Annual Novena in honor of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel

The annual novena in honor of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel will be held from July 8th to July 16th at the Carmelite Monastery, 1250 Carmel Drive in Lafayette. Everyone is cordially invited to come and pray to our heavenly Mother for families as requested by Pope Francis and to learn more about Carmelite spirituality.

The celebrant for the novena will be Father Adam Gregory Gonzales, who will guide us in our reflections. Mass will be each evening at 6:00 P.M., leading to the climax on the feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel on July 16th. The priests of the diocese are also invited to join us in concelebrating the Eucharist when they are able.

Father Adam Gregory Gonzales, OCD, has been a Discalced Carmelite since 1997 and a priest since 2005. Father was born and raised in Long Beach, California. It was there that he received his early formation in Carmelite spirituality by the Carmelite Sisters of the the Most Sacred Heart who were his grammar school teachers. His higher education was completed at Mt. Angel Seminary in Oregon where he earned a Master of Divinity and a Master of Arts in Theology, with a thesis entitled “St. Teresa of Avila and St. Therese of Lisieux, Mother and Daughter Doctors of the Church.” Fr. Adam Gregory presently serves the California-Arizona Province of Discalced Carmelites as Vicar Provincial and Prior and Retreat Director of El Carmelo Retreat House in Redlands, California.