Another Carmel at the End of the Line

Fr Zuhlsdorf's excellent blog this morning cites us to a National Catholic Register article about yet another Carmel reaching the end of its life.  

The 412 year old Carmel of Lucerna in Spain is down to three nuns and must close.  Says the article:

The community of Discalced Carmelites of San José monastery in Lucena in Spain’s Córdoba province, to whom Pope Francis sent several messages because of his friendship with a former prioress, is being forced to leave after the order’s presence of more than 400 years in the city due to lack of vocations.

Mother Mary Magdalene of St. John of the Cross, prioress of the small community, explained in a statement that “with great pain and great sadness, because there are only three nuns left, the scarcity of vocations and being requested by another Carmel in need, we saw that it is God’s will that our mission here had concluded,” reported the Iglesia en Córdoba (The Church in Córdoba), a weekly newspaper of the Spanish diocese.

Fr Z's commentary is apt.  It's unfortunate that he has to say it at all;  it should be obvious.  But considering the state of the Church . . . apparently not.