Carmelite Father William J. Harry, a native of Louisville, has been elected prior provincial of the Carmelite Province of the Most Pure Heart of Mary. He will complete the three-year term of Carmelite Father Carl Markelz, who took leave from his office to serve as bursar general of the Carmelite Order.
In his role as prior provincial, Father Harry is the primary authority in the province — serving as its spiritual leader and its representative to the Carmelite General Curia and other ecclesial and civic authorities, a news release from Carmelite Media said.
The Province of the Most Pure Heart of Mary includes about 200 religious who serve in North America, Australia, Canada, France, Peru, Mexico, El Salvador and Italy, according to its website, carmelnet.org.
Prior to his election, Father Harry served as commissary provincial of the order’s Western Commissariat in Tuscon, Ariz. He has also served as the order’s counselor general for North America and Central Europe in its General Curia in Rome. He has served as editor of several Carmelite publications and as director of communications of the Carmelite Order and the Carmelite NGO. He also has served in education.
Father Harry will reside in Darien, Ill., during his term in office. He professed first vows as a Carmelite in August of 1977 and was ordained a Carmelite priest here in Louisville in July of 1983.
