his
year's meeting of the M.O. with the Superiors General
took place, as planned, on 17th May in Santa Sabina.
Sixty superiors from all over the world took part in
what was a friendly meeting. The most important event
was the presentation by the Master of his Letter on
Collaboration. Here is the text:
Welcome
to Santa Sabina. You are our sisters, this is your home.
Welcome. I would like to share a few thoughts on collaboration
in the Dominican Family.
We
Dominicans have a very precise identity. We are all
preachers. This is our vocation. Everything in our lives
is directed to this. We share this vocation and I believe
that we must as groups (not always as individuals) pursue
our vocation together.
The
Dominican Order was born a family. This was Dominic's
design. The first foundation at Prouille was a joint
foundation with a prior and prioress!
If,
indeed, we are a Family we should have much to share;
insights, experience, a shared hope, we should inspire
one another and dream a little together. There should
be a cross fertilization of experience and insight,
a sharing with one another that is creative. But more,
I believe we should be collaborating in ministry. We
have begun, but we have only scratched the surface.
A
little history. In modern times a renewed interest in
the Dominican Family was initiated by Hyacinth Cormier
(1904-1916) and Bonaventure de Paredes (1926-1929).
Paredes described the Order as: "a particular and
intimate family of the great Christian family."
He
urged a strong family spirit among all Dominicans and
authorized Dominican Sisters to sign their names O.P.
He also established a commission to' provide "whatever
can contribute to preserve the relations of the family
and promote intimate union between the several branches."
An
equally important moment in the realization of the Dominican
Family took place in 1968. Fr Aniceto Fernandez received
a number of queries from Sisters regarding their place
in the number of queries from Sisters regarding their
place in the Order. It was the occasion of his celebrated
letter in which he wrote:
"In
this modern world where our Saviour has put us to carry
on his great work of salvation we are called to embrace
together the spirit and tradition bequeathed to us by
St. Dominic, to search together for the best means of
carrying out our apostolate, and to build up together
our communities in the service of the Church. Nowadays
women are taking their rightful place in the work of
the Church. So too, the sisters must have their proper
place in the apostolate of the Order.
Equality
in Collaboration
Fr
Aniceto writes to the Sisters as equals and as equals
invites them to search together, "with the Brothers
for the best means of carrying out the ministry which
we hold in common - preaching in all its forms."
I
believe that it is only when we accept each other as
equals that we can collaborate effectively together
in ministry. This is the only basis for collaboration.
Furthermore, we have to learn how to work with each
other, to accept each other as women and as men, as
brothers and sisters. This requires a level of sensitivity
and understanding not found in everyone.
Recent
Chapters and Congresses
Since
1968, we men have tried to do everything from a legislative
point of view which would affirm this equality. The
General Chapter in Tallaght, (1971) declared that the
Dominican Family was equivalent to the universal order
of Preachers. "The name universal Order of Preachers
is the same as the term Dominican Family and is composed
of clerical and cooperator brothers, nuns, sisters,
..." (no. 122)
The
first international conference of Dominican men and
women in the history of the Order was the Missionary
Congress of 1973 (Madrid). It called for international
missionary projects and the establishment of national
associations of the Dominican Family. This Congress
asked the Master of the Order to appoint a sister to
promote collaboration in the Dominican Family. The spirit
of the Congress deeply effected succeeding chapters.
Another
significant international gathering was that of the
Dominican Family in Bologna: It stated:
"Our
apostolic way of life is continually renewed in dialogue
with our brothers and sisters and challenged by the
values of the Gospel. Dominic associated women with
his mission, thus affirming their place in the Church
and its mission. As their heirs we have the task of
manifesting the equality and complementarity of men
and women." (no. 2.2)
The
Chapter of Madonna Dell'Arco (1974) abolished the terms
"First, Second and Third" Order as terminology
unsuited in contemporary society. (no. 234) There are
no first and second class citizens. All are equal. We
are all preachers.
In
1977, we had the excellent document on The Dominican
Family from the General Chapter at Quezon City. It noted
two great movements in the Church and in the World,
the emergence of the laity and the liberation of women
"as an indispensable element in establishing the
kingdom of God and the more recent and constantly growing
movement towards the liberation of 'women and the recognition
of their equality with men."(no. 64)
St.
Dominic created the Dominican Family, not for itself,
but to be at the service of the Church in its mission
to the World. It is a great source for the evangelization
of the world but a potential that is not fully 'realized
through lack of collaboration.
"The
development of an authentic Dominican spirit and of
Dominican formation have suffered because of the lack
of closer bonds within the Dominican Family... Now is
the acceptable time for the Dominican Family to achieve
true equality and complementarity." (Quezon City
no. 64)
The
Chapter also firmly stated that non-clerical members
of the order are not less Dominican, nor participate
in a deficient way in the Dominican vocation.
It
made a number of practical suggestions: 1. A call for
regional meetings of Dominican men and women. 2. A common
course of basic formation for all members of the order,
the purpose being to create a united spirit and understanding
of our Dominican vocation.
Succeeding
Chapters made further suggestions for collaboration
in the ministry of the word in preaching retreats, involvement
with youth, and catechesis in programmes of formation
in promoting vocations in work for justice and peace.
Since
1968 we have endeavored to remove those obstacles which
might impede collaboration. Chapters and Congresses
have urged collaboration. There are fine examples of
collaboration: joint novitiate formation in the Solomons,
joint preaching teams in the United States, joint continuing
formation and collaboration in justice issues, a joint
news letter in Chile and joint collaboration in the
running of retreat and conference centres.
Learning
to Work Together
But
we have only begun. Collaboration in ministry has not
won wide acceptance among many brothers. You are better
equipped to speak for the Sisters:
Collaboration
is a whole new learning process. It requires a level
of adaptation and acceptance that many are not able
to cope with. I recall the advice of Sr Geraldine O'Driscoll.
The first thing to remember on embarking on a team ministry
is the importance of time. It takes time to become a
team. When she began team ministry she says she wanted
the priests to share their vision for the parish. They
were unable to do this but "after four years they
are now asking us to sit down with them and share our
vision."
The
second point she notes is that it is only in working
together that you come face to face with the fact that
"a man and a woman approach things differently
and we have to be able to welcome that. This also means
being sensitive to the strengths and weaknesses of the
brothers and of their being sensitive to what is important
to us ... I have learned to appreciate the complementarity
of working together and to beware of competition."
One
of her priest colleagues said: "We priests have
to forget that we are God and that God is male; and
the sisters have to forget that they were school teachers."
Her
final comment is particularly important : "The
members of a team must develop the ability to listen
to each other and to allow each other their own space
and rhythm. Sharing ideas can be easy. The ways each
one goes about implementing these ideas can be different
and even surprising and we have to learn to respect
each one's space and rhythm."
I
would like to say this. We have programmed collaboration
on the level of congresses and chapters but we have
done almost nothing to address the human problems with
which it confronts us as men and women. Geraldine's
comments highlight this. It is not enough to want to
work together we have to learn how to work together.
Areas
of Needed Collaboration
I
ask your help in three areas in which we need your collaboration
at this time: Evangelization, Teaching, and the Central
Administration of the Order.
Evangelization:
I believe that the work of evangelization throughout
the world is impoverished because of a lack of skills
among evangelizers, skills which are essential to the
success of evangelization today. Our great weakness
in evangelization is our failure to adjust to the changed
times in which we live and the absence of adaptation
and inculturation. Today, we need the help of those
trained in social psychology, cultural anthropology,
comparative religions ... to help us devise new methods
of evangelization for our time. I believe that we need
sisters trained in these sciences to facilitate evangelization
in a new era. A failure to equip ourselves with such
skills will impoverish the work we do.
Teaching:
The Chapter of Rome in 1983 recommended: "That
the office of teaching in Dominican Institutes of study
be exercised not just by the brothers but also by members
of the other groups of the Dominican Family." (no.
278)
I
would extend this to joint collaboration in formation.
For how long have Dominican women been receiving the
help of the men? We have not had the benefit of Dominican
women preaching to us and helping us in our formation
programmes. I think that in the past a negative attitude
to sexuality built walls, physical or psychological,
around novitiates and houses of study and this harmed
people rather than helped them. Contact with formators
of the opposite sex is a healthy input in formation
of male vocations.
I
renew the invitation of the Bologna Symposium, which
was a gathering of Brothers, Sisters and Dominican Laity
to prepare those who have the desire and the, competence
to teach in our different international institutions:
I think in a particular way of the Angelicum here in
Rome, but in other countries too. There is a serious
need to incorporate the feminine insight into the teaching
of theology and kindred sciences. We are impoverished
because of its absence.
The
Central Administration of the Order
First,
I would like to express the gratitude of the order to
those Congregations who so generously provided personnel
for the secretariat in Santa Sabina over the past twenty
years. This has been of immense help. The generosity
and, dedication of the different sisters over the years
has been marvelous.
The
Mission Congress of 1973 made the following request:
"We
ask that the Sisters be represented on the General Secretariat
for the Missions, the General Secretariat for the Sisters
and to the Master, General by a Sister with the title
"Assistant to the Master General." In this
way collaboration can be established at all levels of
life in the order, for instance in reference to programmes
of formation, interchange of lecturers and pastoral
cooperation."
A
very startling request, but in the right direction.
In the January issue of I.D.I. there is a letter from
Sister Veronica Rafferty in Argentina. She makes a,
plea for the establishment of a World Wide Union of
Dominican Women. "Such an organization she suggests,
would facilitate direct relationships between the Sisters
and the Master of the Order, promote the life of the
Dominican Family and facilitate joint planning for initial
and permanent formation, "an organization that
corresponds to our dignity, our aspirations and our
needs." Is it time to move in this direction ?
