A Carmelite Comes Home

Former Salpointe faculty member the Very Reverend William J. Harry, O. Carm., better known as “Fr. Bill,” retired this year as Prior Provincial of the Province of the Most Pure Heart of Mary of the Carmelite Order. When faced with the decision of where to live during retirement, Fr. Bill was drawn back to Salpointe, where he served his first Carmelite ministry assignment from 1977 to 1979. Fr. Bill returned as the campus minister and teacher from 1983 to 1985, and has served on Salpointe’s Board of Directors for almost 15 years.
“I have always felt very much at home here,” Fr. Bill said. “There were lots of new teachers when I started at Salpointe so we made a community among ourselves as a faculty. I have had friends in Tucson for 40 years. Salpointe is a great school but I also love the food, culture, and especially the climate of Tucson.”
During retirement, Fr. Bill will continue working on meaningful projects including publishing books on Carmelite history and spirituality and, for six months a year, doing ministry work in El Salvador. He is also looking forward to reading more in his free time. “I love reading, which is a gift my Dad gave me,” he said. “I have tons of books that I haven’t had time to read.”
Looking back on his long history with the Carmelites, Fr. Bill is proud of many accomplishments. Under his leadership as Prior Provincial, the Carmelites established a Carmelite Chair and the Center for Carmelite Studies at Catholic University of America. “Education is important to me,” he said, “and the professional, serious study of our Carmelite spirituality became one of my focuses.”
“Catholic education is the crowning jewel of the American Church and I am very proud that the Carmelites have strong schools. We’ve worked hard getting the Carmelite schools to operate as a system, benefiting from the strengths of each other.” Each year, the U.S. Carmelite high schools come together to share best practices and plan for the future. Fr. Bill recalled the group traveling to Peru for the 2018 Carmelite Secondary Schools Commission. He noted that “All three schools in Peru are phenomenal!” Salpointe President Kay Sullivan concurs. “The conference provided the opportunity for leaders of the five U.S. schools and three Peruvian schools to share our commitment to the Carmelite charism of prayer, community and service. Those of us from the U.S. were especially inspired by the happiness of the children, the involvement of their families, the dedication of the teachers and administrators, and the tangible living witness to our Catholic faith.”
Stabilizing the beginnings of the Carmelite Order in El Salvador and Mexico was also important to Fr. Bill. The last six years had a dramatic increase in vocations to the Carmelites. “Our Vocation and Formation teams, especially in Mexico and El Salvador, have done a great job in making sure we have several strong candidates,” said Fr. Bill. “Now we have 54 Carmelites in formation across the province, actually increasing the overall number of men in the Province for the first time since the early 1960s.”
The work of the Carmelite Order has remained focused on passing on the Carmelite charism during the course of Fr. Bill’s years of service. Besides the eight secondary schools (two other schools are in the process of joining), the Province administers 21 parishes, three retreat houses (another is being developed in El Salvador), and has a developing social media outreach. Fr. Bill appreciates the cultural richness that comes from serving in five separate countries.
A recent push towards social justice resulted in the creation of the Carmelite NGO which is affiliated with the United Nations. Its mission is “to actively participate in creating a more peaceful, just, and loving world by advocating and caring for the spiritual and material needs of the human family and the environment.” Salpointe Catholic has played a significant role in the Carmelite NGO and the development of its Laudato Si’ curriculum.
The work of the 820-year-old Carmelite Order varies across countries. The Carmelites in El Salvador address the ministerial needs of the people but also some of the basic human needs. A recent project resulted in 25 families sharing the benefits of food grown in co-operative greenhouses paid for by the German Embassy. The largest Carmelite province in Indonesia has projects on the points of contact between Carmelite spirituality and Indonesian culture. A Vietnamese Carmelite in Rome is doing a similar study for the Vietnamese and Carmelite cultures. In other places, such as Kenya, Tanzania and Zimbabwe, the Carmelites are working to empower local people so they can better their own lives. The ministry of each province depends on the reality and needs of the local Church.
The Carmelites of the Most Pure Heart of Mary Province have been present in Peru for over 70 years, in Mexico for 25 years and in El Salvador for 6 years. As Prior Provincial, Fr. Bill served the Carmelites in each country. “My job was to animate, coordinate, encourage, be present and listen,” he said. “I tried to pull people together on common projects.”
“What gives me energy,” said Fr. Bill, “is that most people really are trying to do the right thing and to do good with their lives. They’re willing to do the hard work necessary. It always makes me nervous when someone comes in with all the answers. That is just too easy. Life is not that simple — especially if one wants to live in justice and truth. That requires some radical choices. But thanks be to God, most people are willing to make the hard choices to stand up for what is right.”
It is with this spirit that Fr. Bill returns to Salpointe, to continue encouraging others to do good and to live the Carmelite values of prayer, community and service. The Salpointe community is grateful he has chosen to return to our campus and we are happy to welcome him home.

By Carissa Krautscheid
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