Marina & Jim Bradley
Marina and Jim Bradley not only share a deep Catholic faith, but they have mutual long family connections to the Carmelite nuns.
Marina’s mother, Theresa, was raised in a convent in Eagle Pass, Texas, and imparted her love of the Carmelite nuns to her daughter as she grew up in San Antonio. When Marina’s mother died in 2010, the nuns at the Discalced Carmelite Monastery in Oak Cliff dedicated a statue of St. Michael in her memory.
Jim’s mother, Veronica, was a member of the Third Order of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and also imparted a love of the Carmelite nuns to her sons.
The Discalced (“barefoot”) Carmelite nuns are devoted to a simple, contemplative life of prayer and manual labor. They live strictly on charitable donations and by their charter, cannot solicit funds.
On the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel (July 16), Jim and Marina started a fund at The Catholic Foundation – the Dallas Discalced Carmelite Fund – to provide for medical care, utilities, building maintenance and other needs.
“Our goal is to build up a fund to provide annual income for the Carmelite nuns,” say the Bradleys, adding that the monastery is “the best-kept secret in the Diocese.”
Jim and Marina, parishioners of Christ the King Catholic Church, were familiar with the Foundation’s work through the Bradley Family Fund that Jim and his two broters, Jerry and John, started in the 1980s. They chose the Foundation again to manage the new Carmelite fund and invite others to join them in supporting the cloistered community.