About Us
In recent years there has been unprecedented interest in spirituality in the Australian community.
The Carmelite Library is an especially rich collection of books, journals and research materials in this area, particularly in Christian mysticism and spirituality, but also embracing other spiritual traditions. Located in Kew from 1928 and Donvale from 1937, in November 2002 it was relocated to more spacious and accessible premises in the heritage Carmelite Hall (1918) in Middle Park. This is the first step in a development process which is expected to make this unique library an important centre for spiritual enrichment, for academic study of spirituality and mysticism, and for inter-faith dialogue.
Although the Carmelite Friars always welcomed visitors to their library, for most of its history it remained in practice a hidden monastic treasure. Its relocation means the Library now offers easier access and more comfortable facilities for users. We want to continue to develop the Library so that this splendid collection can achieve its full potential as a local and national resource.
We want it to be a library for everyone interested in the spiritual journey: for church members, students of spirituality, scholars working on major research projects, members of the community in search of the wisdom the ages, and those seeking understanding between religions. We want to provide the Library with 21st-century facilities. We hope to redevelop the hall to create rooms for meetings, seminars, lectures and conversations in areas related to the great spiritual traditions represented in the Library’s collection.
We need help to finance renovations to the facilities and to provide for the Library’s long-term future through a sizeable endowment.
The Library’s collection has been built up over many decades. Something of its history and the nature of the collection is told in the following pages. There is nothing quite like it anywhere else in Australia, so that it holds a unique place in what is now called the distributed national collection.
The Carmelites are convinced that to maintain a library such as this is a vote of confidence in our spiritual tradition and an act of hope for our spiritual future. We have a vision of excellence for this Library as a real treasure house of spiritual wisdom.
Can you help us make the vision a reality?
Carmelites are members of an international Catholic order of friars with a continuous spiritual tradition spanning eight centuries and cultures of both East and West.
The Order originated aound the 1190s in a group of hermits living by the “spring of Elijah on Mount Carmel in Crusader Palestine. Between 1206 and 1214 they obtained a rule of life from Saint Albert of Vercelli, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, and some decades later began founding houses in Europe. By 1247 they had joined the thriving mendicant or friar movement, adding preaching and pastoral care to their contemplative tradition. Their patron, the Virgin Mary, and their place of origin, give them their official name, Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel; in England they were popularly called White Friars. Today more than 50,000 friars, nuns, sisters and lay Carmelites around the world continue in the same spiritual lineage.
In the course of the centuries the Order has produced only a few great theologians but many great mystics and spiritual writers, and the Carmelite school of spirituality is one of the most significant Christian spiritual traditions. Its greatest representatives are the 16th-century mystical writers Saint Teresa of Avila and Saint John of the Cross. It continues to the present in modern teachers such as Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, recently declared a Doctor of the Church, and the World War II martyrs Saint Edith Stein and Blessed Titus Brandsma, as well as in many contemporary authors and scholars.
The Carmelite friars arrived in Australia from Ireland in 1881, and settled at Gawler outside Adelaide, expanding the following year to the Melbourne parish of Sandridge (which stretched from Port Melbourne to St Kilda). They devoted themselves to preaching and parish ministry, and later to educational and other tasks. Among other things they developed a library, principally for their own use. It now comprises over 30,000 volumes and is open to all interested users. Over the years, it has become a collection unique in Australia.
Visit the Carmelite website
The Carmelite Library is Australia’s finest specialised collection of books and journals in the area of spirituality and mysticism. It has been called “a national treasure”.
The Library belongs to the Australia & Timor-Leste Province of the Carmelite Friars, a Catholic religious order which originated on Mt Carmel in the Holy Land in the late 12th century and has been in Melbourne since 1882.
Originally a general theological collection, the library now specialises in Carmelitana, Spirituality, and Mariology.
When the Carmelites first arrived here in 1881, they brought the nucleus of today’s Carmelite Library with them.
Most of their books were practical aids to their pastoral ministry, but even some of these were already venerable items. Among these treasures were the Ceremoniale of 1616, which guided the priest through the intricacies of celebrating Mass according to the Order’s ancient Rite of the Holy Sepulchre, which dated to the time of the Crusades. There were also the Carmelite Constitutions of 1625 (reprinted 1721), then still in force, and some eighteenth-century liturgical books.
They also brought with them the 1606 edition of Maldonati’s highly-regarded Latin commentary on the four gospels, and Antonio Martini’s 23-volume Italian commentary on the whole Bible, in the edition of 1784-88; both of these were then still commonly used for sermon preparation.
It is probably also from this time that the Library has Daniel of the Virgin Mary’s Vinea Carmeli (1662), a collection of documents and treatises about the history and spirituality of the Order, and the three-volume 1757 folio edition of the Doctrinale of the English Carmelite theologian Thomas Netter (d. 1430).
From these beginnings the present Library slowly took shape.
The Library Takes Shape
In 1928 the Carmelites decided to train their Australian novices and students in Melbourne rather than send them to Ireland. From this time an academic library began to develop at Whitefriars House of Studies, which was first in Kew and from 1937 in Donvale.
Naturally the library collection included the textbooks and other works which were required by the students and their professors across the broad philosophical and theological range of the seminary curriculum. The collection also reflected the particular characteristics of the Order and its long spiritual tradition.
From 1955 to 1979 Fr Brian Pitman was librarian. His wide-ranging theological interests and astute buying made the Library, despite its comparatively modest size, a particularly well-chosen collection, with special strengths in scripture, systematic theology, and spirituality. As in most monastic libraries, there was also a considerable eclectic element, reflecting the varied interests of the community over the years. In recent times it has been further enriched by donations of scarce items, especially from other Carmelite libraries overseas and from religious communities at home.
By the 1980s financial pressures, the development of new theological centres, and the Order’s changing educational strategy suggested a change of policy and a different vision.
A New Policy: A Specialised Collection
On reflection, it appeared to the Carmelites that specialisation would make their Library a more significant theological and cultural resource for the community in Melbourne and beyond, and allow inevitably limited financial resources to produce the maximum benefit.
In 1990 it was decided to discontinue collecting across the whole range of theological disciplines and to concentrate in three areas closely associated with the life and spirit of the Order. These are:
- Carmelitana: all aspects of the life, history and spiritual tradition of the Order;
- Spirituality: the Christian spiritual and mystical tradition, both historical and contemporary, and its links to other world spiritual traditions;
- Mariology: the theological study of the Virgin Mary.
New Management 2023-2024
The Carmelites have formed a partnership with the University of Divinity for the management of the Library from October 2023 to December2024. During this time a University team will work with the Carmelite Library Interim Board to collaboratively develop recommendations as to the most appropriate long-term structure for the library operation.
Our first priority is the collection of resources for study of the life, history and spiritual tradition of the Carmelite Order. Our aim is to develop this collection to the highest scholarly standards, allowing research to doctoral level on all aspects of the Carmelite tradition, and also to provide a comprehensive collection of devotional and spiritual works for the ordinary reader.
The Carmelitana collection includes notable research holdings on Saints Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, Mary Magdalen de’ Pazzi, Thérèse of Lisieux, Edith Stein, and Elizabeth of the Trinity. There are also extensive holdings on lesser-known Carmelite spiritual writers, like Louise de la Vallière (d. 1710), once the mistress of King Louis XIV and then a Carmelite nun, who wrote on the mercy of God; or Lawrence of the Resurrection (d. 1691), whose spiritual way was to live in constant awareness of the presence of God; or Titus Brandsma (d. 1942), martyred in Dachau, “a mystic with a monthly rail pass, as one of his friends called him.
There are particularly fine bibliographical aids for research on any Carmelite theme. The Library subscribes to all scholarly Carmelite periodicals and has standing orders for all significant Carmelite series. A high proportion of our journal titles in this area is unique in the distributed national collection.
Monographs and periodicals are collected in the principal European languages, and there are some holdings also in Portuguese, Danish, Maltese, and other languages. There are also significant items in the Rare Book Collection (see below), a small number of CD recordings of music by Carmelite musicians, and a large collection of cassette recordings by Carmelite speakers on spiritual and theological topics.
The Carmelitana collection is one of the four or five finest such collections in the world.
Spirituality and mysticism are presently of widespread interest in the community. We have uniquely important holdings on Christian mysticism and on the history of spirituality, and a rich collection of classic spiritual writings from across the centuries, as well as representative holdings on Jewish, Buddhist, Islamic and other spiritual traditions.
Among the many modern authors the Thomas Merton holding is especially extensive and is thought to be the most comprehensive in Australia. There are also extensive holdings on women’s spirituality and mysticism.
Standing orders to series include Cistercian Fathers, Cistercian Studies, Classics of Western Spirituality, Matrologia Latina, World Spirituality, Modern Spiritual Masters, and the specialist index Bibliographia Internationalis Spiritualitatis. Monographs and periodicals are collected in major European languages.
As well as material for specialists and scholars, the Library includes a very large collection of devotional material, including prayer-books, meditations, retreats, guides to prayer, and other works for spiritual reading. Special attention is being given to the collection and retention of older devotional works, including meditations and prayer-books, which document the traditional piety and practices of the Catholic community, a literature now becoming surprisingly scarce. This collection area also includes extensive material on hagiography, lives of saints, and Christian biography.
There is a large collection of monographs on monastic and religious life, which provides a significant resource also for the history of religious women. It is hoped to further develop this part of the collection through our project “Bibliographical Heritage of Religious Instituteby offering the Library as a repository for works representing the spiritual traditions of the religious congregations.
The most important periodicals in the area of spirituality are subscribed to in various languages. About half our journal holdings in this area are unique nationally.
Although our main focus is on the Catholic tradition, there are holdings also on Protestant and Orthodox traditions, and on Jewish, Islamic, and Buddhist mysticism, and on comparative religion.
Management
From October 2023 to the end of January 2024 the Carmelite Library will be managed by a team from the University of Divinity. During this time the University team will work with the Carmelite Library Interim Board to collaboratively develop recommendations as to the most appropriate long-term structure for the library operation.
In order to allow time for the University team to prepare for this project, the Carmelite Library will be closed to the public from Thursday 28 September 2023 until the end of January 2024. Borrowing and returning books from the Carmelite Library collection during this period can be organised via the Mannix Library in East Melbourne. You can email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to make arrangements.
Arcimboldo -- The Librarian: Meditation
This meditation by Philip Harvey on the painting by Giuseppe Arcimboldo (1526 or 27-1593) was first published on the Library Blog in February 2013.
He stares into the past that made him. We are all doing this, increasingly as we grow older. We have to find a way to explain how we got here. Our experience slowly informs us that there was a time before our own experience, to which we also belong. He stares from 1562 at a lifetime of transformations. Water can be turned into wine but clay still cannot be turned into gold. Not everything pleases him, it can never be all pleasure, yet he knows he belongs to discovery and its consequent treasures. He is full of this discovery, it has made him, we could almost say. He stares across the Atlantic Ocean to what nature does that is different and equally abundant. Within him he contains that information, though he calls it Legend and Report and Assay and Proclamation and Statute. Certainly, nothing in his own constitution would be quite the same without discovery, or its companions, conquest and exploitation. From 1562 the past is a tumult that he would rather keep under wraps. Why, only in living memory England has closed its monasteries and Germany has freely set up its own church and friends of his remember their grandparents talk about the end of the East at Byzantium. The Emperor here in Prague is restless for knowledge too, permitting into his orbit every kind of theorist and experimenter, as if he were the centre of the universe. It is not altogether with a clear equanimity or composure that the Librarian knows these tumults are related to books. That it was books in increasing numbers that enhanced discovery of the differences in people’s minds. He keeps himself together, he doesn’t fall in a heap, has at least these things to keep him going. But authority has come at a cost. His identity must resolve contradictions between one page and the next, or at least live with those contradictions. 1562 stares at the past as at a dream of lost glories. The ruins of the ancients keep him on his mettle. For even though manuscripts are old hat and the scroll could belong in one of the Emperor’s cabinets of catchy curiosities, he must not become conceited. It would be dangerous to presume that you know it all; people like that often finish up being thrown out the window, especially in Prague, where it is a more effective solution than exile.
He belongs in the present and can do no other. We are all doing this, possibilities reach out to impossibility. Probability thrashes it out with improbability. His masters want to emulate the ancients, why the Emperor himself would be the King of May. It is a topsy-turvy world, for sure. The green mantle over his left shoulder is that of a Habsburg prince. He though is not a prince but a philosopher, grinding out the slow meal for a new recipe of life. The mantle is stylish, it sends the message. But like the rest of him, it belongs in the present where rust and moth destroy, where princes give with one hand and take with the other. He would copy the prince, he also values his status. In 1562, that can amount to an impressive library. Books made him and he is made of books. Splendid things every week come to his attention. How solid is the present. Or should that be a question? How solid is the present? Carefully bound books seem a sure assertion of his place. Those papers that are his fingers write the laws we belong with. It’s all impressive enough, but is there not something stiff in the manner? Is he too straight-up-and-down to be believable? And will we ever know what he really thinks? Is he, for all his show of knowledge, a closed book? Outside in the streets of Prague the market is orderly racket, a walkway of vivid bartering, somewhere for animals to huff and toy stars to explode. The Vltava is rowdy with geese and trading boats. Whereas in here the silence is closed in. And anyway it’s never like this the rest of the time. Only now has he collected himself together sufficiently to stand a chance with posterity. Most times he’s all over the place, Philosophy at the window over there, History where it happens beyond the stairs, Law when something very wrong happens, only how wrong? His Science side is waiting for updates, his Theology looks tight but will it stand the next test? Why, his whole being could collapse into the proverbial, or turn into a pile of tomes for re-shelving. So for the moment he keeps a straight face, combines an aura of knowledge with a figure resolute with a little brief authority.
He stares into the future, that will be totally unfair to all his achievements. We are the future, for example, who do not know what he really wants to achieve and cannot imagine what a Librarian in 1562 might possibly be up to, and will not care a fig. Just as we care not a fig for the Emperor looking like a green grocer’s window, though we find him curious enough. In his coat of many covers, the Librarian projects the certainties of 1562. Rumours of war, signs in the heavens, the brilliant carnivale of the court – these seem at times just a side product of the certainty of these books. They are the very latest technology, their beings inside and out a testament to the greatness of the new. Some of us gaze in wonder, some of us check the price tags. His future is something we know more about than he can guess, but who are we only hindsighters? By the time it is agreed that the Earth goes around the sun and the sun is a minor star and let’s turn the page, he will have been taken from his imperious place in the palace, heaved across the frozen Baltic Sea, and stacked up in Swedish obscurity. He, who entertained to a nicety the courtiers and boffins of the sparkling age, will rest quietly as an outdated encyclopaedia, if that, for the occasional attention of humourless rationalists. The snow will fall outside. 1562 will be 1625 will be 1652 and so forth. He will be like a joke that has gone flat with time and is not even funny anymore, a joke that another age enjoyed till it split its sides. His future is to be defined by the cut of his cloth. His books are the limit of what was known, not the limitlessness he felt he embodied. And yet the future will not be blind to his existence. It will ponder him as a conundrum, a quirk of humanism, the necessary manager of new thoughts. Even his outfit may come back into fashion, or sprout leaves to reveal the true nature of his calling. The future will try to make a context in which to understand, even if context disappeared or ‘disapapered’ (as the Irish Portmanteau, himself a montage, would say) under Thirty Years of unloving unneighbourly War. The future will try to rewrite the Librarian and in the process make up a new Librarian who is one more collation of collective thoughts. The future flew in the body of a huge metal bird all the way to the fishing town of Stockholm, just to walk down the gilt passageway where the Librarian waits, ready for the latest reference question, ready to show you what he has in store.
The Carmelite Library is an affiliated member of the University of Divinity (UD), Australia’s largest ecumenical degree-granting body in theology. It is a member library of the Yarra Theological Union.
The Library has full membership of the Australian and New Zealand Theological Library Association (ANZTLA) and is actively involved in the Association's conferences and projects.
The Carmelite Library works in close cooperation with the Carmelite Centre in Middle Park, supporting the programmes of the Centre. The Library offers an annual series of four Carmelite Library lectures, and is the venue for reading groups and seminars throughout the year.
The Library has close contacts with Carmelite research institutes and libraries around the world, especially the Institutum Carmelitanum in Rome, the Carmelitana Collection in Washington DC, the Titus Brandsma Instituut in Nijmegen, the Nederlands Carmelitaans Instituut in Boxmeer, and the Titus Brandsma Centre in Manila.
The Carmelite Library faces the future with a well-focussed and coherent collection policy in areas of perennial significance which are also of great current interest in the Australian community. They are not covered in such depth elsewhere in the country. The Carmelitana collection is the most comprehensive in the region and among the few such collections in the world; in the area of spirituality and mysticism we have a nationally significant collection of periodicals and monographs; and the Library has the largest Australian holding in Mariology, including all the scholarly periodicals.
The Carmelites want to continue to build on what they have begun, and to carry into the future a resource which has already been long in the making. There is a committment to make this treasure house of the “wisdom of the elders" better known in Melbourne and beyond, and more accessible to interested users, as well as continuing its development according to a vision of excellence.
After 65 years at Donvale, the Library found a new home in Middle Park, where the Carmelites have ministered since 1882. It is in a constant state of creative evolution. The Carmelites are dedicated to making the Library realise its potential as a cultural, intellectual, and spiritual resource for the Australian community.
The Library is focussed on the exciting new possibilities to better realising its potential, as a resource both for scholarship and for the spiritual journey. We want to make this splendid resource more widely available to the community, whether to the scholar with a major research project or to the reader in search of spiritual enrichment.
To this end, the Carmelites have formed a partnership with the University of Divinity for the management of the Library from October 2023 to December 2024. During this time the University team will work with the Carmelite Library Interim Board to collaboratively develop recommendations as to the most appropriate long-term structure for the library operation.
- You can read more about these changes here.
We invite you to share our enthusiasm for the Library's future.
PRIVACY STATEMENT
This statement applies to the following entities:
- The Carmelite Fathers Incorporated (Vic.) ABN 98 004 769 528;
- Carmelite Memorial Library of Spirituality and Mariology ABN 84 838 823 572;
- The Carmelite Centre ABN 68 098 608 698; and
- The Carmelites - Australia and Timor-Leste Ltd, ABN 72 626 911 377,
each of 75 Wright St, Middle Park, Victoria 3206 (together referred to in this document as the “Carmelite Fathers”, “we”, “us” and “our”).
The Carmelite Fathers are committed to protecting the privacy of personal information which we collect and with complying with applicable obligations under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (the “Act”). Personal information includes information or an opinion which identifies a person.
The Carmelite Fathers collect personal information in three principle ways:
- Our general fundraising and community engagement activities;
- The Carmelite Centre; and
- The Carmelite Library.
PRIVACY COLLECTION NOTICE: GENERAL (Australian Privacy Principle 5.2)
This collection notice relates to personal information collected by the Carmelite Fathers in connection with its general fundraising and community engagement activities.
Who is collecting the information?
The Carmelite Fathers Incorporated (Vic.) ABN 98 004 769 528, Carmelite Memorial Library of Spirituality and Mariology ABN 84 838 823 572, The Carmelite Centre ABN 68 098 608 698 and The Carmelites - Australia and Timor-Leste Ltd, ABN 72 626 911 377 of 75 Wright St, Middle Park, Victoria 3206.
Our contact details are as follows:
Business Manager
Tel: (03) 9699 1922
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
How is the information collected?
We collect personal information from people who wish to donate, volunteer with us, enquire about vocations with us, seek or are undergoing formation with us, or otherwise support the Carmelite Fathers.
Is the collection required under a law or Court order?
No.
What are the purposes of collection?
The purpose of the collection is to process your donation, your application to volunteer with us, you enquiry regarding vocations, your application to undergo formation with us, issue receipts, maintain records and to respond to your feedback or concerns. The purpose includes inviting you to participate in other activities and ministries of the Carmelite Fathers and to find out about other opportunities to support our work or volunteer with us.
What happens if we don’t collect this information?
Without this information we are unable to process your donation, consider your enquiry or application to volunteer or undergo formation with us, or provide you with newsletters or updates regarding our work.
Can you be anonymous?
You can request that we don’t record your name when you donate; however, we still need to confirm your identify before we can accept your donation. We also need to collect sufficient information from our volunteers and applicants for formation to maintain appropriate records and satisfy our safeguarding requirements.
To whom do we share this information?
We share this information with other affiliated Carmelite organisations and service providers, such as information technology or other service providers.
Do we share the information overseas?
Generally no, although on occasion backups of data stored on our cloud servers may be replicated on other servers hosted overseas.
How can I access and seek correction of this information?
Information about how to access and seek correction of personal information we hold about you is contained in our privacy policy.
How can I complain?
Information about how to complain is contained in our privacy policy. You may also direct complaints to the Australian Information Commissioner as www.oaic.gov.au.
PRIVACY COLLECTION NOTICE: THE CARMELITE CENTRE (Australian Privacy Principle 5.2)
This collection notice relates to personal information collected by the Carmelite Fathers in connection with the Carmelite Centre at 214 Richardson Street, Middle Park, Victoria 3206.
Who is collecting the information?
The Carmelite Fathers Incorporated (Vic.) ABN 98 004 769 528, Carmelite Memorial Library of Spirituality and Mariology ABN 84 838 823 572, The Carmelite Centre ABN 68 098 608 698 and The Carmelites - Australia and Timor-Leste Ltd, ABN 72 626 911 377 of 75 Wright St Middle Park VIC 3206.
Our contact details are as follows:
Business Manager
Tel: (03) 9699 1922
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
How is the information collected?
We collect personal information from people who wish to attend lectures, seminars, sessions, Lectio Divina, retreats, and other events organised by the Carmelite Centre.
Is the collection required under a law or Court order?
No.
What are the purposes of collection?
The primary purpose of the collection is to verify your identity, allow us to process your booking, and to provide you with materials about proposed events organised by the Carmelite Centre.
The secondary purpose is to invite you to participate in other activities and ministries of the Carmelite Fathers and to find out about opportunities to support our work or volunteer with us.
What happens if we don’t collect this information?
Without this information we are unable to process your booking or provide you with newsletters or updates regarding proposed events.
Can you be anonymous?
Yes, you are still welcome to visit those public sessions at the Centre which do not require a booking in advance. However, you will not be able to attend our private booked or offsite sessions or receive our periodic communications.
To whom do we share this information?
We share this information with other affiliated Carmelite organisations and service providers, such as information technology or other service providers.
Do we share the information overseas?
Generally no, although on occasion backups of data stored on our cloud servers may be replicated on other servers hosted overseas.
How can I access and seek correction of this information?
Information about how to access and seek correction of personal information we hold about you is contained in our privacy policy.
How can I complain?
Information about how to complain is contained in our privacy policy. You may also direct complaints to the Australian Information Commissioner as www.oaic.gov.au.
PRIVACY COLLECTION NOTICE: THE CARMELITE LIBRARY (Australian Privacy Principle 5.2)
This collection notice relates to personal information collected by the Carmelite Fathers in connection with the Carmelite Library at 214 Richardson Street, Middle Park, Victoria 3206.
Who is collecting the information?
The Carmelite Fathers Incorporated (Vic.) ABN 98 004 769 528, Carmelite Memorial Library of Spirituality and Mariology ABN 84 838 823 572, The Carmelite Centre ABN 68 098 608 698 and The Carmelites - Australia and Timor-Leste Ltd, ABN 72 626 911 377 of 75 Wright St Middle Park VIC 3206.
Our contact details are as follows:
Business Manager
Tel: (03) 9699 1922
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
How is the information collected?
We collect personal information from people who wish to borrow materials from the library, sign-up to our newsletters, subscribe to membership, or be alerted when new collections are available or materials are returned.
Is the collection required under a law or Court order?
No.
What are the purposes of collection?
The primary purpose of the collection is to verify your identity, allow us to maintain a record of borrowed materials, follow up borrowers who have not returned materials, and to manage membership subscriptions (including renewals).
The secondary purpose is to invite you to participate in other activities and ministries of the Carmelite Fathers and to find out about opportunities to support our work or volunteer with us.
What happens if we don’t collect this information?
Without this information we are unable to process borrowing requests or provide you with newsletters or updates regarding when new collections are available or materials are returned.
Can you be anonymous?
Yes, you are still welcome to visit the library and review materials there. However, you will not be able to borrow any materials or receive our periodic communications.
To whom do we share this information?
We share this information with other affiliated Carmelite organisations and service providers, such as information technology or other service providers.
Do we share the information overseas?
Generally no, although on occasion backups of data stored on our cloud servers may be replicated on other servers hosted overseas.
How can I access and seek correction of this information?
Information about how to access and seek correction of personal information we hold about you is contained in our privacy policy.
How can I complain?
Information about how to complain is contained in our privacy policy. You may also direct complaints to the Australian Information Commissioner as www.oaic.gov.au.
PRIVACY POLICY (Australian Privacy Principle 1.3 - 1.6)
Introduction
The Carmelite Fathers Incorporated (Vic.) ABN 98 004 769 528, Carmelite Memorial Library of Spirituality and Mariology ABN 84 838 823 572, The Carmelite Centre ABN 68 098 608 698 and The Carmelites - Australia and Timor-Leste Ltd, ABN 72 626 911 377 of 75 Wright St Middle Park VIC 3206 (together referred to in this document as the “Carmelite Fathers”, “we”, “us” and “our”) respect and uphold your rights under the Australian Privacy Principles contained in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act).
In this policy, personal information and sensitive information have the same meanings as under the Privacy Act.
This policy sets out our commitments to you about personal information and sensitive information we may hold about you.
How do we collect and hold information about you?
We will generally collect information about you (whether personal information or sensitive information) and other information directly from you but also from others who provide the information to us in person, via phone or via our website(s) or social media platforms (including via cookies).
What information about you do we collect and hold?
Personal information
The types of personal information we collect about you will be directly related to the specific purpose for which it has been collected. How much personal information you choose to disclose to us is completely up to you but limited information may mean we are unable to process your request or provide you with the relevant product or service.
The information we collect will include a range of your name, date of birth, email address, phone number(s), street address and banking or payment card information as relevant and are collected when you engage with us, including when you:
- make a donation to us;
- purchase a product from us or register to attend one of our events;
- apply to volunteer with us;
- enquire about vocations or apply for, or undergo, formation with us;
- make an enquiry, provide feedback or make a complaint to us; or
- apply for employment with us.
Sensitive information
We do not generally collect sensitive information unless it is relevant and we have your prior consent. Where sensitive information is disclosed in the course of individual counselling sessions (if applicable), we will seek your express consent regarding how we may use or disclose that information.
Web information
When you visit any of our websites, the relevant site server by automated means (such as cookies) makes a record of the visit and collects the following information:
- your server address – to enable us to tailor the website to your interests and requirements;
- the date and time of your visit – to enable us to know the website’s busy times;
- pages accessed and documents downloaded – to inform us about popular and important documents;
- duration of the visit – to tell us how interesting and informative the website is to you;
- the type of browser used – for browser specific coding; and
- your domain name or IP address, computer operating system, browser type and screen resolution - to enable us to optimise the website for different browsers.
You can change the privacy settings of your browser, in particular, you can refuse all cookies or opt to be notified each time a cookie is sent to your computer. By blocking or deleting cookies used on our website(s), you may not be able to take full advantage of products or services offered via our website(s).
What will we do with information we hold about you?
Storage and security of information
We will take reasonable steps to protect your information and to protect information from loss, misuse, and unauthorised access, use, modification, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. This includes complying with the Payment Card Information Data Security Standard, which covers the security of payment card information.
You should keep in mind that the transmission of information over the internet (including by email) is not completely secure or error-free and you should take care in deciding what information you send to us via the internet.
Use and disclosure of information
Personal Information
We will only use and disclose your personal information for the purposes for which you provide it or a related secondary purpose which you would reasonably expect (including as stated in our specific collection statements). This includes, for example:
- providing the products and/or services you have requested from us;
- providing you with email newsletters to which you have specifically subscribed;
- responding to any enquiries, feedback or complaints made by you; or
- assessing any application for employment with us.
We may disclose your personal information to:
- other companies or people that we have your consent to share the information with;
- other affiliate Carmelite entities; and
- contractors and third party service providers that we engage in the ordinary course of our business where necessary to enable us to provide you with products and/or services.
We may disclose your personal information to other companies or people that we have your consent to share the information with, and contractors and third party service providers that we engage in the ordinary course of our business where necessary to enable us to provide you with products and/or services. We do not, generally, disclose your personal information to recipients outside of Australia. If we do so, for example, where a cloud service provider creates a backup of our data and stores that backup overseas, we will take reasonable steps to ensure that your personal information is handled by any overseas recipients in accordance with the Privacy Act and our instructions for the purposes described above. Any such backups of the data will be held in the United States of America, Singapore or within the European Economic Area. By providing us with your personal information, you consent to this disclosure of your personal information.
We, or third parties engaged to act on our behalf, may contact you from time to time with marketing material about our products or services, where you have consented to this or where we believe you would reasonably expect us to do so. You may opt out of receiving this material at any time by taking the steps in any “unsubscribe” instructions we send to you or by contacting our Privacy Officer.
Sensitive information
We will never disclose your sensitive information unless we have your consent to do so.
Web information
This information will be used only for statistical and administrative purposes.
Retention and destruction of personal and sensitive information
We will destroy or de-identify your personal and sensitive information as soon as practicable once it is no longer needed for the purpose for which it was collected. However, we may be required by law to retain your personal information after your relationship with us has expired. We will take reasonable steps and use appropriate techniques and processes in destroying information.
Openness
You may request access to information we hold about you by contacting the Privacy Officer - address below. If it is information that you are entitled to access, we will endeavour to provide it to you in a suitable way (e.g. emailing or mail). We may charge you a fee to cover our costs.
You may request us to update or amend information we hold about you; we will either amend the information, or make a record of your request, as appropriate.
Questions and feedback
If you have any questions or feedback about this policy or our commitments to you please contact our Privacy Officer:
Privacy Officer
Carmelite Fathers
75 Wright St, Middle Park VIC 3206
Tel: (03) 9699 1922
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
We commit to respond in a timely manner.
If your feedback is a complaint, we will advise what (if any) action we consider appropriate to take in response or if we do not agree with you, we will provide reasons. If you remain unsatisfied you can contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (www.oaic.com.au).
This policy is effective from 1 June 2019. We may change this policy from time to time. Although we intend to observe this policy at all times, it is not legally binding on us in any way. From time to time we may regard it as necessary or desirable to act outside the policy. We may do so, subject only to any other applicable contractual rights you have and any statutory rights you have under the Privacy Act or other applicable legislation.
REFUNDS & RETURNS POLICY
- This website (www.carmelitelibrary.org) is operated by The Carmelite Fathers Incorporated VIC (ABN 98 004769 528), trading as “The Carmelites – Australia & Timor-Leste”.
- Donations to support the works of the Carmelites are generally final and non-refundable, with the following exceptions:
- Donations which have been made in error can be reversed if notified within seven days.
- Donations which have been made fraudulently and without your permission can be reversed if notified within 60 days.
- Purchases of merchandise (including prayer and gift cards) are generally final and non-refundable, with the following exceptions:
- Merchandise which is damaged may be returned within 28 days for a full refund of your initial order price.
- Purchases which have been made fraudulently and without your permission can be reversed if notified within 60 days.
- To pursue a refund or return under this policy, please contact:
