SYCAMORE—A second TOC community began as a Carmelite discussion group in 2009 at St. Mary Parish, here.
The Living Bread TOC Community was a study group for a couple of years, then after its first formation year, it was received by the O.Carm. order on April 20, 2012. Temporary profession of its founding members was on Jan. 12, 2015, and final profession was July 22, 2017.
The 10 Living Bread members include four who have made final promises, four who are in temporary promises and two who are in formation. The community meets on the second Wednesdays of the month beginning with the weekday Mass at the parish followed by the TOC community meeting.
All but one member of this community are from St. Mary Parish where they meet, says Linda Lederer Gibson, director.
“We are unique and very localized,” Gibson says. In addition to a monthly formal meeting with prayer and study, a separate monthly social time “enhances and bonds our community together, and that is what makes us unique,” she says.
A formation director brings them through the established TOC formation program, and they are connected to the Darien Carmelites like the Crystal Lake community is. The spiritual assistant to the Living Bread TOC is Father Jared Twenty, parochial vicar at St. Mary Parish.
Gibson says members also make a pilgrimage of some kind in September, describing last year’s as four days of trips to visit the Jubilee churches in the diocese. As a community they sponsored the 100th anniversary of Fatima Mass for the parish. They host an annual breakfast after Mass for the parish on St. Joseph’s feast day and the Feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, and they served as honor guards for the relics of St. Thérèse at the Darien Carmelite shrine.
Additionally, the Living Bread Community hosts an annual Used Catholic Book Sale fundraiser to benefit the O.Carm. Carmel of Mary Monastery in Wahpeton, ND.
For more information about this TOC community, contact Gibson at [email protected]
