The Carmelites in Tambacan have good reason to rejoice, for their convent, which is dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, is blessed with many vocations. Of the 33 nuns there at present, 21 are young sisters still in formation. And another three young women are still waiting to be able to enter the convent. On the one hand a great gift and a great grace, but on the other, a challenge. For the convent is starting to become too cramped. So they are now facing a dilemma: according to the Rule of the Carmelite Order, each sister should have her own cell. But establishing a new convent in another place with some of the sisters would not only be too expensive but, given the number of young sisters still undergoing their training, difficult to realise in practice. At the same time, turning away potential vocations is by no means a satisfactory solution either.
Since a number of the elderly sisters have now grown sick and frail and in many cases have difficulty climbing the stairs, the congregation has come up with a solution that resolves both problems at the same time. They would like to build on an extra wing, where the frail and elderly sisters can be housed. In this way they would no longer have to climb the stairs and could also be more easily cared for. At the same time they would then be freeing up more of the existing cells for the younger sisters. And so everyone would benefit.
