Preaching is the Key to the Charism of Lay Dominicans

by Jael SC · Published April 23, 2016 · Updated April 21, 2016

By Moses Chanda OP – When one thinks of the Dominican order, which is celebrating its 800th anniversary of foundation this year, one pictures friars in their white robes and sisters of various congregational traditions.

Present at the conference for lay Dominicans in January were (from left) assistant treasurer Khunjulwa Petrus, secretary Monica Alson, spiritual promotor Sr Paul OP, national promoter Fr Mark James OP, president Delores Hartzenberg, and treasurer Maposholi Tabile.

But there is another form of living out the order’s ethos: as a lay Dominican.

God continually calls people out of the darkness into the light of the Good News of Jesus. He has always called men and women to worship him and to proclaim his name.

St Dominic, the founder of the Order of Preachers who lived from 1170 to 1221, heard his call in the cries of men and women, young and adults, for a message of hope and freedom.

The lay Dominican forerunners, people like St Catherine of Siena and others, followed in the footsteps of St Dominic.

Today Dominicans still are attentive, as their founder was, to the needs of our time.

Lay Dominicans have an intrinsic part in the Dominican family, to share the Dominican mission and way of life. In whatever lifestyle they find themselves, married or single, they enrich the order with their passion for the truth, their love of Dominican prayer and apostolic zeal.

Fr Mark James OP, national promoter for the lay Dominicans, said that the order at all levels draws its strength from the four pillars which constitute its charism: community life, prayer, study and preaching.

Although lay Dominicans may live these pillars differently from friars and sisters, they have prioritised and embraced these values to helping them be good witnesses to the Good News of Christ.

Community is the locus of formation, Fr James told a conference of the lay Dominican chapters of the vicariate of Southern Africa at Emephetelweni priory in Pietermaritzburg in January.

In this context, he said, the biological family is the foundation where all Christian values must be embraced; this then moves to the parish which is a bigger community.

However, within the Dominican family this is strongly supported by various efforts of individual and collective formation and renewal, within groups and communities.

In these communities of faith and action a true formation is achieved for each member through prayer, study of the word of God and other materials as tools to becoming better preachers.

“This is where we share our reactions, listen to those who share our opinions, or again to those who think differently which is often more valuable,” he said.

At the conference, lay Dominicans were challenged to reflect on three points:

How are they different in their simplicity of life?
How do they become responsible stewards of their property in being generous to the poor as a way of achieving their preaching mission?
How is preaching in their identity as Dominicans different from others?

Preaching must not be limited to being on the pulpit alone, since lay people are not mandated to stand on the pulpit to preach at Mass. Still, Dominicans have always practised preaching in their station of life. This means that they have to create in their lives a platform where the word of God can be proclaimed and the Dominican order be made visible.

The lay Dominicans countrywide are visible by engaging actively in St Dominic’s call to contemplate and share with others the fruits of their contemplation.

They are involved in Justice & Peace programmes, the Masizame community project, feeding and food parcel programmes, hospital and prison visits, and catechetical programmes in parishes.

This sort of preaching is echoed as “the preaching wherever life finds you”.