The Carmelite Institute of Britain and Ireland (CIBI) is a

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

university A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

initiative by the

Carmelite The Order of the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel (; abbreviated OCarm), known as the Carmelites or sometimes by synecdoche known simply as Carmel, is a mendicant order in the Catholic Church for both men and women. Histo ...

Irish and British province and the Anglo-Irish Province of

Discalced Carmelites The Discalced Carmelites, known officially as the Order of the Discalced Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel () or the Order of Discalced Carmelites (; abbreviation, abbrev.: OCD; sometimes called in earlier times, ), is a Catho ...

, as founded in December 2005, which provides distance learning/online courses at undergraduate and postgraduate level in Carmelite Theology. In its initial year 90 students commenced their study on the initial two programmes (a Certificate in Spirituality and a Diploma in Spirituality), and in October of 2009 the first graduation of students took place at the Milltown Institute in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. From its foundation CIBI programmes were accredited by the

Milltown Institute of Theology and Philosophy The Milltown Institute of Theology and Philosophy was a Jesuit-run institution of higher education and research, located in Ranelagh, County Dublin, Ireland. From November 1989, when it was granted designated status under the National Council ...

until its closure in 2015; subsequently the CIBI programmes have been validated by St. Patrick's Pontifical University, Maynooth, which also approved the CIBI's

Master of Theology Master of Theology (, abbreviated ThM, MTh or MTheol, or ''Sacrae Theologiae Magister''; abbreviated STM) is a post-graduate degree offered by universities, divinity schools, and seminaries. It can serve as a transition degree for entrance into a ...

in Carmelite Studies and

Bachelor of Theology The Bachelor of Theology degree (BTh, ThB, or BTheol) is a two- to five-year undergraduate degree or graduate degree in theological disciplines and is typically (but not exclusively) pursued by those seeking ordination for ministry in a church, de ...

in Carmelite Studies programmes upon their respective launches in 2012 and 2016. The Master of Theology programme had initially been validated by

York St John University York St John University (originally established as York Diocesan College), often abbreviated to YSJ, is a public university located on a large urban campus in York, England. Established in 1841, it achieved university status in 2006 and in 2015 ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, since the Milltown Institute was in the process of winding down and had no longer been in a position to validate new programmes. The Carmelite Institute of Britain and Ireland offers, since January 2019, 53 undergraduate courses and 12 postgraduate modules (including a dissertation preparation module for students planning on undertaking the composition of a dissertation) have been formally approved for accreditation by St. Patrick Pontifical University, Maynooth. A number of short formative courses of a less academically rigorous nature are also offered by the CIBI, covering subjects ranging from an overview of major 20th century figures of the Carmelite order to an initial formation course "designed to complement the Initial Formation of candidates wishing to embark upon a religious life in Carmel". In addition to the school's native

and the UK, graduates have hailed from

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

, and the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. CIBI courses validated by Maynooth are eligible for tax relief. Courses are offered via

Moodle Moodle ( ) is a free and open-source learning management system written in PHP and distributed under the GNU General Public License. Moodle is used for blended learning, distance education, flipped classroom and other online learning project ...

. There are no extracurricular clubs or activities for enrolled students.

Carmelite Centre, Gort Mhuire

The CIBI is situated at the Carmelite Centre, Gort Mhuire,

Ballinteer Ballinteer () is a small southside suburb of Dublin, located in Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown, County Dublin, Ireland, extensively developed from the late 1960s onwards. The population of all electoral divisions labelled as Ballinteer was 15,6 ...

, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Gort Mhuire, is the residence of the Prior Provincial of the Irish Carmelites, and in addition to the order's Novitiate it houses the provincial archive and library. From 1949, Gort Mhuire was the

novitiate The novitiate, also called the noviciate, is the period of training and preparation that a Christian ''novice'' (or ''prospective'') monastic, apostolic, or member of a religious order undergoes prior to taking vows in order to discern whether ...

for the order and the theologate for the Carmelites, since students were unable to travel to

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

.{{Cite web , last=Quinlan , first=Ronald , date=2019-07-17 , title=Carmelite lands in south Dublin set to be sold for up to €35m , url=https://www.irishtimes.com/business/commercial-property/carmelite-lands-in-south-dublin-set-to-be-sold-for-up-to-35m-1.3958407 , url-status=live , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230730103803/https://www.irishtimes.com/business/commercial-property/carmelite-lands-in-south-dublin-set-to-be-sold-for-up-to-35m-1.3958407 , archive-date=2023-07-30 , access-date=2024-01-25 , website=The Irish Times , language=en In 1968 Carmelites began studying theology in Milltown Park as the Milltown Institute was being set up there. Gort Mhuire contains an extensive library (reconstituted in 2006) on Carmelite studies, theology, spirituality and Mariology, and, in addition to affiliate partnership with the

Carmelite Library The Carmelite Library is an academic theological library located in Middle Park, Victoria, Australia. The library specialises in the areas of Carmelite Studies, Mariology, Spirituality and Mysticism, and holds Australia's finest collection of ...

, much of the material is available online.

References

Catholic universities and colleges in the Republic of Ireland Education in Dublin (city) Universities and colleges in the Republic of Ireland Distance education institutions based in the Republic of Ireland Carmelite educational institutions Discalced Carmelite Order

Carmelite Centre, Gort Mhuire

See also

References