Former Postulant from Karmel in the North – Looking for Insight

[Nunc dimittis]

+
Pax

I was, for a time, a postulant with the group commonly known as Karmel in the North (active at the time in both France and Norway, also referred to as the Carmelite Nuns of the Primitive Observance).

At the time I was there we were in a small town in France under the wing of Resistance, ex FSSPX's Abbe Salenave. Not so long after I left, they were evicted (under accusations of robbery?). All the uploaded videos surrounding the circumstances were deleted so I can't say for sure.

They were then accepted to live at the Abbaye de Marie Reine under Mgr Roux.

The involvement of the two figures mentioned above are enough to fall in quite a complex rabbithole regarding the traditionalist icebergs drifting away from the Catholic Church.

The sisters themselves, though, had their own ideas, complex history and, a lot of times, beautiful sensibility and view regarding spiritual life and vocation that were the reason I decided to join them. I couldn't stand, though, being out of the Church and that is why I left. I understood they not always aligned with the father figures they ended up living under. But they accepted the dissonance in favour of a place to temporarily call home in their pilgrimage towards Heaven. May God have Mercy on them and guide them to the True Path.

That brief experience left me with more questions than answers. After a long hiatus they are back now on social media having embraced (to my personal disconfort and risen concern) a range of AI enthusiasm used to promote their ideas and way of life.

I’d prefer not to share too much personal information here, but I know that many people, like myself, have spent time discerning a vocation with them, having to leave for one or another reason. I believe I understand a bit more than the surface level about this “independent” Catholic group (they are not in communion with Rome), but I would really like to connect with anyone who’s also had experience with them, whether in Europe or Latin America, in any of their changing forms through the years. Or can bring some light in anything they know.

For now I keep discerning my vocation. May God also help me find the right Way.