RBWords - Volume 34 - Number 9: September 2021
Something to Think About
SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT -
I may have mentioned in an earlier issue of RBWORDS that I received a surprise appointment this past June as Promoter of the Dominican Laity in our Southern Dominican Province (Province of St. Martin De Porres, USA). It was a surprise for a couple of reasons. First of all, there was no warning! (Ah! Religious life) and second, I have had very little experience with the lay arm of our Dominican Family because my two principal ministries have been campus ministry and itinerant preaching ministry, neither of which gave me much formal contact with Dominican Laity, unless some happened to be in a parish where I was preaching a parish mission. When I arrived in Lubbock, TX, (2015) to live with our university community at Texas Tech University, my brethren asked me if I would be willing to start a group of Dominican Laity. In fits and starts it has gradually taken shape, and I have served as its “religious assistant” (chaplain). There are 40 different groups, some of which have the formal status of “chapter,” and others that are simply “groups.” The total number of Dominican Laity in our province is more than 500 members, scattered across the 11 states in our Southern Province.
The Dominican Laity was once known as the Third Order of St. Dominic. Many of the religious orders like Dominicans and Franciscans have a branch that is comprised of laity. Members were known as “tertiaries.” The fundamental idea is that lay persons can live the “charism and spirit” of the sponsoring Order but apply it to the demands and challenges of every day life in the “world.” For Dominicans this “charism” is preaching, since we are officially known as the Order of Preachers (O.P.). This is accomplished through the four “pillars” of Dominican spirituality: Prayer, Study, Community and Ministry. Our Dominican laity have been in existence since the 13th century, so this is not a new thing. There is also a branch that welcomes diocesan clergy known as the Priestly Fraternity of St. Dominic. Anyone interested in becoming a Lay Dominican in our province can go to <laydomsouth.org> for information. The Eastern, Central and Western Dominican provinces have their equivalents as well.
I have a steep learning curve, but, so far, it has been an interesting one. I may have to do some more traveling, which I thought was a thing of the past for me after I “retired” in 2019 from full time ministry. Say some prayers for me, please! IT’S SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT
It Has Been Said
IT HAS BEEN SAID:
[Dominican Laity} are accordingly marked out both by their own kind of spiritual life and by their service to God and neighbor in the Church. As members of the Order, they share its apostolic mission, by study, prayer and preaching according to the state proper to lay persons. They follow the example of St. Dominic, St. Catherine of Siena and our forbears who illumined the life of the Order and the Church, and strengthened by their fraternal communion, bear witness above all to their own faith, listen to the needs of their contemporaries, and serve the truth.
from:THE RULE OF THE LAY FRATERNITIES OF SAINT DOMINIC