Author: patrick.briscoe@opeast.org

As Fishers and Shepherds: A Dominican Sister Reflects

Pondering this letter, I was especially struck by how Jesus’ command to put out into the deep and let down our nets for a catch is directed toward my own congregation of Dominican Sisters of St. Rose of Lima. Though surrounded by the particular deep waters of the lies about the human person that have so invaded the culture, we find ourselves called to preach truth precisely here and now by our actions.

This is not new territory for Dominicans, since St. Dominic’s own mission was to the Albigensians. For them too, false beliefs about the created world and the human person led not only to their de-valuing of them, but kept them from knowing Jesus Christ as true God and true Man.

Our foundress, Ven. Rose Hawthorne, worked to bring knowledge of God to those whose dignity as children of God was ignored in her own time. Giving free nursing care to the poor dying of cancer who had been abandoned by the world, she communicated the generous, truly compassionate love of God who came to suffer in the flesh to redeem them. Similarly, the attacks on the truth now encroaching upon us distort the reality of the essential unity of the human body and soul, and the inviolable worth of both. On a societal level, we are already facing state pressure to compromise our faith by allowing or referring people to assisted suicide, or by aligning our nursing with transgender ideology.

On a personal level, we are already encountering the great damage such social norms inflict upon the most vulnerable. To those already suffering the burden of incurable illness is added the weight of believing that their lives are pointless when diminished, that they are inconvenient to others, and that they are not worth someone taking the time to enter into their pain. The casting of nets that we are called to here is a patient striving to give gentle, affectionate, and attentive personal care that includes both body and soul.

We must not be afraid to speak of Jesus to them, to tell them with our deeds and our words that He redeems and heals through suffering by His love that is stronger than death. By honoring their flesh, we must preach to them the truth about themselves and about the God whose love brought Him to take on this human flesh. Here is where our fishing also becomes shepherding. Feeding the sheep, tending and binding their wounds both physical and spiritual are how we go fishing even in the valley of the shadow of death.

Do we have faith that the Good Shepherd is present in the depths of the valley, comforting, anointing, and lavishing abundant life on fish and sheep alike? To obey Jesus’ command to fish and to shepherd is pure gift and a work of grace. I know it is necessary to ask for this faith in prayer, in order to follow in the footsteps of St. Dominic and Rose Hawthorne who embraced both tasks. I believe that here we also have great cause for hope – as Dominicans do we not hold obedience in high esteem, and believe in the providence of God who gives what He commands?

— Sr. Mary Pietrina, OP
Congregation of St. Rose of Lima

As Fishers and Shepherds: A Dominican Nun Replies

What can you contribute?

A first reading of the letter brought to mind the image of Saint Dominic with the first women converted from Catharism. In that first generation of our brothers in the Order, we have a clear example of the call to be fishers and shepherds. Through the “fishing” of the holy Founder, those women were restored to the Catholic faith, and through his accompaniment they became part of the Holy Preaching of Prouilhe.

Monasteries preserve a great potential for evangelization and, therefore — contrary to what we might suppose at first glance — many possibilities for being nets with which to draw souls toward Christ. While it is true that we nuns do not go out to preach, the monastery itself can be a hook for men and women who are searching, even if they do not quite know what they are seeking. They come with a thirst for spirituality, and through a cordial welcome and an open, carefully celebrated liturgy that communicates beauty and humanity, we can evangelize that spirituality. Perhaps they arrive seeking an encounter with themselves, and the challenge is to help them leave having encountered Christ and having discovered themselves in Christ. When this happens, it is not uncommon for them to establish bonds of closeness with the community and for an accompaniment in their faith to begin.

Elements concerning the task of fishers of men and shepherds of the flock

In the work of fishing, there is a hidden but very necessary task of intercession for the fruits of the fishing and for the fidelity and self-giving of the fishers, so that they do not grow faint. This is not exclusive to nuns, but we are specifically called to collaborate in preaching through our prayer, as stated in the Fundamental Constitution of the nuns, §2, and as the rich history of the Order has also shown throughout more than eight centuries of existence.

There is also the care, time and attention required for the shepherding and accompaniment of the Dominican Family itself as a foundation for the evangelization of the Holy Preaching. At times, accompaniment ad extra of the Family may seem more “attractive,” while we ourselves are in need of brothers and sisters who preach to us, encourage us, correct us and offer us formation. Conversion is a daily task whose greatest danger is to take it for granted simply because one has been consecrated. Accompaniment and permanent formation are required, and they are just as important as initial formation or vocation promotion.

Ways of renewing the propositum Ordinis

We must deepen and become convinced of the call to live the Holy Preaching for the salvation of souls in the key of the Dominican Family. The richness of the Order lies precisely in the fact that, as several vocations with one same mission and charism, we are called to carry out this purpose of the Order in communion amid our diversity.

From my own experience in the accompaniment I offer, it is normally the case that a person’s first contact with the Church or with the Order comes through the “fishing” of our brothers or sisters of active life. However, when we work as a family, it becomes possible to refer these people to the contemplative sisters, who are called to live spiritual motherhood and who have the possibility of offering spiritual accompaniment, as so many examples throughout the history of the Church show.

In a society where loneliness ends up suffocating both the young and those who are not so young, I have witnessed the fruits that preaching as a family can bear, through mature, concrete and evangelical fraternal relationships. To project the propositum Ordinis beyond oneself enriches us — in the complementarity of men and women — motivates us — “they are counting on me” — and makes it more effective: “See how they love one another.”

— sr. Teresa de Jesús Cadarso, OP

As Fishers and Shepherds: The Priestly Fraternities of St. Dominic

The letter seems very inspiring to me. The theme of fishers and shepherds is wonderful, and above all the reflection it offers on the images of the fisher, the shepherd and the “Domini canes,” like sheepdogs.

What could be explored more deeply?

First, I think it would be good to begin from the fact that we are in the midst of the world, and the things that afflict the world are things that we also experience. I think personally, for example, that priests, whether diocesan or religious — and women religious as well — sometimes think that “it is others who suffer,” as though we were immune. But the reality is that in our communities, or even in ourselves, we also encounter difficulties such as anxiety, depression, crises of meaning, panic attacks, affective immaturity, resistance to silence, the reduction of mission to activism, little cultivation of the interior life, the selfishness that leads us to close ourselves off within our own positions, cancel culture, and so on.

Perhaps, when examining ourselves in view of Pentecost 2033, we cannot forget that the salvation of souls is not a purpose directed only toward those outside. We must also make every effort so that the message of salvation may impact the life of the Dominican himself, impelling him toward a holy life that becomes visible in the different dimensions of his personal, family and community history.

Second, another important point is to recover a commitment to the family. Along with young people, we cannot forget that they live within a concrete environment. The same is true of consecrated persons and priests: although through religious profession and ordination we certainly enter a new reality, we are not entirely separated from our home. That too is an environment of preaching and of living out preaching. In a particular way, I think mention should be made of the lay fraternities and permanent deacons who form part of the Dominican Family.

In the field of youth ministry, it is also important to discover young people’s longing for a love that does not disappoint and their thirst — even if they sometimes do not realize it — to live in reality rather than in the simulation of the virtual world.

Third, when the section on the parish is discussed, it is clearly oriented toward the friars. But perhaps a brief reflection could be added there on how Dominicanism itself is flourishing in these settings through the Priestly Fraternities. The Order has enriched the lives of many diocesan priests, and in recent years we have seen an increase in the number of those who embrace this way of life rooted in Dominican spirituality. Sometimes, even without a campaign to promote them, we see how the charism of St. Dominic attracts many priests — not in order to become friars, but in order to live their own vocation in a Dominican style.

As diocesan priests, we discover a richness that helps us in our journey within the parishes. We do not merely place an image of St. Dominic in our parishes; we also seek to be steeped in his way of life, knowing that he began as one of us. I am thinking not only of his time in Osma, but also, for example, of the 10 years he spent alone in southern France before the Order was properly born. Already there, the desire within his heart was being formed and was beginning to take its first steps.

Fourth, it would also be interesting to consider how our diocesan identity becomes a contribution to the Order. It is not only about what the Order gives me, but also about what I can contribute from my own reality. All members of the Dominican Family live in a concrete diocese. How does this also shape the way Dominicanism is lived?

Each diocese has a particular accent in which the Holy Spirit is at work. When a friar or a sister is transferred, for example, they must also learn a new language. Synodality and the spirituality of communion impel us to dialogue with those with whom we “play at home.” Itinerancy, for example, is lived in a different way, and after a long time in one place, one begins to know life in another way.

I think this can help us not to see the diocese simply as a place where one arrives and where there is a clergy and a bishop to whom one is a stranger. Rather, it is also a place where the Holy Spirit is already acting, and where one seeks to work in communion in order to walk together, accompany the People of God together and carry out mission among those who are distant or who do not yet know the Lord.

Finally, I find it interesting, for example, to consider the relationship that exists in our particular case, the Province of St. Louis Bertrand, with brothers from other countries. We are together with El Salvador, Aruba, Venezuela and Colombia, and also with the friars. Little by little, we see how much we can learn from one another, how much we can walk together as brothers and feel ourselves members of one family. Something similar is true with the sisters.

For us, the contribution of permanent deacons and their family reality has also been enriching. The world is seen from another dimension.

As Fishers and Shepherds: A Young Friar’s Response

As Fishers and Shepherds presents two principal movements: outward, fishing is an act of searching; inward, shepherds are responsible for care.

Our brother Jordan of Saxony is known for attracting large numbers of young men to the Order. On May 10, we marked the 200th anniversary of his beatification, and as I read this letter I cannot stop thinking about him. He was a man who knew how to speak to people’s hearts and who made them fall in love with Jesus and with Dominic’s project. At around the age of 35, fr. Jordan entered the Order. Two months later, he was chosen to represent the community of Paris at the first General Chapter in Bologna, and a year later he was appointed provincial of Lombardy. For someone who was only just beginning to take root, it was a great responsibility to be asked to bear fruit immediately.

Many of us younger friars must arrive in communities where our brothers already entrust us with responsibilities at an “early age.” The situations vary: parishes, offices as superior, vice-rectorships, councils, formation or vocation promotion. Fresh from the “safe harbor” of initial formation, we are asked to be fishers and shepherds, even though many of us still need to be shepherded. It is nothing new for young friars to have to assume responsibilities; it is enough to listen to the stories of our elders. But there is a challenge emerging that must not be normalized: that a friar should feel alone in the work, think that he must consolidate his own project, or believe that in the fabric of Dominican life he is merely one more piece.

In the Gospel of John, when Jesus is presented to the disciples of the Baptist as the “Lamb of God,” the question they ask him is: “Rabbi, where do you live?” Then they went, saw where he lived and stayed with him. One stays where one is treated well, where one is loved. Jesus loved them. Jordan of Saxony was not only an example of the fisher, attracting friars through the nets woven by the sweetness of his words; he was also an example of the shepherd, for he knew how to keep numerous brothers in the Order through the care and love he showed them.

Our convents are “houses of preaching” where we must experience the bond of God’s love through a form of life that is itself preaching. We have come with the intention of dwelling with the Lord, not in an ideal way, but in a real way, living with brothers under one common purpose. For this reason, it is necessary to restore the lived experience of the conventual community, because it is there that the yoke becomes easy and the burden light. We must understand that the project of preaching requires us to live with one heart and mind, and thus to unite our efforts in a common work — truly common.

Jordan was not an innovator; he was conscious that his work was to continue what had been begun. If there is something that we young friars must ask insistently of the Holy Spirit, it is that he renew us in love, in care and in the mutual shepherding of our relationship with the brother in our convent. When Christ asks Peter, “Do you love me?” he asks us: “Do you love your brother?” The challenge for all friars today is to “live the Order,” and not merely to live in it.

— fr. Harold Fernando Perea Coronado, OP

As Fishers and Shepherds: A Dominican Bishop’s Response

“Like Fishers and Shepherds: The Dominican Journey toward the Church, with the Church, toward Pentecost 2033” does not leave one indifferent. It is nourishing, simple and deeply motivating. Why, Fr. Tardif used to say, did Peter at Pentecost convert three thousand people with a single sermon, while we sometimes fail to convert even one person with three thousand sermons?

I. What could you contribute to broaden, deepen or contextualize the themes of the letter in your own situation?

1. Interpersonal evangelization

Evangelization, in the manner of Dominic and the innkeeper, takes place more through person-to-person encounters than through mass operations, such as large gatherings, media campaigns or concerts.

2. The ambivalent challenge of the digital continent

The digital world does not always lead us toward the peripheries or toward real encounters. Algorithms often bring us back to people who already think as we do. The Dominican mission cannot neglect itinerancy, proximity and personal encounter.

3. The apostolic and pastoral role of women religious in evangelization through proximity

Women religious possess a unique capacity to reach the hidden wounds of daily family life and to enter people’s homes. Sisters exercise a sorority and spiritual motherhood of proximity that is indispensable, especially where priestly masculinity has its limits.

4. Young people and the evangelization of elites

The Order can send brothers and sisters on mission to young people, but it can and must also have the ambition to form young missionary leaders and Christian elites.

5. The evangelization of elites

A large part of the collective imagination is shaped by narratives developed by intellectual, political, economic, cultural, academic and media elites, who are often given over to ideologies contrary to the Gospel. Service to the poor remains a priority, but it cannot be exclusive.

II. Are there elements you would add to the mission of “fishers of men” or “shepherds of the flock”?

1. The link between the two dimensions

The two dimensions are connected and call upon one another: fisher / shepherd; apostolate / pastoral care; evangelization / accompaniment; boldness / fidelity; soldier at the front / soldier behind the lines. Our charism is not limited to “converting,” but also includes “accompanying.”

Preaching ad fideles is “ordered toward” — and not simply “open to” — mission toward the other three publics. The Order seeks to form missionary disciples, not to maintain cultivated churchgoers.

Between contemplation and preaching, the relationship is one of cause and effect, not of means and end. Contemplation is not a tool for preaching better, but the source-cause from which preaching flows as its river-effect.

In addition to dechristianization, in a Caribbean-Latin American context, four causes help explain the diminishment of the flock: lack of a biblical foundation for pastoral care; lack of experience of a fraternal community; lack of opportunities for a personal encounter with Christ; and lack of missionary sending or real responsibilities, leaving the faithful as spectators. The Order of Preachers seems particularly well calibrated to respond to these needs.

The figure of the fisher: boldness, failure and abandonment

2. Accepting failure and insecurity

The word “failure,” which is part of missionary experience, does not appear in the text. Saint Dominic himself converted few Cathars. While a shepherd considers the loss of a single sheep to be a failure, the fisher knows that failure is a stage of his mission. He ventures into deep waters. Mission exposes one to spiritual, psychological, social, ecclesial and physical danger. The charism disturbs; it must challenge insecurities with distance, humor and optimism, in addition to patience.

3. Mission is not first of all a technique

Many conversions are not the result of an apostolate, as one can see at Sainte-Baume or among catechumens in France. The apostles cast the nets, but it is God who mysteriously draws the fish. The missionary must avoid thinking of himself as the first cause of conversion. He remains a secondary cause.

I. How can we renew the ways in which we live the propositum Ordinis as we journey toward the Great Jubilee of 2033?

1. Intensifying the spiritual life of the Order?

Digital tools and artificial intelligence save us an enormous amount of time in study and research. Should our Constitutions not propose increasing the time devoted to contemplation? See Chapters 2, on prayer and liturgy, and 3, on study. Why not revise upward the quantitative norms of Nos. 62, on the Office; 66 §2, on mental prayer; 67 §2, on the Rosary; and 68, on retreat?

The shepherd of the flock

2. Accompaniment as the fulfillment of evangelization

What about the accompaniment of neophytes, the confirmed, young converts, newly married couples and others? The Order should develop a specific expertise in mystagogical pastoral accompaniment.

Following the example of the Jesuit tradition, should we not systematize methods arising from our own charism and develop a properly Dominican reflection on accompaniment and fatherhood: for couples, young people, neophytes and vocations?

3. A profile of the Dominican parish and the convent in pastoral mission

Constitutive elements of an “OP” parish include:

fraternity, including in its governance, with a core of brothers, sisters and laypeople around the pastor;
care for preaching;
missionary conversion of practices and structures;
intellectual life, including reflection on practices and teaching;
exercise of individual charisms;
pastoral innovation, without the attitude of “we have always done it this way.”

Constitutive elements of a convent as a missionary spiritual center, and not merely a residential base camp, include:

parlors as places of spiritual accompaniment;
the church as a sanctuary where public liturgy is celebrated with many consecrated persons and laypeople;
the library as a place for colloquia and multidisciplinary conferences;
the community as the center of a vast fraternal network of friends and familiars.

4. The solitude of OP bishops and the importance of the socius

A bishop has collaborators, but not true companions. This is an isolation that contradicts the figures of the fisher and the shepherd. The Order should reflect on the figure of the socius: as with the apostles, as with the first brothers of the Order, as with Dominic and Diego of Osma.

— Bishop David Macaire, OP

As Fishers and Shepherds: Dominican Laity

As a member of the Lay Fraternities, I am humbled by your request and blessed at the same time. I have been praying for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit as we near Pentecost, as this Solemnity is a favorite of mine. The Holy Spirit, separate but Trinity, is their shared uncreated love. This activity is a ‘welcomed guest.’

In general terms …
- As a member of the Dominican Laity, the letter is relatable to all members of the Order. Personally, the image of shepherd was one of my first images of sweet Jesus that drew my heart. Several years ago, this was bookended by my directing a women’s retreat in my dioceses, the theme being the Good Shepherd. That image is dear to me. I see it in my spiritual life as a Dominican and in my professional life as a nurse, ministering the elderly.
- This said, Dominicans are Dominicans first. All of us preach in different ways, according to our state in life. Perhaps a sentence about ‘bloom where you are planted’ would be a consideration. While the sisters work in the vineyard of schools and hospitals, they live in community, a point that was well crafted in the Master’s letter.

Are there elements …
- Honestly, I wouldn’t add a thing. I think as a member of the laity, the concepts of fisher and shepherd were so beautifully written, it is enough.
- I feel the laity needs more focus and training on preaching with our ‘bark’ by means of seminars, study modules, web conferences with friars, sisters, and professors who teach our religious. For us, the study pillar doesn’t totally support our preaching. We could use more focus on training as it relates to preaching. We have the unique privilege of being in the trenches. The biggest insight my prayer enlightened is to transform this letter into a study module for us. The questions at the end are great can could include more. Our pillars (legs) are sturdy. The thought of them holding up the table (of preaching) is a concept worth exploring. We mention pillars and don’t think anything sits on them. Since our pillars are solid, a mention that they support preaching could be a concept that builds on them. This supports the concept of fishers are shepherds and shepherds are fishers.

How can we renew (Laity) …
- A time of communal prayer for this intention (Rosary), including a prayer written for this purpose.
- Symposiums or the like on preaching (for the laity) after all we are all fishers and shepherds.
- Sharing our successes so other members of the Order can encompass them. Call it come to the table moments(!)

I suggest the following …

Including the Holy Spirit in some way in this letter, since the Great Jubilee is of Pentecost is the anniversary.
A thought would be to separate the sisters from the laity, for the simple purpose of conceptualizing the role of each. Neither the laity nor the youth lives in community; with its communal prayer and practices. Our fraternities can serve this purpose. We have the opportunity to join the friars online, in podcasts and through offerings. We need these.
Provide a talk, seminar or document for study on Virtues, since the enliven our preaching.

Give (the laity) or any family member examples or situations of virtue and how to live this in our words and actions – ie: practical tips).

Encourage members of the Order (and the Youth) to help parishes and become involved in the services and ministries. This would include teaching faith formation and allowing us to preach with our actions and by our lives.
We can study related encyclicals.
Bring someone to Mass, provide written names of churches with Mass time to give to others.
Fr. Ignatius John Schweitzer, OP (province of St. Joseph, eastern USA), has friend that asked their pastor to allow them to have a campaign to call parishioners post COVID and get them back to Mass, it really was impactful. It is worth a consideration. It was very fruitful.
Encourage each province to do something to annually to prepare for the Great Jubilee.
Add page numbers to this letter (for ease of study).

Conclusion

This letter is personal yet inclusive for all members of the Dominican family. In its pages, each Dominican is made to feel unity with the whole. It is a gentle but firm reminder of our role as Catholics and Dominic’s mandate, no matter of our state in life. It recalls our vow and promise to live according to the Rule of St. Dominic, for life in a clear and inclusive way.
This letter is a treasure and to preserve it in some way so it could be used to start a zoom type meeting to discuss it as fraternities and be worth the effort. We call this in the US ‘Family Time with the Laity.’

Thank you for your efforts in contacting me with this labor of love, I couldn’t put this letter down! What a gift it will be to the Order. I does take us “duc in altum.” This letter is a treasure. God is good to each of us.

— Mrs. Kathy Kendrek OP
Province of Saint Joseph, eastern USA

As Fishers and Shepherds: The Dominican Mission in Ukraine

From the perspective of the Dominican mission in Ukraine, the images of “fishers of men” and “shepherds of the flock,” presented in the Master of the Order’s letter The Dominican Journey with the Church toward Pentecost 2033, take on a very concrete meaning. The full-scale war, which has continued for more than four years, has revealed both the depth of human wounds and the power of the Gospel. It is in the light of the Word of God that we seek to read reality and allow ourselves to be guided by the Holy Spirit.

The mission of the fisher is to go out toward those who are far away — people pushed to the margins by suffering, forced displacement, poverty, grief, political and religious conflicts, or simply exhaustion. The “deep waters” into which we are called to cast our nets are often places of danger, trauma, and loneliness. To cast the net there means to go to those who live in fear, especially to those who are unable, by their own strength, to come to Christ and to the Church. It also means being ready to leave behind our own comfort, to remain close to people in their struggles, and to create spaces of encounter, dialogue, and reconciliation.

People affected by war need patient accompaniment, places of safety, prayer, spiritual and intellectual formation, and concrete assistance. Above all, they want to be welcomed and heard. In Ukraine we see very clearly that preaching cannot be separated from mercy. The Word must become bread, shelter, friendship, and presence. As Dominican sisters and brothers, together with our lay collaborators, we strive to live this mission in our parishes and communities, especially in the St Martin de Porres Centre in Fastiv and at the St Thomas Aquinas Higher Institute of Religious Sciences in Kyiv.

The war has also taught us how important presence is — simply being with another person. Such presence is itself a sign of Christ, who after His Resurrection promised His disciples: “I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Mt 28:20). To remain with a suffering people, to pray with them, to share their fragility, and to speak the truth without losing tenderness — this too is part of being “co-workers of the truth.”

As we journey toward the year 2033, we need a renewal of our communities so that they may become ever more capable of listening to the voice of the Lord and discerning where we are called to cast the net once again. We need preaching that is intellectually honest, spiritually rooted in the tradition of our Order, and genuinely close to people.

We must allow Christ to shape in us a heart that is both apostolic and pastoral: courageous in going out to others, humble in listening, and faithful in remaining close to those entrusted to us. In this way, the Dominican Family can offer the Church on its journey toward Pentecost 2033 a witness of truth united with mercy, contemplation joined to solidarity, and preaching expressed through the concrete healing of wounded lives.

— Fr. Jarosław Krawiec, OP
Provincial Vicar of Ukraine

As Fishers and Shepherds: Cardinal Timothy Radcliffe

I thank Brother Gerard for this marvellous Letter to the Order and the invitation to add a word.

The letter begins with the transformation of the timid disciples into brave preachers. St Thomas says that courage is necessary for all the virtues. To preach to our frightened world, we need courageous friars, who are unafraid to take risks.

I loved the interplay of two images of our mission, fishing and shepherding. For each I would add a complementary word.

When we fish for human beings profound questions are juicy bait. The first conversation between God and humanity opens with a question to Adam: ‘Where are you?’ (Gen. 3.9). God does not need information. The Bible is filled with questions which invite people to come newly alive with God’s grace. ‘Why do you seek the living among the dead?’, the angel asks the women at the tomb (Luke 24,5), ‘Do you love me more than these others?’ (John 21.15) Jesus asks Simon Peter.

When I was in Ukraine recently, the brethren encouraged me to bring to the surface difficult questions, such as how one might even begin to forgive their unjust aggressors. How could I both pray for Ukraine to have a military victory and also believe that the ultimate victor is the nonviolent Jesus? We shall fish deeply if we dare to raise the questions that trouble the people of our time. We shall fish well if we are not seen to be people with easy answers, but are beggars for the truth, eager to receive it from anyone who is wise.

“My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27). This mutual knowledge is ‘gratuitously received in silence.’ (para 4) In the digital culture of constant distraction, our words need to spring from a deep inner silence in which we attend to the Lord and to each other. The busier we are, the more we need to be centred in silence. Toby Lees OP wrote: ‘Countless messages purporting to be personal will have been competing for your attention because in a world of abundant products and near-infinite information, the true scarcity is attention… Our phones exist like Gollum’s ring in our pockets; entertainment or distraction is there all the time..’ The secret of Pope Leo is his deep inner tranquillity. We need to drink from the springs of silence every day if we are to see people’s faces, hear their voices and receive from the Lord what is to said and done.

Finally, in almost every continent, studies have shown a crisis in the relationship of young men and women. It was a profound preoccupation of the recent Synod. The lives of the first Dominicans were marked by friendship between brothers and sisters: Dominic and the nuns; Jordan and Diane, Catherine and Raymond of Capua and so on. This is a precious inheritance for our contemporary world in young women and men so often fear each other.

— Brother Timothy Radcliffe, OP