of Prior Provincials
July 13th - August 4th 1998
Table of Contents
| Letter of Promulgation | 3 | |
| Chapter Members & Other Participants | 5 | |
| Chapter I | Announcements | 9 |
| Chapter II | The Mission of the Order | 15 |
| Chapter III | Formation and Community Life | 32 |
| Chapter IV | The Cooperator Brothers | 49 |
| Chapter V | The Dominican Family | 52 |
| Chapter VI | Government | 59 |
| Chapter VII | Economic Policy | 67 |
| Chapter VIII | Constitutions and Ordinations | 72 |
| Final Notes | 84 | |
| Appendix I | Report of the Master of the Order | 87 |
| Appendix II | Opening Homily of the Master of the Order | 109 |
| Appendix III | Master of the Order, St. Dominic's Day Homily | 112 |
| Appendix IV | The Ethics of Investment | 114 |
My dear Brothers in St Dominic,
St Dominic gathered the brethren together in Bologna in 1220 and 1221, and sent us out to preach the gospel throughout the known world. Those first two Chapters clearly established our identity as an Order of missionaries. Almost eight hundred years later, we have gathered in Bologna to recommit ourselves to this mission of the Order. This was the fundamental theme of the General Chapter. We affirmed our identity as a missionary Order and we committed ourselves to the mission in new places, in new ways, and with the whole Dominican Family.
The most common words heard in a General Chapter are: "Brothers, votemus". Hundreds of times we exercised our right to a votum on the life and the mission of the Order. We voted to send more brothers to the new places our mission, where our presence is often fragile, especially in Asia and Eastern Europe; we voted to develop a preaching of the gospel that used the new means of communication, especially Internet; we voted to develop dialogue with other religions; we voted to develop a common mission with our sisters and with the lay Dominicans. These many votes of the Chapter are more than a way of taking democratic decisions. They are an expression of who we are, brethren who made a votum of obedience when we made profession and so have a votum in determining the life and mission of the Order. Our votes are an expression of the vow that we have made.
Now the work of the Chapter truly begins, in the implementation of the decisions that we have taken together. We are proud of our Dominican freedom to take democratic decisions about the life and the mission of the Order, but that freedom is empty unless we accept our common obligation to fulfil the Chapter's decisions. This is surely the major challenge that we will face together in the next three years. If we seek, with courage and faith, to do what we together have ordained shall be done, then our lives will be touched, our plans will be upset, and we will find ourselves sent out on the uncertain road of discipleship, as St. Dominic sent his brethren at those first Chapters in Bologna. Let us encourage each other in a generous obedience and a new itinerancy, which may lead to a deep renewal of the Order.
I would like to thank all the brothers and sisters who made this General Chapter not merely possible but a time of joy and celebration. In the first place I thank the Provincial, fr. Virgilio Ambrosini, and the Province of St Dominic in Italy, for all of their immense kindness and generosity in hosting this Chapter. Most especially I thank the Secretary General, fr. Bernadino Prella and his assistant, fr. Massimo Rossi, for their calm efficiency and utter dedication. I thank all the members of the Province who helped in so many ways, especially the Prior and community of St Dominic, whose warm welcome made us at home. All of the capitulars were especially impressed by the attentive kindness and joyful service of the younger brethren of the Province, who did so much to make our stay in Bologna a pleasure. Every meeting of Dominicans, and most especially a General Chapters, is marked by the exchange of thousands of words which need to translated, edited, recorded, copied and distributed, sung and recited. And so I thank all the brothers and sisters who served the Chapter as translators, secretaries, actuaries, and liturgists. Without your help, nothing could have happened.
By this letter I promulgate the Acts of the General Chapter of Provincials held in Bologna, from the thirteenth of July until the fourth of August 1998.
Given at S. Sabina in Rome, on the third day of September, 1998, the Feast of St Gregory the Great.
Your brother in St Dominic
fr Timothy Radcliffe OP
Master of the Order
Prot. 50/98/1199
FR. TIMOTHY RADCLIFFE
Master of the Order of Preachers
Prior Provincials
fr. Juan José de LEÓN LASTRA, Province of Spain
fr. Michel van AERDE, Province of Toulouse
fr. Éric de CLERMONT-TONNERRE, Province of France
fr. Virgilio AMBROSINI, Province of St. Dominic in Italy
fr. Fausto SBAFFONI, Province of St. Catherine of Siena in Rome
fr. Salvatore Sabato MANNA, Province of St. Thomas Aquinas in Italy
fr. Manuel MERTEN, Province of Germany
fr. Malcolm McMAHON, Province of England
fr. Maciej ZIÊBA , Province of Poland
fr. Juan José GALLEGO SALVADORES, Province of Aragon
fr. Damián NEMEC , Province of Bohemia
fr. Marinko ZADRO, Province of the Annunciation BVM in Croatia
fr. Miguel Adriano MARTINS dos SANTOS, Province of Portugal
fr. Herminio de PAZ CASTAÑO, Province of Betica
fr. David van OOIJEN, Province of the Netherlands
fr. Laurence COLLINS, Province of Ireland
fr. Miguel CONCHA MALO, Province of St. James in Mexico
fr. James Lino DOLAN, Province of St. John the Baptist in Perú
fr. Tito Belisario MURCIA FLORIAN, Province of St. Louis Bertrand in Colombia
fr. José Antonio HARO AVILES, Province of St. Catherine of Siena in Ecuador
fr. Bonifacio GARCÍA SOLÍS, Province of Our Lady of the Rosary
fr. Mark DE CALUWE, Province of St. Rose in Flanders
fr. Juan Pablo BERRA, Province of St. Augustine in Argentina
fr. Norman Alfred HADDAD, Province of St. Joseph in USA
fr. Charles FENECH, Province of St. Pius V , Malta
fr. Denis DION, Province of St. Dominic, Canada
fr. Reginald MARTIN, socius of the prior provincial of the province of the Holy Name in the USA
fr. Hans Ulrich STEYMANS, Province of Upper Germany and Austria
fr. Edward RUANE, Province of St. Albert the Great in USA
fr. Mark O'BRIEN, Province of the Assumption of the BVM in Australia and New Zealand
fr. José FERNANDES ALVES, Province of fr. Bartholomew De Las Casas in Brazil
fr. Hubert NICLASSE, Province of the Annuntiation of the BVM in Switzerland
fr. Joseph ÐINH CHÂU TRÂN, Province of the Queen of Martyrs in Vietnam
fr. Quirico, Jr. PEDREGOSA T., Province of the Philippines
fr. Alberto RODRÍGUEZ, Province of St. Martin De Porres in the USA
fr. Thomas K. McDERMOTT, Province of St. Joseph the Worker in Nigeria
fr. Paul KURUVILLA, Province of India
Vice-Provincials
fr. Munawar BHATTI, Vice-Province of the Son of Mary in Pakistan
fr. Pablo IRIBARREN PASCAL, Vice-Province of St .Vincent Ferrer in Central America
fr. Rajmund Jozef KLEPANEC, Vice-Province of Our Lady of the Rosary in Slovakia
Vicar Generals
fr. Józef PUCILOWSKI, General Vicariate of Hungary
fr. Félix FERNÁNDEZ RODRÍGUEZ, General Vicariate of St. Laurence Martyr in Chile
fr. André COULÉE, General Vicariate of St. Thomas Aquinas in Belgium
fr. Thomas KAMAINDA BAKUTU, General Vicariate of the Democratic Republic of the
Congo
fr. Bernard CONNOR, General Vicariate of South Africa
fr. Ching-hsien HSU, General Vicariate of the Queen of China
fr. Stanislovas ZARAUSKAS, General Vicariate of the Angel Guardians (Estonia, Latvia,
Lithuania et Byelorussia)
fr. Andrzej KAMIÑSKI, General Vicariate of Russia and the Ukraine
fr. Mario Alberto RODRÍGUEZ LEÓN, General Vicariate of the Holy Cross in Puerto Rico
Delegates of the Vicariates
fr. Manuel UÑA FERNÁNDEZ, Vicariate in Cuba
fr. Simon LALABATU SUVENAVA, Vicariate of the Solomon Islands
fr. Lucio VARGAS ROJAS, Vicariate of fr. Vincent Bernedo in Bolivia
fr. Hipólito Michel PLATA, Vicariate of St. Albert the Great in Bolivia
fr. Vincent HA-VIEN-LU, Vicariate of St. Vincent Pham-Hieu-Liem in Vietnam
fr. Louis Bertrand FERGUS, Vicariate of St. Louis Bertrand in Barbados (West Indies)
fr. Sidbé SEMPORÉ, Vicariate in the Ivory Coast
fr. Fernando SOLÁ SOLER, Vicariate of Southern America in Argentina
Delegates of Convents under the immediate jurisdiction of the Master of the Order
fr. Paolo GARUTI, Convents of St. Stephen in Jerusalem et St. Albert in Friburg (CH)
fr. Emeterio GUTIÉRREZ de CEA, Convent of SS.Dominic et Xystus, Rome
Other Participants at the Chapter
Procurator general of the Order, Assistants of the Master of the Order and the Syndic of
the Order.
fr. Carlos Alfonso AZPIROZ COSTA, Procurator general of the Order
fr. Enrico DE CILLIS, Assistant for the Provinces of Italy and Malta
fr. Jean-Jacques PÉRENNÈS, Assistant for the Apostolic Life
fr. Guido VERGAUWEN, Assistant for the Intellectual Life
fr. Daniel CADRIN, Assistant for the Provinces of Northwest Europe and Canada
fr. Fernando MAÑERO ESPINOSA, Syndic of the Order
Members of the Dominican Family invited by the Master of the Order
Sr. Adriana María COLOMBRES TERÁN, Nun
Sr. Maria Thomas SCHNIEDERBEREND, Nun
Sr. Teresa OLIVARI, Nun
Sr. Margaret ORMOND, Delegate Dominican Sisters International
Sr. Tarcisia SANTAROSSA, Dominican Congregation of B. Imelda
Mr. Miguel PEIRO ALBA, Dominican Youth
Mr. Klaus BORNEWASSER, Lay Fraternity
Miss Henriette PAQUAY, Secular Institute
Moderators
fr. Francesco COMPAGNONI, moderator
fr. José Angel LOPEZ LEGIDO, moderator
fr. Yvon POMERLEAU, moderator
Secretariate
fr. Bernardino PRELLA, secretary general
fr. Massimo ROSSI, vice-secretary general
fr. Michele CASALI, public relations
fr. Mario MARINI, syndic of the general chapter
Internet Experts
fr. Peter HUNTER
fr. Scott STEINKERCHNER
Those Who Assisted in The Chapter
Interpreters
Sr. Silvia BARA
Miss Nicole GIROUD
fr. Mario JABARES
fr. Antoine LEVY
fr. Fergal Mac EOINÌN
fr. Manuel Angel MAESTRO MARTIN
fr. Giorgio MARCATO
fr. Paul-Dominique MASICLAT
fr. Philip Mc SHANE
fr. Mark MONTEBELLO
fr. Michael James O'ROURKE
fr. Juan Carlos PACHECO
fr. Wojciech PRUS
fr. Manuel RIVERO
fr. Marcelo SOLORZANO
fr. Alphonsus Segun TAIWO
Sr. Marie Lætitia YOUCHTCHENKO
Assistants
fr. Juan Antonio ALONSO de JUAN
fr. Alberto AMBROSIO
fr. Franco BERTELÈ
fr. Carlo CACCIARI
fr. Giorgio CARBONE
fr. Cristoforo CARUANA
fr. Luca CIACCI
fr. Carlos COLMENAREJO PRIETO
fr. Alessandro FANTI
fr. Roberto GIORGIS
fr. José Gil GONZÁLES PÉREZ
Sr. Claire Marie HOUSSON
fr. Clemente KOLOSOVSKI
fr. Paolo LUCIANO
fr. Paolo LUNGO
fr. Massimo MANCINI
fr. Claudio MONGE
fr. Fernando Javier NIETO SÁEZ
fr. Antonio OLMI
fr. Angelo PREDA
fr. Raffaele QUILOTTI
fr. Tommaso REALI
fr. Raffaele RIZZELLO
Sr. Maria Socorro TEÓFILO
fr. Giuseppe VALOTI
fr. Fabrizio ZORZAN
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ACRONYMS
CIDAL Conferencia Interprovincíal Dominicana de América Latina y el Caríbe.
CODAL COnfederación de Dominicas de América Latina y el Caríbe.
DOMUNI Université des Sciences Humaines et Religieuses sur Internet - Toulouse.
ESPACE Centre dominicain sur les réalités spirituelles, culturelles, sociales en Europe.
IAOP Inter Africa de l'Ordre des Prêcheurs.
IDEO Institut Dominicain d' É tudes Orientales au Caire.
IEOP Inter Europe de l'Ordre des Prêcheurs.
MIJD Mouvement International de la Jeunesse Dominicaine.
MIVD Mouvement International des Volontaires Dominicains.
ONG Organisation Non-Gouvernementale.