Journey To Carmel

Thursday, October 31st, 2019

Fr. Anthony Armstrong, O.Carm.

My vocation journey began almost 25 years ago. Many people had been encouraging me for years to think about priesthood but I had been fighting God for years. After a long struggle, I finally said yes at the age of 30. I was strongly drawn to the Carmelites and, after a period of discernment, I joined the British Province in September 1996 and took my first vows 12 months later. At the end of my studies I had the opportunity to do Carmelite Studies in the U.S. in 2002 in Washington, D.C., where Fr. Emmett was my formator. That year in D.C. was key to my return here years later. I returned to the U.K. a year later but, sadly, it didn’t work out as I had expected and so I left the Carmelites in June 2004.

After this, God guided me to working with the homeless in central London where I spent the next seven years doing a job I loved. But, totally unexpectedly, the doors to religious life reopened. I had always said to God that I would consider religious life again only if He opened the doors clearly and He did! Over time, I felt more and more drawn to rejoin the Carmelites here in the U.S., thanks in no small part to the encouragement and support from Fr. Emmett.

I returned to the Carmelites in August 2011, and took my temporary vows one year later. I completed my studies in Washington, D.C. at Christmas 2014 and then began full time ministry in our Carmelite parish in South Central Los Angeles! I made my lifelong profession of vows in January 2016 and was ordained a deacon in June 2016. I had a blessed three and a half years in South Central LA before I was assigned here to OLMC Tenafly in July 2018. It has been a blessing getting to know the parishioners of OLMC these past 16 months or so and I look forward to serving the people of this parish in the months and years to come.

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