Notes on Dominican Family Life taken during recent session at Blockhouse Bay, presented by Rev Chrys McVey op.
Response to the needs of the day is the basis of the founding of the Dominican Friars and Sisters; therefore it follows that the emergence of the Dominican Laity now will also be a response to current needs.
In Caleruega there a statue called Our Lady who listens – she has a small mouth and big ears. This is an excellent model for those of us who are in ministry today. So many people are crying out to be listened to. At the same time we need to be listened out to the needs of the times.
What are the needs of the day in Auckland ??
Our horizons are becoming wider – education, dialogue with other faiths, tanga te whenua …
Dialogue - a sharing of meaning
Through dialogue a new world is emerging
an enlargement of meaning is apparent.
What is my response to all those who have made me what I am. We are all the sum total of everyone we have ever met.
Experience in Pakistan
Sometimes people would say “You are so good why aren’t you a Muslim?” Christians say the same thing. ie see things from only one perspective.
Moments of Conversion
Pakistan is 61 years old. Over half of that time has been under military rule.
Under Zia, a Sunni, Arabic law was imposed strictly; eg. blasphemy rule, testimony of a woman is worth only half that of a man. The harshness led to the formation of dialogue groups – a Muslim Initiative. Dealing with the Muslim is the same as dealing with the different family members. Forced to face the fact that things are not what they seem to be.
Story: A young man seeking enlightenment asked a sufi for help. The sufi replied: tell me all you certainties and I will give you confusion.
Life is full of uncertainties.
There was an old movie that showed Jesus in the Sermon of the Mount – striding over the hills, throwing back to those following him “Blessed are the …. “ Jesus was always away up in front.
The Church gave the Holy Spirit to us at Pentecost.
The Development of a Theology of Hospitality
Philoxenia is loving the stranger, entering into the experience of the other as opposed to zenophobia, fear of the stranger.
Embrace what is new & challenging & different or even dangerous.
Preachers have to have swivel ears to hear what’s happening in the world. New word in the Vatican is Relative-ism
The black and white world or attitude leads to living in your own bubble. Herbert McCabe quoted as saying “God is a world from paganism". That ‘s OK. But if we confuse the reality with the myth we are in trouble.
Our task today is to keep the theology conversation going.
A whirl wind tour of Laity Groups in different parts of the Globe.
Egs of what Dominican Lay Membersdo in various circumstances.
Czech Republic The laity run the Publishing House Mission of the op Priests, Sisters & Laity.
Netherlands - a most extremely secularized country. Friars, Sisters and Laity are jointly using their funds to support projects.
France Joint project re pilgrimage to Lourdes
Bordeaux : receive refuges from Morocco in the Church.
Germany: A Bishop gave a 13th century monastery to the Dominican Nuns and they use itwith lay members jointly for hospitality.
Vietnam : A small monastery of Nuns & Brothers. 100 students, 90 Novices – can accommodate only half the Novices. Restricted Mission, So it’s the laity who keep the ball rolling. Homes for Aged, Sponsor cultural events eg poetry, Aids hospice etc.
Korea
China: The op Sisters go regularly to China, Macau and Inner Mongolia.
Mark: 2 A leper calls out. Jesus stretches his hands out and leper is clean. Jesus made himself vulnerable by reaching out and touching.
To reach out & touch is the ministry most needed today.
Mary Magdalen Jn 20 Patroness of the Order. A seeker, a weeper, a lover, and because of all this became a preacher.
Samaritan woman at the well
Preaching is sharing questions. Opening to others our own tentativeness. People identify with thosewho have questions not with those who have all the answers.
Walter Bruggeman “Prophetic Imagination” says :
Prophetic imagination
arises from people
aware of what is happening
judging according to teaching of Jesus
acting & speaking out
suffers & dies
to criticize the dominant way of thinking by proposing an alternative consciousness.
Korimako : a Centre for Ecology and Spirituality
Findlay Road, Invercargill
A Corner of the Peace Garden
|