issued in 2018, Cor Orans laid the bureaucratic groundwork for the centralization—and in many cases, dismantling—of traditional women’s religious communities. It imposed rigid structures, mandatory federations, and external oversight, often disregarding the autonomy guaranteed by Canon Law. Communities that had lived peacefully and fruitfully according to their founding charisms were now subjected to intrusive reforms, often led by outside religious unfamiliar with or even hostile to their way of life. Cor Orans signaled a fundamental distrust of traditional religious expressions—particularly contemplative and cloistered forms—casting them as outdated, insular, or in need of modernization.

Under Leo XIV, the strategy persists—now, with an even broader reach.

It would seem not only female communities are in the modernists’ cross hairs. The historic Cistercian Abbey of Heiligenkreuz, one of the most vibrant and vocations-rich monastic communities in Europe, has now found itself under Vatican scrutiny. According to the Catholic outlet Silere non possum, an apostolic visitation has recently been ordered by the newly installed leadership of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life. The directive bears the signatures of the new prefect, Sister Simona Brambilla, and her secretary, Sister Tiziana Merletti—both known for their progressive leanings and deep alignment with the ideological currents that shaped the Francis pontificate. (Brambilla and Merletti were appointed under Pope Leo XIV. But hey, he said Mass facing ad orientem so he must be an ally…)

One of their first major moves? A formal inquiry into Heiligenkreuz—despite no public scandal, no doctrinal deviation, and no collapse in discipline. On the contrary, the abbey’s fidelity to traditional liturgy, strict observance of monastic life, and its astonishing number of new vocations should mark it as a model of ecclesial vitality. Instead, these very successes appear to have made it a target.

In many traditional communities, especially those that enjoy canonical autonomy, a quiet resurgence is underway—faithful to their founders’ intentions, resistant to modern dilution, and often rewarded by growth in vocations and local spiritual renewal. But these communities challenge the dominant narrative that religious life must "adapt" or die.

Behind the decision to visit Heiligenkreuz lies a web of internal pressures, particularly from the Cistercian Abbot General, Mauro Giuseppe Lepori, whose approach aligns more closely with modern ecclesial movements like Communion and Liberation. Reports suggest he has pressured traditional abbeys to conform to his vision, using apostolic visitations as tools of soft coercion—or outright punishment.

This is not isolated. Time and again, traditional communities find themselves targeted not because of dysfunction, but because they defy expectations by thriving while pursuing tradition. The message is clear: tradition may be tolerated in appearance—but not in substance.

What follows is an interview Radical Fidelity secured with just such a community who is now fighting back against the witch hunt.

(Note: The lovely Carmelite Sisters decided they would be answering as a community and therefor answers are not attributed to one specific Sister. It is also worth noting, since it is not mentioned anywhere else in the interview, that once their monastery is built it will be known as the Our Lady Co-Redemptrix Carmelite Monastery.)

• Please tell us a little about yourselves.

We are Carmelite nuns who have experienced the detrimental effects firsthand of Cor Orans and Traditionis Custodes, both within the Church and in the monastic life. We seek to build a traditional Carmelite monastery for ourselves and future generations of women seeking to live out the traditional charism of Saint Teresa of Avila without any compromise, as well as to participate in the Traditional Latin Mass daily. All of which we do in hope for the greater glory of God, the salvation of souls, and in praying for the Pope with the bishops in union with him and the priests of the world.

• Please tell our readers about your current community, its history, charisms, how many you are, etc.

We are traditional Carmelite nuns of the spiritual "school" of our Holy Mother Saint Teresa of Avila. We seek to live out the life and teachings that she received from Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and passed on to her spiritual daughters through her writings such as the Constitutions she wrote, and through the safekeeping of the traditional Rule of Carmel. This Rule was codified by Saint Albert, Bishop of Jerusalem, at the request of Saint Berthold and his companions on the mountain of Carmel in the Holy Land. They lived according to the precepts of the Rule as a "community of hermits" since the time of Saint Elijah in the Old Testament.

The Order of Carmel is blessed with being called "Our Lady's Order" because it is dedicated to Our Lady of Mount Carmel, who blessed our Order and the world through the institution of the Brown Scapular given to Saint Simon Stock (which is celebrated every year on the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel on July 16th). As such, our Order's charisms are entirely based on imitation of Our Lady in her silence, her redemptive suffering for the salvation of souls, her hidden life in Nazareth, her complete and total giving of herself to God for His sake and to be alone with Him, etc. This is the life that every Carmelite nun aims to practice, the "Way of Perfection" as Saint Teresa calls it, while being enclosed (cloistered) from the world in a life of prayer.

We are building a new monastery in High Springs, Florida, to preserve this way of life from being changed, erased, or altered in any way. We are building to be able to house 13 nuns on our ten acres of land, which is just down the road from the famous Florida Springs. It is a serene, rural spot where we can follow the call of our vocation to serve the Church and pray for the Pope, the cardinals and bishops and priests, and for the salvation of souls, in a silent life of prayer.

• What does it mean to have a "hidden life" as a Carmelite nun?

The "hidden life" of a Carmelite nun relates to the fact that within her monastery she is enclosed or cloistered, meaning that she is set apart away from the world. She is not "in" the world or "of" the world or "for" the world. She has dedicated her life completely to God so that He is her only company aside from the community life that she lives with her sisters. In our spiritual history, we began as hermits living on the mountain of Carmel (separated physically from the rest of the world), and the monastery's purpose is to imitate this hidden separation by being another mountain in which the nuns can hide themselves for God alone.

• I understand that you have been instructed to "re-do" your vows under Cor Orans. Give us a short overview of what Cor Orans is and then also how it specifically affects your community.

Cor Orans is a document that is akin to Traditionis Custodes in many ways, although instead of affecting the greatest contemplative prayer this side of Heaven (the Traditional Latin Mass), it affects women religious of every contemplative order of the Church. It is said that the devil hates Latin; well, the devil hates nuns who pray, too!

There are many aspects of Cor Orans that destroy the traditional way that contemplative religious orders have operated for centuries. It destroys the autonomy of the monasteries (autonomy meaning that the individual monasteries govern themselves), and this is something that our Foundress Saint Teresa was extremely insistent that her daughters safeguard.

The Prioress or Mother Superior, who was always traditionally elected by the nuns of her own monastery, is also stripped of her authority and power. In a sense, she becomes no more than a figurehead, as a council of five nuns of a district or Federation control about 14 or so other monasteries within a region. This council also decides who can make vows and if a girl can even enter the monastery she feels called to (which was always traditionally the decision of the Prioress).

(What Cor Orans Federations seem to mean by "re-doing" one's vows: if a nun made vows after Cor Orans but her community was not yet subject to the dictates of the document, the Federations say that those vows were invalid! What was good enough for Holy Mother Saint Teresa of Avila is apparently not good enough anymore!)

Cor Orans also removes the financial independence of each monastery by forcing the nuns to hand over their assets to the Federation of the Council, who can deem that those donations should be put to some other use in a different monastery. In addition, Cor Orans destroys the specific charisms of the contemplative orders mainly by forcing the nuns to abandon their contemplative enclosure, silence, and solitude for Federation conventions across the country.

• You were also told your "vows of chastity don't matter." Please elaborate how this came about, why this is beyond scandalous, and how it goes to the heart of being a Discalced Carmelite nun.

As mentioned above, when a Federation takes over a monastery in order to subject it to Cor Orans, one tactic seems to be that these Federations decree that a nun who made vows within her community is invalid because her monastery was not yet subject to Cor Orans (and in addition, she did not attend the re-education conventions in various states on the new diabolical, liberal theology that the Federations seek to teach the new vocations). Some of our sisters were told flat out: "Your vow of chastity does not matter anymore, so you can leave right now and go get married without any consequence." How diabolical! When a nun makes a vow of chastity "to God and the Blessed Virgin Mary according to the Rules and Constitutions of Carmel until death," she means explicitly: until death! No matter what new liberal theology comes knocking on the door, the Federations have no right to encourage nuns that if they do not "fit the mould of Cor Orans" to abandon the vows they made to God.

• Please tell us how your community's relationship with the TLM started, developed, and why you believe that was ultimately the reason that prompted the persecution/suppression.

Some of the sisters already found the Latin Mass in the monastery; others grew up with diocesan Latin Masses before the major suppression of it within their respective dioceses and monasteries.

The main reason that the Latin Mass promoted the persecution and suppression of some monasteries who embraced it is because quite frankly: the devil hates Latin and the devil hates nuns who pray (in Latin)!

• Would you care to share your thoughts on Traditionis Custodes?

As many bishops and cardinals have noted: it is diabolical. No good can come from forcing priests to stop praying the greatest contemplative prayer this side of Heaven. The controversial motu proprio Traditionis Custodes abrogated the universal permission granted by Pope Benedict XVI's Summorum Pontificum for priests to offer the Traditional Latin Mass and for the faithful to exercise their divine right to attend this Holy Sacrifice.

This has caused an unprecedented suppression of the contemplative religious life of the Church. In what has been called, by not a few bishops and cardinals, an "extreme emergency crisis of the Church," our little (and growing!) group of Carmelite nuns and vocations seek to safeguard the Traditional Latin Mass and safeguard the traditions given to Holy Mother Saint Teresa of Avila by God, by building the new monastery. Our hope and our mission is to continue the Carmelite life that Saint Teresa passed on to us, and to continue the call of our religious vocation to pray without ceasing for the Pope, the bishops in union with him, and for the salvation of souls.

• Would you care to give us some thoughts about the current situation in the Catholic Church? (Persecution of Traditional Catholics, heresies, heterodoxy, etc.?)

Not a few bishops and cardinals have spoken of this current situation in the Catholic Church as an "extreme emergency situation" and a "crisis," and rightly so. Hundreds of monasteries have been suppressed in just a few short years, and the Latin Mass has been unjustly and diabolically suppressed.

But we understand what is the solution to this crisis: We pray for the Pope in union with all the Catholic bishops of the world to consecrate "Russia" to the Immaculate Heart of Mary on the same day, and within the same hour or so, in order to hasten the coming of the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart! This way the world will see and realize the authority of the Church on Earth, and a true and lasting peace will be restored to the world. This true and lasting peace, we believe as Father Gruner believed at the Fatima Center, will include the restoration of the Traditional Latin Mass within the Church.

• What are the "official" reasons given for suppressing monasteries like your own? The "other" reasons they use to hide the real motive?

That is a good question that many of these Federation officials never really answer. It is clear to us and to those who have been suppressed that the true reason is acquiring the property and assets of the nuns.

• Please elaborate on some of the ridiculous changes they expect from you, such as that vocations must come from your diocese, the conventions/meetings the novices must attend, what is taught there, how Mother Superiors will be chosen, and the control they will have over moving nuns and funds around, etc.

There is actually a very well-done article by Crisis Magazine that we feel will explain everything in detail better than we can sum up: https://crisismagazine.com/opinion/why-is-the-vatican-assailing-contemplative-life

• Is it true that when you introduced the TLM, vocations also increased?

Yes, many of our sisters have been witnesses to the fact that when monasteries start having the Traditional Latin Mass prayed, vocations rapidly begin to bloom. Young women start to take an interest in the monasteries that pray the Latin Mass. The majority of young people in the Church want the Latin Mass because it is the greatest contemplative prayer this side of Heaven. It is the best practice to worship God in the greatest possible way this side of Heaven. Carmelite nuns, as well as every nun and priest, must pray the Latin Mass if they want to grow in holiness. The Latin Mass is God-centered. The Novus Ordo is people-centered. The Latin Mass is meditative-contemplative-silent prayer. The Novus Ordo is vocal prayer (and most times unnecessary nonsense and noise). According to Saint Elijah, God speaks to us in the "still small whisper"... The Latin Mass is the only liturgy of the Latin Rite that gives us the atmosphere to properly hear the voice of God in our life.

• You said you had to "do things against St. Teresa of Avila." Please explain.

Many sisters who have had to live under Cor Orans explain that much of what the document calls for contemplative nuns to do goes entirely against their traditional charisms and even their vows. For example, Saint Teresa of Avila wanted her sisters to remain enclosed within a monastery, away from the world and not attending to its affairs. Cor Orans seeks for the nuns to leave their monasteries to attend "educational" conventions (much of which our sisters have said are seminars on "woke" topics such as "the synodal way of Saint Teresa," "critical race theory for religious," "social equality in the religious life," etc.). This goes against our vow of obedience to the Rule and Constitutions of Carmel that commands us to remain in our enclosure and specifically "to remain in one's cell" within the monastery.

• What are the specific charisms of St. Teresa of Avila, your community, and how does this come in conflict with Cor Orans?

Our specific charisms of Saint Teresa of Avila focus on emulating the life of the Holy Mother of God, who is the "archetype" of the contemplative life. Specifically, this includes imitating her silent way of suffering before the Crucifixion (hence our call to a life of silence), her life of virtue (what Saint Teresa calls living the life of "the Way of Perfection"), and most importantly her complete union and surrender to God as her Beloved specifically through the vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience to the Will of God (which we as nuns fulfill by observing the Rule and Constitutions of Carmel). Cor Orans conflicts with this special charism of Carmel because the nuns are being forced to leave their enclosure unnecessarily, become more connected with the world on a physical/interactive basis (such as making the contemplative orders have active apostolates that force them to be seen out of the enclosure more often), and creating a whole new "way of life," which is what Cor Orans essentially is, with many of its precepts (see the above Crisis Magazine link) going against the Rule and Constitutions of Carmel.

• You said, "Cor Orans federated Carmelite nuns are very liberal." I think you used the word woke. Please explain what you mean and how your community differs from them.

Cor Orans focuses on changing the spirituality of the contemplative orders of the Church through what sounds like re-education programs. This involves the nuns having to leave their monasteries to go to these "education" conventions in other states in order to continue their vocation or even make vows. Some sisters have heard of these conventions teaching Carmelite nuns about "social equality in the religious life," "critical race theory and its practice in the religious life," and the "synodal way of Saint Teresa" (which is an oxymoron).

With the new diabolical documents that have come out in recent years (Amoris Laetitia, Fiducia Supplicans, Traditionis Custodes to name a few), it appears that the liberal theologians within the Church are seeking to instil the diabolical teachings within these documents into the monastic life, where originally a nun's sole purpose was to study the virtues, prayer, self-abnegation, and the traditional teachings of the Catholic Church.

Our religious community is only seeking to pass on to the next generation of nuns the traditional teachings of Saint Teresa of Avila and the teachings of the Holy Catholic Church, particularly the doctrine safeguarded within the Traditional Latin Mass. We seek to do what we have always been doing since the time of Saint Elijah, the first Carmelite on Mount Carmel in Israel: praying for the salvation of souls, worshiping at the Holy Sacrifice, and raising a few chickens in our vegetable garden with maybe a cow one day. We are pretty ordinary in the grand scheme of things related to the history of Carmel. This shows how far this world has fallen and how deep in crisis our Church is that the ordinary has become so peculiarly strange!

• Another shocking revelation you made was that they informed you the Teresian Constitution has to be "updated" as it was in "conflict with Cor Orans." Effectively they were saying a saint and doctor of the Church is irrelevant and her wisdom and spirituality no longer valid. Please explain to our readers how preposterous this is.

It is quite preposterous to say that the teachings of Saint Teresa of Avila need to be "updated" according to the modern era. The Carmelite spirituality was given to Saint Teresa by Almighty God Himself when He called her to reform the Carmelite Order to become what many have known it as for centuries, as well as to build new monasteries for His greater glory.

Archbishop José Rodríguez Carballo, who released the Cor Orans document, said that contemplative life was outmoded and "says hardly anything to people today." To an assembly of Carmelites, he denied that Teresa would want them to remain faithful to her rule: "What does Teresa want now? We don't want to walk as we did 500 years ago."

Such statements go against the very vocations that we were called to, the very vows that we made to God and the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel. Especially our vow of obedience, which is expressly made "according to the Rules and Constitutions of Carmel."

We cannot abandon the teachings of Saint Teresa to follow the dictates of Cor Orans without breaking our vows. Thus, the only option is to safeguard the traditions of Carmel by founding this new autonomous monastery.

• Please tell us about the new monastery.

We are building our monastery in High Springs, Florida (USA). We are just down the street from the famous Florida Springs (Ginny, Blue, Poe) and the famous Ichetucknee and Santa Fe Rivers.

Our hope for the future Our Lady Co-Redemptrix Carmelite Monastery includes:

• A dormitory wing of 13 cells for 13 nuns.

• A self-sustaining garden on our 10 acres of land to include vegetables, a fruit orchard, raising chickens, housing beehives, and perhaps a cow and/or a goat.

• A Latin Mass chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Sorrows for daily celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass open to the public. (We pray the 1962 Divine Office and the 1962 version of the Latin Mass.)

• A modest rectory for a chaplain and/or visiting priests.

We encourage everyone to visit our website [https://habitformingsisters.wixsite.com/buildingproject] to view our architectural designs, which showcase our hopes in building this monastery that will serve women for ages to come (God-willing).

• Does that mean your current community is disbanding?

No. We are a new religious community of Carmelite nuns and Carmelite vocations who seek to build a monastery for the greater glory of God and the salvation of souls, while not being subject to the new modernistic document called Cor Orans. This document seeks to override the original charisms and constitutions of the contemplative life for women, causing many monasteries in the recent decade to be suppressed for not wanting to comply or else causing many nuns to abandon the traditions of their sainted founders and foundresses for new, humanistic directives issued in the Cor Orans document. Our community, like not a few other monasteries that have returned to the traditions of their orders and to the Traditional Latin Mass, is growing—thanks be to God!

• How will you respond if the powers that be come after your new monastery? How are you safeguarding its traditional integrity?

Our property in High Springs, Florida (the 10 acres where we are building) and our assets belong completely to our religious community through our 501(c)(3) nonprofit: Habit Forming Sisters Corporation. This ensures that forever the sisters safeguard their property and assets from being stolen, as has happened to many monasteries in the past decade through the use and abuse of the document Cor Orans.

Also, our religious community is maintaining the autonomy of our monastery as we are not a diocesan-rite order or community. This means that we are not affiliated with the local diocese as some religious communities do in recent years in order to receive funding, healthcare, and sometimes housing. We follow the original teachings of Saint Teresa of Avila, who wanted her nuns to be "autonomous," meaning that as a religious community they govern themselves by following the Rules and Constitutions that she and the original hermits of Carmel have laid down for them. This includes voting among ourselves for our superiors, discerning vocations for vows, and maintaining the order of our daily life within the monastery.

• Do you know about other traditional religious communities they have come after that have come up with similar solutions?

Yes, we are connecting with these communities scattered throughout the United States that are maintaining their autonomy for the preservation of their traditional charisms and the safekeeping of the Traditional Latin Mass.

• In which ways have the Lord opened doors for you with regards to the new monastery?

For the greater glory of God, we have successfully completed minor construction of a driveway, fencing, and the clearing of three acres of land for future construction. We chose Baker Architects to help us produce full architectural renderings of the monastery, which are now available to view on our website as well as a video presentation. We also have correspondence from young ladies wanting to join our future monastery. Our mission to build our new Carmel has only just begun and continues to flourish. Deo gratias!

Our current project involves "Engineering, Development, and Permitting," where a Florida licensed firm will be chosen to produce the schematic plans for the necessary site work before construction. This will include developing plans for the septic system, well and water drainage systems, and site grading. We will also be acquiring the permits needed for construction during this project.

• How can readers help/support the project? Financially and otherwise?

Kindly donate with your time, your talents and/or your treasure. Spread the word by sharing our website link and pictures with anyone and everyone. And most of all, please pray for us, especially remembering us in your Holy Rosaries. We pray for the Pope in union with all the Catholic bishops of the world to consecrate "Russia" to the Immaculate Heart of Mary on the same day, and within the same hour or so, in order to hasten the coming of the Triumph of the Immaculate Heart! This way the world will see and realize the authority of the Church on Earth.

Online donations can continue to be made to our building project:

Zeffy (https://www.zeffy.com/donation-form/d740db42-28de-4190-8209-cefbf8c3f6f1) PayPal (https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=UXNYJUF8Y4B5G)

We are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, so all donations made to us are tax-deductible, and donors can request a tax letter by messaging us on our website's contact page.

For mailing in donations, our address is: Habit Forming Sisters Corporation, PO Box 564, Richmond Hill, GA 31324

Our Website: https://habitformingsisters.wixsite.com/buildingproject

Our Online Shop:

https://habitformingsisters.etsy.com

Christus vincit!

Christus regnat!

Christus imperat!

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