DISCALCED CARMELITE FRIARS

What DISCALCED CARMELITE FRIARS does

The Discalced Carmelite Friars (OCD Friars), Washington Province, are a Catholic religious order of approximately 12 administrative staff (with the wider OCD Order totaling over 4,000 friars globally) operating contemplative monastic communities across the Eastern and Midwestern United States and East Africa. The Order was founded by St. Teresa of Jesus in 1562, with the friars' branch established in 1568 by St. John of the Cross, and traces its deeper origins to hermits on Mount Carmel in the 12th century.

The Order delivers spiritual services rather than commercial products. Its activities include parish ministry at Holy Hill Basilica and St. Florian Parish in Milwaukee, formation and vocational discernment for men aged 21-40 considering religious life, retreat houses in Nairobi and Kiserian, and a library on Carmelite history in Kenya. The Order maintains the Basilica and National Shrine of Mary Help of Christians at Holy Hill, the provincial office at St. Florian, and houses for formation, habit production, and secular order coordination in Brighton, MA and Washington, DC. Its digital footprint is a vocation website (ocdfriarsvocation.org), YouTube, and Facebook.

The Order operates under a donations-and-community-support revenue model with no commercial pricing. Income derives from benefactor donations, parish ministry stipends, and retreat center offerings. The Order holds canonical status as a clerical and pontifical religious order under papal exemption, governs property communally under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, and serves the Catholic Church through contemplative prayer balanced with apostolic ministry including confessions, catechesis, and spiritual direction.

Name

DISCALCED CARMELITE FRIARS

Legal name

Discalced Carmelite Friars

Website

https://ocdfriarsvocation.org

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The Discalced Carmelite Friars (Washington Province) operate Catholic contemplative monastic communities across the US and Kenya, delivering parish ministry, spiritual formation, retreats, and vocation discernment for men considering religious life. Revenue derives from donations and parish support.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Catholic Religious Services

NAICS

Religious Organizations (8131), Religious Organizations (81311), Religious Organizations (813110), Religious, Grantmaking, Civic, Professional, and Similar Organizations (813)

akta.pro primary industry

Religious Orders & Monastic Communities (Monasteries, Convents) (BPAGAJAC)

akta.pro secondary industries

Local Congregations & Worship Communities (Churches, Mosques, Temples, Synagogues) (BPAGAJAA), Places of Worship & Religious Facilities Operations (Cemeteries, Retreat Centers, Pilgrimage Sites) (BPAGAJAL)

Keywords

• Catholic religious order
• Contemplative prayer
• Religious formation
• Spiritual direction
• Vocations ministry

Headquarters

HQ city

Hubertus

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices6 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Revenue model

1. Donations and Support: The order operates primarily through donations from benefactors, parish ministry, and retreat center services. As a religious order of the Catholic Church, they rely on the faithful for financial support to maintain their contemplative communities and apostolic works.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

The Discalced Carmelite Friars are a Catholic religious order of brothers and priests who live in community, follow the Carmelite tradition reformed by St. Teresa of Ávila, and dedicate their lives to contemplative prayer, liturgical celebration, and fraternal life. They operate parishes, retreat houses, and formation programs for men discerning a vocation, while also providing spiritual direction and pastoral ministry to the lay faithful.

Product overview

The Discalced Carmelite Friars (OCD Friars) of the Washington Province operate as a Catholic religious order focused on contemplative prayer, community life, and ministry service. The organization does not offer commercial products or services; instead, it provides spiritual formation programs and operates monastic communities. Its digital presence consists of an informational vocations website that guides men considering religious vocations through the formation process (postulancy, novitiate, temporary vows, studies, solemn profession, and ordination). The order maintains communities at Holy Hill (Basilica and National Shrine of Mary Help of Christians), St. Florian's Parish in Milwaukee, Washington DC, Brighton MA, Nairobi Kenya, and Kiserian Kenya, offering ministries including parish services, retreats, and spiritual guidance.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Vocation Formation Program
• Vocation Discernment Inquiries

Named customers4 records

Segments2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Augustinians (Order of Saint Augustine): Catholic religious order of friars running parishes, schools, and retreat ministries in the U.S. and internationally. Direct structural peer with similar formation, fundraising, and parish service models.
• Order of Preachers (Dominicans): Catholic mendicant order of friars and nuns with strong intellectual and preaching tradition, organized into provinces with parish and formation ministries. Comparable religious order with pontifical status and U.S. provincial presence.
• Norbertines (Premonstratensians): Catholic religious order of canons regular with abbeys in the U.S. running retreat houses and parishes. Comparable monastic structure, retreat ministry, and donation-based revenue model.
• Society of Jesus (Jesuits): Largest Catholic male religious order, also pontifical and engaged in parish ministry, retreat work, and education globally. Direct structural and operational analog to the Discalced Carmelite Friars, with comparable provinces, formation pipelines, and donation-dependent revenue.
• Order of Saint Benedict (Benedictines): Monastic religious order with extensive retreat house and parish networks across the U.S. Comparable as a religious order operating monasteries with prayer and hospitality ministries, supported by donations.
• Order of Friars Minor (Franciscans): Major Catholic mendicant religious order of friars with parish, retreat, and formation ministries worldwide. Comparable in structure, governance by provinces, and reliance on donations and ministry work.
• Marianist Family (Society of Mary): Catholic religious family running parishes, schools, and retreat ministries in the U.S. Comparable as a donation-supported Catholic religious order with mixed parish and formation ministry.
• Salesians of Don Bosco: Catholic religious congregation of priests and brothers focused on youth ministry, education, and parish work with a strong U.S. provincial presence. Comparable as a donation-dependent religious order with parish and formation ministries.
• Paulist Fathers: U.S.-founded Catholic religious society of apostolic life focused on parish ministry, ecumenical and interfaith dialogue, and media ministry. Comparable as a smaller Catholic religious community with parish and formation activities in North America.
• Carmelite Sisters (Discalced): Female branch of the same Discalced Carmelite reform, governing enclosed monasteries of contemplative nuns. Most directly comparable peer as the sister branch of the same Teresian Reform with shared charism and governance.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCCo-cQvWXscvH2YiDCl9MQQ
• Facebookfacebook.com/posts
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/discalced-carmelite-friars

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Subsidiaries6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about DISCALCED CARMELITE FRIARS