I was headed for the Carmelite Monastery on Highway 1 in Carmel when I entered what turned out to be the wrong gate. After driving up a short road, I found myself beholding one of Monterey County’s most stunning views.
I would later see the sign that said I was at the Villa Angelica, a retreat house run by the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur. Like the Carmelite Monastery next door, Villa Angelica sits on a hillside overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Just a few steps outside the gate and across the street is the shore, christened Monastery Beach in honor of the Carmelites.
As if someone somewhere read my mind and thought I might need to sit down, a bench came into view. It offered the perfect vantage point of the sea from Villa Angelica: white foam cresting on waves as they lapped on to the shore, and the rocky cliffs of Point Lobos to the left forming a cove. In the foreground, cars sped by on Highway 1. A certain Sam may have been responsible for the bench: it has a marker that says “Sam’s Perch” and I was grateful.
I also silently thanked both the Sisters of Notre Dame and the Carmelites for their generosity, keeping their gates open to visitors daily. That gesture allows them to share the space with travelers like me in search of a quiet place to sit, reflect and breathe in the cool wind and the dazzling seascape.
I visited both sites. At the Monastery, the chapel was open but there was a sign that said the Carmelites were in seclusion and were not to be disturbed. At Notre Dame, a few minutes on the bench was enough of a visit.
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Reading up online about the Sisters of Notre Dame led to me to the story of one of their members, Sr Dorothy Stang, and I was struck by the coincidence. I heard her name mentioned just yesterday by the actor Martin Sheen as I was listening to his podcast episode titled “Devotion.”
In that episode, broadcast May 17, 2026, Sheen quotes from a book by the author and publisher Robert Ellsberg. The book is titled “Blessed Among Us” and includes the story of Sr Dorothy. She was 73 when she died in Brazil in 2005, shot by unidentified gunmen for standing in the way of crime lords and logging interests. The gunmen were later convicted for the crime.
For her martyrdom, Sr Dorothy is immortalized in a documentary narrated by Martin Sheen. (There’s the connection, I thought, apart from the fact that Sheen, like Sr Dorothy, is from Dayton, Ohio and a Catholic.)
The murder of Sr. Dorothy prompted the United States Congress to pass a concurrent resolution honoring her life. The U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate said she
lived her life according to the mission of the Sisters of Notre Dame: making known God’s goodness and love of the poor through a Gospel way of life, community, and prayer, while continuing a strong educational tradition and taking a stand with the poor, especially poor women and children, in the most abandoned places, and committing her one and only life to work with others to create justice and peace for all.
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in Carmel, Monterey County. Photo by Luz Rimban.
Even a place as serene and seemingly secluded from the outside world as Villa Angelica can be reminded of the violence that exists out there. Last year marked the 20th year since Sr Dorothy’s death.
But in these spots–Villa Angelica and the Carmelite Monastery–one can sit and forget life’s brutal and frustrating realities, and soak in the greenery, the flowers and the sacred stillness. In fact, a place like this is vital. It helps people rest and recharge, and suit up—mentally and spiritually— for the challenges ahead.
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On the road 
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