The ministry of preaching was given to our Order from the very beginning. In the service of the Gospel and in union with the whole Church, our Order received the mission to proclaim the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ by following in his footsteps. "Being appointed entirely for the complete evangelization of the Word of God" (Primitive Constitutions, Prologue), we are, through our profession freed to live an apostolic life "in which preaching and teaching must proceed from an abundance of contemplation." (Fundamental Constitutions, IV).

Sent forth to preach to all nations, working with the Church as a whole, the Order fulfills a universal mission. This mission calls the Order to go courageously beyond those frontiers that separate today the poor from the rich, women from men, diverse Christian faith communities and other religions.

Situated at the "fault-lines" ("lignes de fracture" Fr. Pierre Claverie, O.P.) of humanity, which go across our globalised world so often marked by injustice and the violence of racial, social and religious conflicts, our Order seeks to discover the truth of the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ in encounters with "the other". Our mission in the service of "the whole truth" towards which only the Spirit sent from the Father through the risen Christ can lead us, requires of us a dialogical attitude, by which we place outselves at the service of "the other", ready to listen to him and to let ourselves be transformed by him ö and to give our lives so that our brothers, our sisters, may live.

The mission of the Order receives its freedom from the vow of obedience which makes us availableand responsive to confront together new challenges.

It is a mission shared with our brothers and sisters of the Order who live the same common priesthood through their baptism and who are consecrated by their religious profession and commitment to the same mission. This mission is realized according to the richness of our charism and the priorities of our Order ; it expresses itself in a pluriform service of the Word and the Sacrament.

It is a mission which seeks dialogue with different cultures and religions on all the continents. In Eastern Europe and especially on the Asian continent the Order is aware that it belongs to its mission to seek the dialogue and to promote the conditions for dialogue. This presupposes great coherence in all the actions of the mission.

It is finally an intellectual mission which is rooted in the study and the contemplation of the Word of God and which receives its dynamism from compassion. Without pretention, and in a humble way, it gives account of the hope that is in us. It proclaims and teaches the intelligence of the Word as a force of reconciliation, forgiveness and joy.

1. The Order of Preachers is proud of its tradition and legacy which includes Friars, Cloistered Nuns, vowed religious women, and lay men and women. While other Chapters have referred to the dignity of women and our collaboration both with the laity and our sisters, this Chapter believes it is important to say more at this time in our history. Our Order reflects an understanding of mission that has its origin in the life of the Triune God. As a sharing in the divine mission, our Order, in all its unique branches, is both to manifest communion and collaborate in the mission of leading all creation towards communion in the divine life. The friars do not monopolize the vocation, nor the charism, nor do they hold Îpride of placeâ in the Order founded by St. Dominic. The mission holds the Îpride of place,â while every branch realizes this vocation in the manner proper to it. We, together, constitute the Order and together realize its whole mission.

2. Thus, the most complete manifestation of our total identity is in our collaboration together. This collaboration includes praying together, mutual planning, decision making, and the execution of projects in mutual and equal complementarity. These projects include such fields as ministries of prayer, preaching, teaching, pastoral leadership, justice and peace, mass media, research and writing, as well as in the promotion of vocations and formation.

3. We are aware that this consciousness calls for a conversion of mentalities on the part of everyone, and will be only gradually realized. Often friars of the Order have treated the sisters and the laity solely as objects of their pastoral care rather than as peers in their apostolic mission. Failure to listen to the laity has created a dependency of the lay chapters on a friar, thereby impeding the development of their own self-responsibility. Failure to recognize the apostolic capacities of Dominican Sisters has negatively affected the mission of the friars as well. Further, we believe it is important for the friars to examine their image of women and what is conveyed to others by our speech and behavior. If we listened to the brothers and analyzed attitudes, reactions, spontaneous reflections of speech, we would be surprised to note that our masculine and ecclesiastical world carries strongly contrasting images of women. We ask pardon for all the instances of condescending and destructive attitudes and action on the part of the friars. For many Chapters now, the Order has called us to this conversion.

4. Lay men and women offer a unique vision of preaching and living the Gospel because of their total insertion into society with all of its secular, economic, and political realities. They are able to live shoulder to shoulder with men and women with whom our religious brothers and sisters will hardly have contact. The friars and sisters need their vision and expertise. In addition, women bring a distinctive vision and sensibility which we can learn from and which is essential to save the soul of an age in risk of losing its soul. Women are the principal educators and nurturers of the children of the world, so their critical formative role needs to be acknowledged and valued more highly. In a world characterized by social and religious fragmentation, women are often models of solidarity in families and society, transcending forces that create division.

5. Our contemplative nuns are at the heart of the mission of the Order. By their way of life they proclaim to all that God is capable of totally captivating the human heart. At the same time their prayer is a cry that the word proclaimed by the preachers may be received by the world. Their hospitality to their brothers and sisters of the Order strengthens fraternal bonds and stirs up a deeper faith and more fervent prayer. Sharing their liturgical prayer with Godâs people and offering an oasis of peaceful retreat and study is fundamental to the mission of the Order.

6. We encourage Dominicans from all branches of the Order to claim their identity as preachers. Furthermore, we ask all members to prepare themselves for this preaching and to take advantage of every opportunity. We are aware that the exclusion of women from ordained ministry and consequently from preaching the homily at the Eucharist is a painful experience for many. At the same time we are also aware that the debate itself on the ordination of women is painful for many. While remaining respectful of the Churchâs Magisterium, we are convinced that our Order is called to find creative ways to release the fullness of our preaching charism. We owe it to Veritas÷the Dominican goal of truth÷to advance the theological and ecclesiological dimensions of this question.

7. It is crucial for us to note that, through our baptism and in a special manner through our Dominican commitment, all members of the Order participate without distinction in the common priesthood of the faithful. We ask all our brothers who exercise an ordained ministry in the Church to understand it as a service to this common priesthood lived in charity and without claims to power.

8. While we Friars desire to do all we can to collaborate with other branches of the Order, we encourage, in so far as is financially possible, all branches to be formed deeply in the theological traditions of the Church and the Order. Otherwise collaboration will remain unbalanced.

9. Having said all this, the great challenge that lies before us is addressing in our concrete situation the many injustices that are still major issues for all of society, but which cause particular burdens for women and children: economic issues, health care services, violence, discrimination, dis-empowerment, and lack of fundamental dignity, equality, resources, and opportunity. Addressing those issues requires that we stand in solidarity with our sisters, that we listen to their voices, concerns, and challenges, and that we engage in genuine dialogue with an open spirit so that together we can understand, address, and change attitudes and structures of male dominance, lingering feudalism, and systematic discounting of women's gifts and leadership.

The Context

The face of Asia

1. Asia is big and young. It occupies 30 percent of the worldâs land area and hosts three fifths of the worldâs 5.5 billion population. Over 60 percent of Asians are young people.

2. Asia is multi-religious. It is home to major religions of the world: Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Taoism, Sikhism, Shintoism, Jainism, and numerous primal or traditional religions thrive also in the region. Christianity is but a minor religion in Asia. The only countries where Christians are a majority are the Philippines and East Timor. Due to the strong influence of religions on cultures, Asians are very religious.

3. Asia is multi-cultural. Rich and diverse traditional cultures abound in Asia. To some extent many Asian societies have been influenced by the cultures of the West, made possible in the past by colonization, trade, and commerce. In more recent history, the inroads of industrialization, modernization, tourism, and mass media have fostered the values of materialism, consumerism, secularism, individualism, and hedonism among many Asian communities to the point of undermining their traditional religious and cultural values. Asia is where traditional and modern cultural values meet in creative and at times destructive tension.

4. Asia is predominantly poor. However a few rich countries are found in the region: Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, South Korea and Hong Kong. From the end of the colonial period, most of the Asian countries have been struggling to stand up on their own feet in their respective socio-economic-political life, but not without the strong influence of the powerful rich nations of the world to the great disadvantage of the Asian countries themselves. In effect, the new economic prosperity in many of our Asian societies has typically benefited only the foreign investors and the few local elite, with very little benefits to the majority. The plight of the poor masses is made worse by the pervasive practice of graft and corruption and by the ineffective governance resulting in dismal delivery of basic social services. The lack of planning and monitoring of development programs in many Asian countries has led to ecological devastation and disasters.

After the fall of the Soviet Union, the Order finds itself in very diverse situations in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and the three Baltic countries of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. In all countries but one (Lithuania), Roman Catholics are a minority. We are in these countries because of 1) the need for evangelizing the vast majority of the population who are unchurched; 2) the need for the intellectual mission of the Order in providing professors for seminaries and universities, teachers, catechists, establishing institutes of higher learning, as well as writing and publishing; and 3) our compassion for the poor and powerless people of the region.

The Order has many opportunities to exercise its mission in these countries. Many are thirsting for the Word of God. Many are interested in inter-religious dialogue and philosophical and theological research and discussion. But the Order faces many challenges.

Especially in Russia, it is important to be concerned about the perception which the Russian Orthodox faith has of us. By trying to convert peoples who traditionally and canonically fall under the care of the Orthodox Church, a great number of Christian organizations from the West create ecclesial entities that, wishing to or not, compete with the evangelizing efforts the Orthodox Church itself is making. Since the Catholic Church recognizes the apostolic responsibility of her Orthodox sister Church, we think that she cannot behave in the same way as these organizations. In any case, if some groups within the Catholic Church were tempted to behave in this way, we, the Order of Preachers, refuse to do so. Our preaching in Russia should be ordered towards a radically different mission. This mission should be in harmony with the charism of the Order and in tune with the spiritual aspirations of men and women whose culture is formed by Orthodoxy. We must avoid creating counter-productive antagonism through proselytizing.

For all of these reasons, we must reflect further on a coherent strategy for the region, and how the Order is to structure itself in these countries.

490 years ago, the newly elected Master of the Order, Thomas de Vio Cajetan, wrote to the Chapter of Rome in 1508 to say that he hoped he would be able to carry out his new functions with the generous help of his brethren, on condition that they apply themselves to poverty and study: "praesertim paupertati ac litterarum studiis omnes simul insisterimus." Five years later, at the Chapter of Genoa in 1513, he presented his plan for reform in the Order. For Cajetan, the key, or root of this reform is common life. Common life is what supports the Orderâs mission in which all are invited to participate, each according to his capabilities.

However diversified studies might be, their orientation and finality come from the mission of the Order: proclaiming the Word of Truth. Cajetan concludes his letter with this pithy observation: let others take pride in their privileges ö if theology doesnât recommend us, then our Order has had it ("Gaudeant alii · suis prerogativis, nos nisi sacra doctrina commendet, de nostro ordine actum est"). Two years later, he comes back again to the same issues of his programme for reform ö common life in poverty and studies : "nobis autem vix imminet, nisi studeamus, ut evangelizemus. Haec duo sunt, quibus servatis, ordo noster facile reformabitur. "

Cajetanâs austere programme has lost nothing of its pertinence for our day, and itâs more than a stroke of luck that Fr. Timothy Radcliffeâs first letter to the Order after the Chapter of Caleruega spoke about studies as an essential part of apostolic and community renewal today. That letterâs title was: The Wellspring of Hope. Study and the Annunciation of the Good News.

A number of provinces have become aware of the fact that a Dominican centre for intellectual formation, whether at an institutional level, or as a centre for adult education, or as a place for specialisation and research, represents a challenge and a responsibility which adds spirit to common life and creates a new apostolic impetus in the province. The Order is in the process of rediscovering the importance of studies as a wellspring of hope and an essential part of renewal.

Internet Mission

The presence of the Order of Preachers on the worldwide Internet system is a pastoral response to the needs and questions of the modern world. The Internet is a "new country" to be evangelized, and is a way to extend our preaching mission and to help our existing ministries. The already existing Internet Commission established by the Master of the Order needs to be augmented and supported. New forms of ministry through the Internet need to be explored and developed. The chapter encourages the formation of forums and Internet seminars so as to extend and intensify research and debates on the subjects which concern us.

© 1998 Order of Preachers General Chapter, 1998 Internet site by Scott Steinkerchner OP email: steinkerchner@op.org