The five ladies enjoying cake and fellowship on North Magnolia Street in Vidalia have a life calling.

Four of the ladies are Secular Carmelites, the fifth is taking the first steps to become one. Secular Carmelites are part of the Third Order of the Catholic Church.

Once a month the Vidalia community of Secular Carmelites meets at the home of Anna Calhoun for silent prayer, spiritual readings and social discussion. The meeting isn’t their only time set aside for prayer though.

Being a Secular Carmelite means devoting a minimum of 30 minutes a day to mental prayer and meditation, reciting the morning and evening prayer from the Liturgy of the Hours each day, attending daily mass if possible and wearing the brown scapular of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel.

&uot;It’s a vocation we’ve been called to,&uot; said Kat Morris, a Carmelite for 12 years.

Secular Carmelites go through a five-year formation process before making the definitive promise. During the first six months those who think they may have a calling spend time with other Secular Carmelites to decide if it is what they are called to do.

Camille Durkin was at her third meeting Sunday night.

&uot;It’s a spiritual calling,&uot; she said. &uot;It’s more like a decision that was kind of made for you. You just don’t fight it.&uot;

Beth Boggess, who has been with the Vidalia community for five years, said Carmelites were attracted to certain types of prayer and spiritual reading. They spend time praying for priests, the church and the world, she said.

Boggess said those around her knew she was called to be a Secular Carmelite before she did.

&uot;One or two other people could see it,&uot; she said. &uot;It took me a full year of coming to meetings to see it. I had a vocation but I couldn’t identify what it was.&uot;

The community is the only one in the Vidalia area, members said. Other Secular Carmelite communities can be found in Alexandria, Baton Rouge and Lafayette, La., and Jackson.

&uot;In terms of us as a whole there are a lot of these groups in the deep South and in French and Spanish speaking areas,&uot; Boggess said.

In addition to their regular meeting the ladies were celebrating the 84th birthday of formation director Calhoun Sunday.