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IDI - January 2008 - N° 458

30 January 2008

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A MESSAGE FOR CHRISTMAS AND THE NEW YEAR

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Nearing the end of the year 2007 and hoping to be able to rest after Christmas, I cannot but look back like one who wishes to take stock of the past year, in order to remember some of the lived experiences, especially those related to the life and mission of the Order, to thank God and to discover the reason for continuing our way forward, in faith, hope, love and veneration of the Emmanuel, the Word made flesh.

Besides the time we lived in our dear community of Santa Sabina, always so rich in brotherhood and in intense work, my heart remembers especially the many visits to convents and provinces I made during the year.

While trying to give a short synthesis I recall the visits – in Rome – of the communities of the Angelicum, the Convitto of St. Thomas and the priory of St. Mary Major. Outside the city of Rome, I visited the provinces of Betica, the Philippines, Croatia, Austria and Southern Germany.

Amid this intense agenda – living this jubilee year – I wanted to meet as many monasteries as possible. To these I must add meetings with the different Congregations of Sisters, Lay Fraternities, and Youth Groups – the Order in its beautiful polychromatic symphony!

While speaking about this, I would like to point out some important meetings with the different branches of the Dominican Family in which I took part in many different ways: a two-day retreat preached by Bro Timothy Radcliffe and Sr. Gabriela Zengarini to the sisters of CODALC and the brother of CIDALC followed by the Assembly of CIDALC (at the end of January and the beginning of February in Lima, Peru); the «International Congress of the Lay Fraternities of the Order» (18-24 March in Pilar, Argentina); the «Inter-Federation Meeting of the Federations of our Contemplative sisters in Spain» (26-28 March in Caleruega, Spain), and the «Assembly of the Dominican Sisters International» (beginning of May in Rome). What wealth can one find in each one of these meetings!

Lastly, I mention our General Chapter of Provincials (from July 18 to August 8 in Bogotà, Colombia). The joys and hopes of the Order showed by the Capitular brothers, guest and the Dominican Family of Colombia were joined by the sorrow caused by the death of our brother (+) Bro Dominique Renouard. I thank God and St. Dominic for having given us the gift of this «good and faithful servant». The celebrations in Bogotà, his funeral in Lyon and his burial in the Arbresle were eloquent signs of the presence in our midst of the Risen Lord and of Saint Dominic.

I write this Christmas and New Year message in Caracas (Venezuela) on the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. I am here visiting our communities (some of them belonging to the Regional Vicariate of the Holy Rosary Province, while other belong to the Regional Vicariate of the Betica Province). When you read this message, I would have also visited Cuba to meet our brothers and sisters who live and work in this beautiful Caribbean island.

I do not intend to share with you just these pages from my calendar and agenda. However, it is true that in our own lives God builds the History of Salvation counting on us. The Order of Preachers shows itself in its rich dynamism through its joys and hopes, sadness and anguish, and the desire to be faithful to Saint Dominic’s inspiration.

In my Relatio to the General Chapter – and with the help of the General Council – I wanted to somehow present to my brothers some aspects of the life and mission of the Order. The Acts of the Chapter express – at least from the friars’ point of view – the challenges we have to face… I count on the fruitful reading and personal and communitarian reflection of these texts. I also hope – with everybody’s effort – to put into practice the Chapter’s decisions.

In this atmosphere of hope and joy that are proper to Advent and Christmas I look at our brothers and sisters of the Order and will try – from the shared dialogue – to point out some of their most profound questionings.

Young people in general certainly live the stage that we could call the search for identity. This search can be expressed basically through a question: «Who am I?» This lies at the origin of their interest to discover, define and try to describe with as much precision as possible the «Dominican» in his most varied expressions. They do this as one who is slowly taking on new interior habits, a new «way of being». This is why young people are demanding. It is true that, sometimes, their desires can be excessive or also unreal and maybe the run the risk of falling into certain narcissism. However, their questions, their demands call from their «elder» brothers adequate answers to what we ourselves teach them.

With the passing of the years new questionings appear. Maybe there are no major problems in giving oneself to preaching through different forms of commitment. We do not even measure how much this costs us. Sometimes this total self-giving leads one to lose himself. The most pressing question then seems to touch the area of our intimacy: «With whom do I want to live?» If this need for nearness and commitment, which is so important and crucial, does not throw deep roots, it could bring about only isolation, resistance, criticism, some cynicism and also certain egoism (up to the point of thinking that we are indispensable).

As disciples of Saint Dominic our elder brothers and sisters could frequently look to the future with a dose of fear. One does not need to be married for the desire to be fecund – fecundity – to provoke from the depths of one’s heart the vital question: «To whom do I / we leave all this?» (All the things we obtained with much sacrifice), «To whom do I hand over my life?» (Who will inherit all this?»). During my visits, many brothers and sisters tell me their stories, recall from deep in their hearts the times in which the novitiates were full, and their was intense apostolic work without any reserve, extraordinary works and institutions. The lack of vocations in some places, or also to see young people searching for and following other paths (in places where there are vocations) provoke serious and profound questionings. The desire to be fecund could lead us to be absorbed with ourselves, to be annoyed, bitter and sterile.

The gospel is not only a collection of answers a wise person gives to questions by his disciples. On the contrary, sometimes Jesus, the only true Master pronounces disturbing questions … which demand a vital answer that affect our life.

Some of them touch or present the same questions that, in a few words I tried to describe here: the question of identity (who are we?), the question about intimacy (with whom do we want to live?), the question about the future of all the things we were able to build up (to whom do we commend our life?).

So, in Caesarea Philippi, Jesus asked his apostles «Who do you say that I am?» (Mt 16, 15) Is it an existential doubt of one who needs support of his friends in order to discover his identity? We know that it has nothing to do with this. However, Peter’s answer. «You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God» (Mt 16,16) truly supports our own most profound identity … an identity that is built on faith.

At the end of the discourse about the Bread of Life in the synagogue of Capernaum many of his disciples left him and no longer accompanied him. Jesus then asked the Twelve: «Do you also want to leave?». Again Peter answered: «Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.» (Jn 6, 67-68). When the important question that shows the most profound desire for intimacy appears … the Master himself, through this same question, helps us to give an answer based on our hope.

On the shores of the Sea of Tiberias, where some years before the Lord had called some of his disciples, the Resurrected for three times asked Simon son of John, the fisherman… «Do you love me more than these? (…) do you love me? (…) do you love me?» (Jn 21, 15.16.17). The answers were not long in coming. The last one however provoked an answer filled with distress, surely, but that was also one of total devotion that find support only in the Master: «You know everything, you know that I love you». (Jn 21, 17) This is a question whose answer touches the root itself of all human fecundity, love.

It looks as if Jesus did not respond directly with the moral formulas that we would have liked to the most profound questions of each stage of our live… However he does so through other questions which ask for an answer that is more profound and personal, vital.

I use the word «personal» not only to refer to the persona of each one of us (since they touch our own identity, intimacy and fecundity) but also because the three answers point directly to the persona of Jesus and «contain» or are full of his presence (not only of a set of truths or arguments).

The beginning of Advent arrived with a new message by Benedict XVI. A renewed answer from Peter through his successor: the Encyclical Letter Spe Salvi. In it, again, the most profound questionings and the desire to answer about the guarantee – the substance – of the things we hope for, the complete certainty of the realities that are not seen, «Why» and «for whom» do we hope! (Cfr Hebrews 11, 1).

Age, stage of life or the questioning that arise from the depths of the hearts of each one of us do not matter. During the time of Advent and Christmas we are invited to lift up our heads and to look ahead… My brothers and sisters in Saint Dominic, because «we are all brothers»! (Cfr Mt 23, 8): Let us not give answers to the questions regarding our true identity, our most profound desire for intimacy and our wish to be fecund at all time, other than to pronounce the name of Jesus (Pilippians 2, 10) … the one with which Joseph named his son according to the words of the Angel. (Mt 1, 24)

From the poverty of his crib and the humble house of Nazareth, from the streets leading to Jerusalem and from His cross, and, after His resurrection, from the shores of the sea and the mountain of the Ascension, and finally from the Cenacle filled with the presence of His Spirit, Jesus, subject and object of our preaching, invites us to utter our triple confession: of Faith (You are the Christ), of Hope (Only you have the words of eternal life) and of Love (You know that I love you).

Together with Dominic, then, we shall be confirmed by Peter and Paul in our apostolic vocation with the Word and the pilgrim’s Stick and with a precise mandate: «Go and preach».

I with you a happy Christmas and a New Year, 2008, full of things that are true, good and beautiful, all coming from God!

Fraternally in Mary of Guadalupe «Mother of fair love, of fear, of knowledge and of holy hope» (Ecclesiasticus, 24, 18; from the liturgy of the feast of Guadalupe)

Bro Carlos A. Azpiroz Costa OP
Master of the Order

From the Fray Bartolomé de las Casas Priory, Los Magallanes de Catia, Caracas, 12th December, 2007

ORIGINAL: SPANISH

Fr Carlos Azpiroz Costa OP, Master of the Order, wishes to thank all those brothers and sisters, members of the Dominican Family, who have sent him greetings for Christmas and the New Year. He laments that it is not possible for him to answer all the messages he received. He is sure that everybody understands this limitation and asks each one of the Nuns, Friars, Sisters and Lay Dominicans to keep him in their prayers. He calls the blessing of God through our Father Dominic on all and each one of the brothers and sisters who, throughout the world, are preaching the Word of the Lord.

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RE-DISCOVERING THE ROSARY
AS A MEANS OF CONTEMPLATION AND AN INSTRUMENT OF PROPHETIC PREACHING

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Within a few days, on the Feast of the Epiphany, we close the Jubilee year thanking the Lord for the 800 years of life for our Nuns of the Order. It has been a year of great blessings touching not only the whole Order, but indeed the broader Church as well. I have been delighted to see so many creative initiatives undertaken by our nuns. Books have been published, hymns have been written, new research into their early foundations has been undertaken, and their contemplative prayer has been and is being renewed. Indeed, the whole Order has come to a better appreciation that the nuns are at the heart of the Order and that the foundation of our preaching is nothing less than the profound contemplation of our faith. I believe that the renewal of the life of our nuns is directly linked to the renewal of the whole Order.

While this Jubilee year comes to an end, we now begin to undertake a novena of years, culminating in the Jubilee of 2016, 800 years of papal confirmation of the Order of Preachers. At our recent General Chapter in Bogotá, the capitulars requested that we use the time between these two jubilee years (2006-2016) as a time to enter into a serious renewal of our life and mission as preachers. (General Chapter of Bogotá #51) Therefore, I wish to invite each entity of the Order as well as each community and individual to begin the long process of renewal through reflection, decisions and actions taken relating to our whole way of life as preachers of the Gospel.

In order to provide a focus for this next year, I am proposing that we begin to renew our preaching way of life through rediscovering the Rosary as a means of contemplation and an instrument of prophetic preaching. In many ways the Rosary, as a uniquely Dominican contribution to the life of the Church, has slipped from our grasp. And, yet at the same time, the Rosary remains very much alive among us. In this letter I would like to offer a simple meditation on the Rosary from the viewpoints of memory, theological reflection and popular religiosity.

1. Memory

Permit me to bring to mind a few of my own memories, which I hope will elicit some of your own. Memories are important in shaping our identity, putting flesh and blood onto our ideas, and enabling us to re-live and re-interpret pivotal moments in our life.

My first recollection of the Rosary goes back to my early years at Champagnat School of the Marist Brothers in Buenos Aires with the first Rosary that I held in my hands. The brothers instilled in us a real love of Mary as a mother who unconditionally loves and intercedes for her beloved sons and daughters, the Mary of St. John’s Gospel. Of course, we had the month of Mary with processions, rosary, and litanies. Even as a young person, I carried a «decade» in my pocket. The repetition of the «Our Father», «Hail Mary» and «Glory be» allowed this prayer to take a deep root within my own life.

To this day, I especially like to pray this prayer while walking. It accompanies me through different landscapes, whether on the road or in town. It is the «wandering contemplation» of which fr. Vincent de Couesnongle spoke. It begins to mark the rhythm of my footsteps, allowing me to have a hold on the world that is constantly in flux. It allows me to give soul, life and heart to the city or place through which I am only passing; to meetings that await me with all their joys and hopes, lights and shadows.

Recently, during one of our retreat days, the General Council reflected on the mystery of death. One of the friars described how dying brothers almost always asked for their Rosary, even if it was only to hold it. I remember seeing the film «Batismo de Sangue» (Baptism of Blood), the story of our Brazilian brothers being tortured back in the 70’s during the dictatorship of Medici. Bro. Tito de Alancar, as he was being dragged out of the convent, shouts for a brother to go for his Rosary. What did it mean to him at that hour of terror?

What are your memories regarding the Rosary? What might these mean for you? For me? What might our theological study and reflection have to tell us about them?

2. Theological Reflection

I believe these memories speak to us of the nearness of God. The mystery of the Incarnation is not only about the birth of the Lord in millennia past, but about the incarnation of grace, or the birth of God, in our own daily lives. Jesus lives and His Spirit continues to heal, teach, forgive, comfort and challenge us. This is not an empty abstraction, but rather is made visible in and through the images associated with the mysteries of the Rosary. Awareness of the incarnation increases as one allows these images to intersect with the concerns of our own daily life. Thus, the Rosary is profoundly incarnational, biblical, Christ-centered, and contemporary.

Most obviously, the Rosary is Marian. Let us be clear as to what this means. In Mary, divinity becomes united with humanity; the creature becomes one with the Creator. In Mary we recognize both our identity and our destiny. We see this holy communion of God-with-us and God-within-us. We realize that our God is God-for-us—redeemer and savior, sanctifier and glorifier.

Indeed, Mary is a central figure in our life of faith. While we can think of her as Daughter of the Father, Mother of the Son, and Spouse of the Spirit, we ought also to see her as a believer in the valley of darkness, and one who hopes when confronted by a situation of despair. She can be seen as a protector of pregnant women who give birth in poverty, a patroness of those who migrate to foreign lands in order to survive, and as one who keeps vigil when her child is arrested, tortured and killed. And yet, through all this we see the triumph of her faith, hope and love. Pope John Paul II invited us to contemplate the face of Christ through the eyes of Mary.

What might this mean to us? As Master of the Order, I am a missionary who strengthens my brothers and sisters scattered throughout the world. I hear their stories and see their reality. I remember the faces of Christian families badly wounded at Bahawalpure (Pakistan 2001), the neighbors of our sisters in the poorest barrios of Kinshasa (Congo), the children following us in Cameroon, in the civil war square in Campodos (Tibu) ,Colombia, families fishing from the canoes off Gizo in the Solomon Islands or in the Urumanba River in the Peruvian Amazon. These images accompany the mysteries and so the Rosary becomes my intercession, along with Mary’s, in placing the wounded at the feet of Jesus.

Our world is one that seems to be constantly torn apart by war. Uppermost in my mind is war-torn Iraq, and of course not far behind is the continual bloodshed between Israelis and Palestinians. The 20th century was a century of wars and devastation across the planet. In the worst of these moments, people turned to the Rosary praying for peace. Indeed, was that not the focus of the Fatima devotions for the conversion of Russia and was not Mary invoked as the Queen of Peace? At the same time, let us not minimize those cold wars that can go on within families, communities, and within our own hearts and souls. Cannot the Rosary bring us to peace? This year we also celebrate the 50th anniversary of fr. Dominique Pire, our Belgian brother, who won the Nobel Peace prize for establishing islands of peace. Perhaps his inspiration for this project flowed from his meditations while praying his Rosary for peace.

The words of the prayers accompanying my meditations speak of the kingdom of God, of daily bread, of liberation from evil, of the fruit of the womb, of sinners and of the hour of death. The kingdom of God is justice and peace. The will of God does not coincide with those trampled underfoot. Bread is to be shared. Forgiveness is to be given. The blessed fruit of the womb of women is sacred. Yes, the Rosary— words of Scripture and our lived meditation— makes it a prophetic prayer as well as a contemplative prayer; a prayer that both announces and denounces, a prayer that consoles and transforms. The words that give praise to the Trinity invite us to live in community, without subordination, where each person is totally open and available to the Other. Yes, «God’s will» will be done and so we never despair. Our preaching is hope-filled because «…that which has existed since the beginning, that we have heard with our ears, and we have seen with our own eyes; that we have watched and touched with our hands: the Word who is life—this is our subject.» (1 John 1) Living in the company of Jesus, as Mary did, we become the disciple and the apostle that the world needs and God desires.

3. Popular Religious Practice

After Vatican II, we tended to downplay the importance of «popular religiosity.» Correctly, we emphasized biblical study and greater liturgical participation. In doing this, we also minimized those popular expressions that allowed greater religious sentiment to be expressed; e.g. benediction, processions, pilgrimages to Shrines, Rosary devotions, etc. Now, after forty (40) years of experience, we see that people both old and young need these expressions in order «to fan into a flame the gift that God gave you.» (2 Tim. 1:6)

Such popular religiosity still asserts itself at the great Marian Shrines in every part of the world. This year we celebrate 150 years of Lourdes (France) and 90 years of Fatima (Portugal), just two Shrines that attract literally millions of people every year. One can also think of Guadalupe (Mexico), Czestochowa (Poland), Knock (Ireland), Chiquinquira (Colombia), Coromoto (Venezuela), Lujan (Argentina), Manaoja (Philippines), and so on. Almost every country of the world has its national shrine to Our Lady that gathers the faithful from far and wide into a maternal embrace.

We still see St. Christopher medals in cars as well as rosaries hanging from rear view mirrors, small altars in homes, or statues in gardens. There are the rituals of ashes at the beginning of Lent and palms at the beginning of Holy Week that inform us as to the desires and religious sentiments of the people. These are rituals that inject a certain order and stability, a certain rhythm and incarnational dimension into the life of ordinary people, enabling them to experience more intense religious moments. Can we Dominicans recover this popular religiosity in terms of something that is peculiarly ours: the Rosary?

I have come to see the Rosary as indeed a beloved universal prayer. Whether in Italy or The Ukraine, Mexico or the United States, the Philippines or Vietnam, Kenya or Nigeria, the Rosary is found, prayed and loved. I believe one reason for this is because it is a tangible reality as well as a prayer. It is something almost every Catholic owns. It is given as a gift. It is a ritual whether said alone or together. It is something we can touch, hold, and even grasp at difficult moments of our life; it is like grasping the hand of Mary herself. The Rosary is placed in our hands both at the «hour of our death» and afterwards when we are buried. The prayers of the Rosary are summaries of our faith. Learning these prayers is like learning to talk; it is the beginning of our prayer life; and yes, it is also the end of our life of prayer—»your will be done» «now and at the hour of our death.» We are given a Rosary in our youth, we receive a Rosary when we take the habit, and a Rosary is at our side when we are buried.

Conclusion

I have shared with you some of my reflections, I hope both simple and profound, perhaps more a meditation and heartfelt reflections than anything else. At the General Chapter of Bogotá, it was my privilege to appoint fr. Louis-Marie Arino Durand of the Province of Toulouse as the new Promoter of the Rosary. He has developed and is developing an extensive web-site which can be of service to you during this next year. In turn, I am asking you to help him in its development by responding to his requests. Together we can build a web-site that can be beneficial to the whole Church.

As we begin this novena of years in preparation for the anniversary celebration of 2016, can we use this next year, Epiphany 2008-Epiphany 2009 as a year to rediscover the Rosary in our personal life, our community life and in the renewal of our preaching which is both contemplative and prophetic? Can we help shape the popular religiosity of our people through developing anew Rosary novenas, missions, processions or shrines? Can we contemplate our Master through the eyes of the perfect disciple? Can we contemplate the Son through the eyes of the Mother? Can we contemplate our world as one profoundly in need of transformation by the Gospel? Can we come to live and preach passionately with the creativity of God the Father and of Mary the mother of the beloved Son?

I am grateful to have had this opportunity to share with you my own reflections. In the coming months, the General Council will outline the different steps and themes for the next several years of this on-going renewal of our life and mission. I would ask the Provincials and Vicars-General, Prioresses, and Presidents of our Lay Fraternities to see that this letter is circulated among their members. Throughout this New Year, know that you will be frequently remembered in my thoughts and prayers. In turn, I ask for yours.

Brothers and Sisters, let us walk this road of renewal together. Let us set out having the confidence that Dominic had in Mary, the Mother of God.

Your brother in Dominic,

fr. Carlos Azpiroz Costa, O.P.
Master of the Order

1 January 2008
Feast of Mary, Mother of God
World Day for Peace

ORIGINAL: SPANISH

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LETTER BY THE GENERAL PROMOTER OF THE ROSARY

Dear Father Provincial,

During the last General Chapter of Bogota, my appointment as General Promoter of the Rosary was announced. Following my presentation of the project to the General Council last month in Santa Sabina, it is now official.

Initially, the Master of the Order decided that the most important part of this promotion would be done by Internet, through the creation of a web site totally dedicated to the Rosary for the whole Order. We are now in the process of organizing it and that is why I send you this letter.

Ideally, we have to establish a series of contacts to collect all the information we need for the data base of the Internet site.

More concretely, I’m looking for the following «elements»:

  • Any contact (brother, sister or lay) in your Province who would accept to collaborate in finding information… all those of good will are most welcome!
  • Any homily on the Rosary or on one of its mysteries
  • Any link to internet sites on the Rosary that should be on our site… with three or four commentary lines in at least one of the official languages of the Order!
  • Any interesting text on the Rosary.

In one word, this site should become – God willing- The Reference for the Rosary.

I thank you most sincerely for anything you might be able to do; both in your charge and personally (including any homilies of you own on the Rosary!)

I remain entirely at your disposition for any further information you might need and I entrust you to the loving intercession of Our Lady.

Assuring you of my full commitment, I wish you a very holly and happy feast of the Immaculate Conception!

Fr. Louis-Marie ARIÑO-DURAND
Promotor Generalis pro Rosario

Couvent Saint-Thomas d’Aquin
1, impasse Lacordaire
F-31078 TOULOUSE CEDEX 4
FRANCE
E-mail : louis-marie.arino@dominicains.com

ORIGINAL: FRENCH

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THE ROSARY DEVOTION GROWS EVEN IN THE SECULARIZED WORLD AN INTERVIEW WITH BRO ENNIO STAID

During the Angelus on Sunday, October 7, the Holy Father Benedict XVI launched an appeal to pray the Rosary for peace in the families and in the world and recalled that «It is this message that Our Lady has also bequeathed to us in her various apparitions». I am thinking in particular of the apparition in Fatima that occurred 90 years ago, the Pontiff explained. «Presenting herself as «Our Lady of the Rosary», she insistently recommended the daily recitation of the Rosary to the three little shepherd children, Lucia, Jacinta and Francisco, in order to obtain the end of the war.»

Although in the modern world people sometimes do not see with kind eyes the faithful who pray the Rosary, and within the Church itself there are those who are afraid of being accused of devotionalism, hundreds of millions of faithful recite it daily.

In order to understand the reality of this prayer that spans across all sections of the Catholic Church, ZENIT interviewed a well known expert on the Rosary, the Dominican priest Ennio Staid.

Bro Staid lives in Novara, Italy, where he founded a Dominican fraternity of priests and laypersons – both men and women. The aim of the fraternity is to make people aware that also lay-people are called to preach the gospel, especially during this age in which we are short on priests.

Basic in the spiritual life of the fraternity is the recitation and the spreading of the Rosary devotion.

The modern world suffers from secularism, and it does not seem that Mary is much loved. However billions of Hail Marys and Rosaries are recited daily all over the world. Could you give us an idea how widespread is the recitation of the Rosary and how it is growing?

Bro Staid: It is true that the world suffers from secularism, but it is also true that it feels a great need for the transcendent, for silence, for contact with the divine. Many try to answer questions regarding life: the need is felt for knowledge about where we come from, where we are going to, what is the meaning of life. Notwithstanding the many problems that afflict believers, I am convinced that many recite the Rosary. However, the Rosary is not the point of departure for our faith journey. For me it is the point of arrival. I want to say that when one succeeds to really pray the Rosary, one has already gone a long way in one’s faith journey.

I could not say if and how much the Rosary is diffused. Neither can I say, as Jesus asks, whether on His return there will be any faith on earth. What I can say for sure is that if on His glorious return there shall still be faith, then among the faithful there surely will be those who have a devotion to Mary and those who use this splendid and simple prayer.

Without prayer there is no faith, for faith means giving the assent of our reason to an idea that is more or less correct about God. Without prayer one philosophizes more or less consciously about an abstract entity that does not influence our days, our life. Cardinal Newman defined Rosary as «a creed made prayer» and those who pray know that they are not talking in vain; they do not throw words and thoughts to the winds, but are aware that they are in the presence not of just anybody, but of the one that is the Only One, Eternal and All.

A certain type of modern culture, even spread among Catholics, does not like the Rosary, because they considered it a popular and conservative expression. What is your opinion?

Bro Staid: Every now and then, here and there, we hear people talking about the return of devotionalism, and they criticize the Pope because, some say, he wants to return to the past and wants to resurrect traditional devotions that are said to be alienating. Unfortunately, among some Christians, there are those who have a certain number of tags ready for use, cheaply bought from the stalls of a certain fashionable theology that tries to sell itself before checking itself, and then stick them to anything that does not fit in their own mental models.

Thus the Rosary is often labelled as ill-advised devotionalism or reformism. I would like to tell these people that Christianity without devotions is not supported by the experience of any saint, or by the teaching authority of the Church. Wherever this type of Christianity was and is being put into practice, one that is not popular, it is inhuman and heartless, and only disasters in faith resulted from it.

Indeed, the Rosary is not of the essence of faith or of Christian living, but it has shown itself everywhere, and even today, an important help to protect and develop faith in the heart of the People of God. Pope John XXIII used to say that «the Rosary is a captivating and an invaluable prayer. Through it one renders homage to the Holy Trinity; one invokes the Father to ask for His help and gifts; one appeals to the powerful intercession of the Mother of God».

«Through the Rosary hands are united: those of innocent children, the trembling hands of the elderly, the strong ones of workers. A real psalmody arises from all over the world, which, in some mysterious way, could take its place alongside the Divine Office recited by the monks». (Discorsi e messaggi I, 796)

Could you give us an idea on how the Rosary was born as a prayer, how it was spread all over the world and how relevant it is today?

Bro Staid: If someone wants to have more details about the history of the Rosary, allow me to point to what I wrote in the new Mariological dictionary published by Edizioni Paoline under the word «Rosario». Anyhow, the biblical-theological basis for this Marian help is found in the Christological parallelism between Adam-Christ (1 Cor 15, 45-47; Rom 5, 12-14), that is also implicitly a Mariological parallelism. Side by side with the new Adam (Christ) there is the new Eve (Mary), the new helpmate (adiutorium simile sibi – Gen 2, 18) similar to the new man.

Mary is the image of the Church and in the new creation Jesus Christ’s collaborator in the work of salvation. Having said that, the devotion to Marian help arose early among the Christian people, and especially when it found itself threatened by serious dangers to the faith and for the survival of the Church. The «Sub tuum Praesidium» (We turn to you for protection) in the fourth century and in the following century the hymn «Akatistos», which expresses the trustful recourse of the people to the Mother of God, were developed.

During the sixth century Saint Germanus of Constantinople tells of the presence of Mary in our midst, a presence that manifests itself with power and which covers the faithful from above. The invocation «Auxilium Christianorum» (Help of Christians) comes from the same period. It was later included in the Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Ave Maria and the Psalters of the Virgin, which were later called Rosary and which are indissolubly linked to the mystery of Marian help, a weapon of faith, appeared at the beginning of the second millennium.

Indeed, the angel’s salutation was known before that. It is found in the Gospel and, until the 7th century was the offertory antiphon for the 4th Sunday in Advent, which had a particular Marian accent. I think that it was during that period that the devout repetition of the Ave for 150 times, analogous to the repetition of the Our Father, was started in counterpoint to the Psalms of David.

In the monasteries, these Psalters made of Our Fathers and Hail Marys were used as substitutes for the biblical psalms by the illiterate monks. The Hail Mary was known and recited only in its first part taken from the gospel and containing the angel’s salutation and Elisabeth’s blessing. Jesus’ name and the final Amen were introduced only towards the end of the 15th century, when, in 1483, the habit of reciting the Holy Mary was popularised.

The Rosary prayer helps us think about Mary. Could you point out in synthesis the keys that could help us understand the great Mystery of a woman who is fundamental for the incarnation, education and the carrying out of the history of salvation in the person of Jesus Christ?

Bro Staid: To understand the mystery of Mary is the same as to enter into the mystery of the Incarnation of God in Jesus Christ. The Creed, with which Christians express the contents of their faith, says «born of the Virgin Mary».

For many, this is a disturbing statement. However, the revealed fact remains in its provocation. Believers accept and believe in a personal intervention by God and consequently in the total adhesion of faith on Mary’s part. Her greatness does not lie so much in her giving birth, but rather in accepting a project her mind was unable to understand.

I do not think that there are prayers or studies that could make us understand the Mystery, which remains a mystery, but this prayer makes us say together with the Mother of God «I do not understand but I keep it in my heart». Saint Thomas Aquinas defines faith as «an assent given by the intellect to a divine truth driven by the will moved by God’s grace».

In faith as in prayer (any prayer), there will come a time when we experience the silence of God, of his discretion. Faith and, consequently, prayer are not the magic token which, once inserted in a juke-box, makes us hear the voice of God.

Faith puts us in contact with the invisible. Then, why wonder that we do not see Him? Prayer puts us in dialogue with the Inaccessible, the Absolute; why then marvel if God responds as God to our appeals? To imitate Mary means to have understood what is the meaning of prayer, and follow Him who invited his disciples «to pray always without becoming weary». In truth, we also are called, as Mary was, to receive the Son of God in faith and, like her, to share Him with others.

Popular devotion to the Virgin Mary and the recitation of the Rosary, are practices that are widespread among people. This practice, at least during the last decades, does not seem to be much diffused among the clergy and young people. Is it only my impression or is the situation changing; in which direction?

Bro Staid: The objection to the Rosary is always the same one: «Isn’t it better to work for an hour in favour of a brother in need than to recite a string of Hail Marys?» Besides, work is something tangible, which can be controlled, which belongs to us, while prayer is something we cannot absolutely control.

In this psychological reality we have to move very carefully in order not to break the good there is in the heart of simple people. One has to retrieve and renew our way of talking about prayer in general and about the Rosary in particular. No surgeon can be declared skilled and valid only because he visits faculties dictating knowledgeable lessons; he earns esteem when he exercises his profession in the operating theatre. Only then his lectures are valid when one sees those he operated on in good health.

It is the same thing with us who often speak about prayer while we are immersed in activities, contradicting our words with our living. Talking about prayer becomes the more valid the more one lives coherently what one announces.

Another important factor, on presenting the figure of the Blessed Virgin, is the need to focus the figure of the Madonna in Christ’s redemptive project. Mary has an important meaning and function in the Church, and it is a mistake to separate her from it in order to make her quasi a fourth person of the Trinity. She is not a god and her correct collocation does not harm the cult attributed to her, rather it reinforces it and gives to this creature the place that belongs to her in the plan of salvation (cfr Chapter 8 of Lumen Gentium).

According to my humble opinion, the path to tread is that of not being too careless in trying to favour sentimentalism: it is necessary to remember that the Madonna is not the sentimental section of our prayer. We can speak about the Rosary only when the problem of the need for prayer and when the meaning and the function of the Virgin in the mystery of Christ is put into focus.

Moreover, it is important to know that the Rosary is not really a prayer addressed to Mary, but a prayer said with Mary. It is not, therefore, a Marian prayer but a Christological prayer. The mysteries that it suggests put only one person at the centre: Jesus Christ. The Rosary allows us to look and contemplate the Son of God through Mary’s eyes. We take her hand and with her we meditate the life of Jesus.

Some time ago I published a survey I made in Italy intended to verify the relationship young people, priests included, had with Mary. 400 young people from all over Italy were interviewed according to a statistical method. From them I received 256 valid answers. The age of those interviewed ranged between 18 and 25 years. The survey gave me a cross-section in which young people appear to be distant from Mary, emotionally distant, indifferent from the cultural-pastoral point of view, and some of them even distant due to an intellectual position of the philosophical-social imprint.

These do not know how to handle a sublime Virgin, at the height of all privileges, who because of her exclusive perfection does not act as a model, paradigm, stimulus or ideal. On the other hand, is not a certain type of clergy, in their daily pastoral praxis, one that at times does not take into consideration the precious indications offered by the mariological reflection of the Church, trying to keep abreast with the present age by forgetting Mary?

I observed that qualities like meekness, humility, tenderness of heart are losing ground because they are perceived as dangerous, as a passive annulment of one’s own personality. Do these young people, then, reject Mary? No: they simply have not reflected on this, and the story of salvation has not been presented to them in its full light. They do not know her as the «woman» with a committed and difficult human and religious experience. They do not know her as the Mother whose son was the mystery of all her life. That is to say, they do not really know Mary, model for all Christians, as Vatican II and Marialis Cultus tried to present her to us.

Zenit.org
Rome, Wednesday, 24-25 October 2007

ORIGINAL: ITALIAN

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JEAN-LOUIS BRUGUÈS OP

The Holy Father has appointed H.E. Mgr Jean-Louis Bruguès, OP, Bishop of Angers, Secretary for the Congregation for Catholic Education. He was also made an Archbishop.

Jean-Louis was born in Bagnères de Bigorre, France, on November 11, 1943. He made his first profession on September 29, 1969 and was ordained priest on June 22, 1975. He was ordained bishop of Angers on April 30, 2000. He was professor of Moral Theology at the Catholic Institute of Toulouse (1976-1997) and at the University of Fribourg (1997-2000). He was member of the International Theological Commission in Rome (1986-2004) and since 2002 he is president of the Doctrinal Commission of the Catholic Church in France.

ORIGINAL: ITALIAN

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FRATERNAL VISIT TO THE PROVINCE OF ST. ALBERT IN SOUTHERN GERMANY AND AUSTRIA

The Master of the Order, Fr. Carlos Alfonso Azpiroz Costa OP, accompanied by his socius for Central and Eastern Europe, Fr. Rajmund Klepanec, and the provincial, Fr. Dietmar Schon, paid a fraternal visit to the Province of St. Albert in Southern Germany and Austria on October 17 to 26, 2007.

The first entity they visited was the priory in Vienna, which was founded in 1225/26. It is one of the three earliest foundations of the Order with an uninterrupted Dominican presence. At present, the convent in Vienna is one of the formation centres of the province and houses 18 friars, among whom seven students and two postulants. The friars’ fields of activity include: pastoral care for the Dominican Sisters in Vienna and for students, chaplaincy at the university and at the academy of theology, confessions, spiritual guidance, pastoral care for groups, masses broadcasted on radio, retreats and conferences.

On the first day of the visit Fr. Dietmar, the provincial, gave the visitors a bird’s-eye view of the province and its international commitments. Based on the Acts of the Chapter of 2006, he explained the developments achieved in different fields. A meeting of the council, another with members of the formation team and a get together with the brothers in formation were held in the afternoon. The highlight of the day was the celebration of the Eucharist with Fr. Carlos preaching the homily. A gathering of the Viennese Dominican Family followed.

The Master of the Order showed great interest in the work being carried out for the restoration of the convent. On October 20, before starting his journey to Graz, Fr. Carlos had breakfast with Cardinal Christoph Schönborn OP, with whom he spoke about some important topics.

The Dominicans have been working in different parts of the city of Graz since 1466. The five friars living there at present run the large parish entrusted to the Dominicans. They hear confessions and serve as chaplains at the State Hospital and they also take pastoral care of students. In the evening, the Master of the Order spent a long time meeting the Dominican sisters, the Dominican laity and the parishioners of Graz.

The next stage of the visit, on October 21-22, was the Dominican Centre in Regensburg. A Dominican priory existed there from 1229 until the Secularization in 1806. In 2001 the Dominican Centre was established as a «base for preaching»; it gives us the possibility to develop pastoral activities in Regensburg as a «mobile group». This is achieved mainly by collaborating in the pastoral care administered in the city centre (homilies, hearing of confessions, counselling, pastoral care for groups and conferences). The Master of the Order had a general view of the ministries and of the accommodation at the Centre. He celebrated Holy Mass with the nuns of the Holy Cross Monastery and several nuns from the three other monasteries situated within the territory of the province. He met the nuns and had individual interviews with some of them, and then enjoyed a friendly dinner with them. In the afternoon he visited the former Dominican church of St. Blaise situated opposite the Centre.

The fourth stage of the visit, on October 23-24, was Freiburg, where the second formation centre of the province is located. The first Dominicans arrived there in 1236. The old priory was demolished in 1804 during the Secularization. The Dominicans returned to Freiburg and established themselves on the castle hill only in 1934. The twelve friars who form the community reside on two sites in the city of Freiburg. The one in Ludwigstraße houses the centre for the «Lay Discussion Groups» and offers a variety of programmes for religious formation. The Dominican House of Studies in Erwinstraße was established in 2004 as a second residence for the community. The work carried out in this section of the community consists of pastoral care for the students of the four academic institutions in Freiburg and Offenburg-Kehl and for complementary studies.

On October 24, Bro. Carlos met the eight friars of the community of the Holy Cross in Augsburg during a buffet supper and the recreation that followed. The following day and up to his departure, the Master of the Order spoke with the brothers. In Augsburg, there was a priory dedicated to St. Magdalen from 1225 until 1808. When the Dominicans returned to Augsburg in 1932 they founded the Priory of the Holy Cross. Important ministries carried out by the community are: pastoral activities in the conventual church which is a well-attended centre for confessions and counselling, pastoral care in the city centre, and pastoral services for drivers at the church situated on the expressway near Augsburg and in several parishes in Augsburg.

On the day before the last one of his visit, Fr. Carlos celebrated Holy Mass and Vespers in the Theatine church in Munich. He then held a meeting with the community of St. Cajetan (five friars), together with the Polish friars in Munich, the Dominican sisters and laity. The Theatine church of St. Cajetan, a large and well-attended church in the city centre was entrusted to the Dominicans in 1954. The main field of activity of the community consists of running the church, and especially liturgical services, preaching, hearing confessions, sacred music, spiritual direction, pastoral care for religious groups, spiritual care of the Dominican sisters, and pastoral care for tourists.

Before flying back to Rome the Master of the Order spent some time in the domus filialis of St. Catherine in Munich, a fast growing parish characterized by young families, children and youths, people that are distant from the church, and foreigners.

When asked to sum up his most important impressions, Fr. Carlos highlighted the following aspects:

1. The succession of Provincial Chapters seen as a way forward in continuity, as a process, has a very positive effect. In this way, decisions taken in previous Chapters are reviewed and updated without having to start from scratch every four years.

2. The province is able to recognize its own strengths and shortcomings and, at the same time, is always considering new projects instead of merely waiting for new vocations. In this way stagnancy is avoided.

3. Within the framework of formation, the young friars participate in the new projects as requested by the General Chapter of 2001. For this reason they take an active part in the development of the province and are not just observers.

4. The pastoral ministry with students in which the brethren in formation themselves participate rightly constitutes a very important point and shows the way forward.

5. The province has given itself clear and adequate structures. This is above all visible in the Acts of the 2006 Chapter, in n°. 52 et sqq.

6. The Dominican Centre in Regensburg as well as our Dominican itinerancy are important pastoral projects, and are well received.

ORIGINAL: GERMAN

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NOTIFICATION

Rome, 23 November 2007

To all the Priors Provincials, Vice-Provincials and Vicars General

Dear brothers,

I send cordial and fraternal greeting to each of you, together with the joy and fulfilment in the mission entrusted to you by the Order and the brethren.

In order to help you in the appointment of Professors and so that the procedures may be linear and transparent, an ad hoc meeting was held at the University of St. Thomas in Rome, on 03.10.2007.

The scope of the meeting, as the Socius for the Intellectual Life, who presided over the meeting, pointed out, was to focus the attention on the Ordination contained in the closing letter of the Canonical Visitation (dated 10.05.07), conducted at the Angelicum, both the University and the Convent, by the Master of the Order and his two Socii.

In this Letter we read:
The Order is decentralized and observes the principle of subsidiarity, with control over the human resources (friars) in the hands of Provinces, and over other members, like the sisters, in the hands of congregations. However, the University depends on the central organs of the Order for the supply of professors. As the central organs have no brothers and sisters under their control, this puts the university in a very weak position as to recruitment of professors. Thus, there is an urgent need to establish an active central body and a working procedure for the recruitment of new Dominican professors. For this purpose, the Socius for the Intellectual Life shall convoke and chair a meeting of the Deans of the four Faculties and the Prior of the convent, within three months after the publication of this letter, to review and possibly revise the task and procedure being followed in the recruitment of professors.

The Commission then treated the theme of the recruitment of professors. Those present, after discussion, agreed that the following iter should be implemented:

a) The Dean of each Faculty will get in touch with the possible candidate informally.

b) If the candidate is qualified to teach at the Angelicum and manifests his availability or interest, then the Dean will ask the Socius for Intellectual Life to take necessary steps regarding the request of the candidate, by contacting the provincial, in the case of a friar, or the superior general, in the case of a sister.

c) If necessary, the Master of the Order may write a letter to the provincial or to the superior general to let them know the importance of having such a candidate at the Angelicum for the fulfillment of the charism of the Order.

d) After having obtained permission from the religious superior, the internal procedure of PUST should be initiated (that is, the candidate should be presented to the Council of Permanent Professors so that he/she can be co-opted for a definite period as «guest» or «associate» professor at the Faculty of the Angelicum).

A Dominican friar, who has fulfilled the above mentioned requirements (a, b, c, and d), upon his arrival at the community of the Angelicum, will receive his religious assignation, if his task foresees a continuous presence both in the first and second semesters. If after the trial period pertaining to the type of invitation and agreements of the procedure of the Faculty, and if the religious will not be integrated into the Faculty, either by his own choice or by the decision of the Academic competent authority, then it is up to the Dean to set the modalities and the time of the return of the religious to his province.

Besides, the Dean will have to communicate the report of the collaboration to the Rector, to the Prior of the Convent and to the Socius for Intellectual Life. The former will then ask the Master of the Order the reassignation to the province. The same procedure, adapted of course, should be followed by the Rector in the case of new major officials.

With this letter, while confirming the abovementioned proposals of the Commission, which I give as norms to be followed, I also feel the duty to communicate them to everyone of you, who govern the province and the vicariates. I also commission you to bring them to the notice of all who fulfill their mission as Regents and Moderators, so that the unity and transparency may help us in a more serene service for the good of our Institutions.

I thank the Commission for the seriousness with which it has carried out the task.

I send fraternal greetings to each of you, together with the assurance of my prayer and encouragement for your mission.

Your brother in St. Dominic,

fr. Carlos A. Azpiroz Costa OP
Master of the Order

ORIGINAL: SPANISH

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THE EIGHTH CENTENARY IN THREE TV DOCUMENTARIES
THREE MONASTERIES OF CLOISTERED NUNS SHOW THEIR WAY OF LIVING

SPAIN – From Advent to Christmas, Spanish TV viewers could follow three twenty-five minute programs on public television about the life of the Dominican contemplative nuns. The monasteries chosen for the «media» celebration of the 800 years of the foundation of the Order were those of St. Dominic in Caleruega and Segovia and that of St. Michael in Trujillo.

The initiative was taken by Bro José Luis Gago, from the Province of Spain, who, after having for six years directed the program «Pueblo de Dios» on TVE, invited the present director, Fr. Julián del Olmo, to carry out the project. A group of renowned technicians filmed the daily life of our contemplative nuns for ten days: three days in each monastery, starting from the morning prayers of Lauds up until Complines, including personal testimonies of extraordinary authenticity.

The first great impact was that experienced by the five professionals of TVE when they saw, heard and felt, in the monastery enclosure, the Dominican reality in its surprising manifestations of cordiality, joy, profundity and simplicity.

ORIGINAL: SPANISH

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NEW PRIOR PROVINCIAL OF ECUADOR

On September 11, 2007, Bro Carlos A. Azpiroz Costa op, Master of the Order confirmed Bro Juan José Escobar Valencia op Prior Provincial of the Province of St. Catherine of Siena of Ecuador.

Bro Juan José was born in Santa Rosa – Ambato (Tungurahua) on May 1, 1935. He made his first profession on August 31, 1957 and was ordained priest on August 4, 1964.

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2007 IN CALERUEGA
THE JUBILEE YEAR FOR THE 800TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE NUNS

SPAIN - In Caleruega we are living this year of grace with great joy and thanksgiving because of all those who came to the home of Saint Dominic, up till now about 10,000 persons. Even though the majority of them belong to the Order, many other members of the Church came to the monastery in order to gain the jubilee indulgences and to honour our father Saint Dominic. During these months various bishops paid us a visit: among them the bishops of Burgos, of Huesca, of Tarragon and that of Osma-Soria came with three buses full of faithful from their dioceses. The auxiliary bishop of Jerusalem also came. There were also a few Dominican bishops among whom Larrañeta OP from Puerto Maldonado (Peru), and the bishop of Norfolk (England), accompanied by priests from their dioceses.

Many groups of Dominicans came. I can recall the Provincials of Spain, Aragon and Portugal accompanied by brothers from their provinces, a group of friars from Korea, the Philippines, Poland, Germany, France and Italy. Big groups of Dominican sisters of apostolic life came from the USA (Sinsinawa, Parable), and also several groups from the Dominican Family of Spain, Portugal, Ireland and Canada.

Some contemplative nuns also came. Although in smaller numbers, some nuns wanted to celebrate their 800th anniversary by visiting Caleruega. The first ones were the nuns of Prouilhe, together with a nun from Dax (France) and another one from Salamanca, who were invited by the friars in Caleruega to participate in the opening days of this year. Later, five nuns from Bergamo (Italy), among others, visited us for some days.

There were also many visits by other religious Orders and Congregations, such as the Benedictines of Silos, with whom we celebrated solemn Vespers dedicated to Our Father, or the Augustinians from La Vid, the Sisters of the Poor from Aranda de Duero, or groups of nuns and friars of the Sacred Heart, who came on several occasions from different parts of Spain and from other countries.

Many persons belonging to different Church groups, such as some Communities and many families from the Neocathecumenal Way from Burgos, Madrid, Santander, Oviedo, Castellón, Murcia … came, as also «Amigos de Tierra Santa» (friends of the Holy Land) from Madrid, the Fraternity of the «Adoración Nocturna» (Nocturnal Adoration) from Aranda de Duero, «Cristianos sin fronteras» (Christians without frontiers) and «Famisión» and a big group of Christian committed families from many parts of Spain.

Many persons, in parish groups or groups of friends came to visit us. Many came in coaches from different localities accompanied by their parish priests and sometimes by their mayors too. We mention only some of them: La Coruña, Trijueque (Guadalajara), Concentaina (Alicante), Alcalá de Henares and Fanjeaux (France).

Professors from Dominican Colleges from all over Spain deserve a special mention. They met here in the Choir of the nuns of Caleruega. They came accompanied by some friars who had previously asked us to prepare a short presentation about the history of the nuns and also a warm welcome in our Father’s home. We assured them of our prayers of support for the education work they carry out among young people, which is so important for our immediate future and, also, prayers for the youngsters and the colleges. They participated with pleasure in a celebration that was very pleasant and brought closer to each other.

If the celebration I have just mentioned deserves a special mention, the one I am going to mention now deserves to be qualified as amazing, unique and marvellous: the unforgettable experience we had with the «Dominican Youths». The initiative came from Bro Oscar Jesús OP and Sr Pilar del Barrio OP, who had been preparing this meeting for a whole year and it turned out to be such a positive and unforgettable experience for us all who lived it. Several adult members of the Dominican Family also participated in the organization as well as some Dominican sisters from several Congregations and some friars.

430 young people aged between 15 and 30 years, from different parts of the country, were attracted mainly by this message «Caleruega 2007. 24 hours of meeting, feast and prayers, to celebrate 800 years. History has not ended – it is now your turn». These young people had 19 workshops to choose from. In a big hall, we were in charge of one of them: «Preaching through silence», which was not one of the most frequented. However we could say that those who participated showed great interest and were impressed, for they knew nearly nothing about the life of contemplative nuns.

Two moments were very emotional. First, prayers at midnight on Saturday in the cloister garden, which proved a time of great beauty, in an atmosphere of organized brotherly joy, with a very suggestive and evocative illumination, music, dances, songs, projections, readings and prayers of thanksgiving and petitions. Everything was so Dominican, that Saint Dominic must have been happy to see so many young people in Caleruega, and they felt happy in his home.

The other moment was that of the Eucharist on Sunday morning, in which the Prior Provincials of the friars in Spain and Portugal were present, as well as Provincials and Mothers General of several Congregations of Sisters accompanied by so many young people. It was beautiful, participated and very emotional for all those present. It was a jubilee gained with great collective enthusiasm.

Surely, there shall be many other visits during such a special year and we shall be happy to welcome all those who come here.

The opportunities we had all year long were also very important and, we could say, were providential, and which we accepted, one after the other, with enthusiasm. The first one was the restoration of the Medieval Hall or the Palace of the Guzman family, which was inaugurated in time for the opening of this year and which is being visited and valued by many. Others were: the publication of two books about the Community and the Monastery, a DVD on St. Dominic and a report about our way of life for the «Pueblo de Dios» program on RTVE. All of these were carried out because of this big celebration and they are being greatly accepted by everybody. We want to give greater exposure to an extraordinary event for the nuns and for the Order. We hope that Saint Dominic’s life and work will reach the greatest possible number of people.

We are happy with our job of preaching through contemplation and we feel proud of our Father and his important work in the Church. We thank God for everything he gives us and for what he asks of us. May your will be always our delight, o Lord!

Real Monasterio de Santo Domingo,
Caleruega, Spain.

ORIGINAL: SPANISH

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APPOINTMENTS BY THE VATICAN

Three Dominican friars are among the consultors of the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue, appointed by the Pope on November 20, 2007.

They are Bishop George Frendo O.P., auxiliary of Tirane-Durres, Albania and Joseph Ellul O.P., professor at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas. Both belong to the Maltese Province of St. Pius V. The third consultor is Lorenzo Piretto O.P., vicar delegate, apostolic vicar of Istanbul, Turkey, who belongs to the Province of St. Dominic in Italy.

ORIGINAL: ITALIAN

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MEETING OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION OF THE NUNS

The meeting of the International Committee of Nuns was held from 2 – 10 November 2007 in Orbey – France, in the jubilee year celebrating the 8th centenary of the Foundation of Prouille.

The meeting was held in the Dominican monastery St. John the Baptist situated on the Les Vosges hills of central Alsace. Ten of the eleven components of the Committee were present, led by the General Promoter of the Nuns, Bro Manuel Merten OP. Bro. Brian Pierce OP who will be his successor as from January 2008, was also present as translator.

The autumn season, with its marvellous colours, presented enchanting scenery. The facade of the Monastery Chapel, entirely made of glass, offered a magnificent sight on the surrounding valley: the liturgical celebrations with their stupendous choreography, with the melodious sound of the string instruments made solemn our praising, thanksgiving and blessing the Lord.

The faithful come in a great numbers to the Monastery on feast days in order to participate in the prayers of the Nuns who offer an authentic form of preaching and giving witness to the Word of God.

Two meetings with the Community allowed us to grasp the fraternity and the spirit of acceptance that characterize it, and gave us the possibility to live the various moments of this week in a relaxed climate of silence and prayer.

Our work began on Saturday, 3rd November, with the greetings and the presentation of the week’s Program by Bro. Manuel Merten, who also presented a long report about his services to the Monasteries during this jubilee year and about the appointments he still has as Promoter.

In the evening, Sr. Jean-Térèse, a member of the community hosting us and member of the ICM for the French speaking Monasteries, informed us about the situation of the church in France and, particularly, of the relationship between Church and State. She then spoke about her community and of the courage shown by her sisters who in 1973 left the comfortable but ancient monastery in the city of Colmar in order to move to the present building that we all admired.

On Sunday, 4th November, after Holy Mass the assembly met again in order to share the reports presented by the representative of each one of the Regions that form the Committee. It was very pleasant and interesting to listen to the various initiatives to solemnize the jubilee year planned and lived by every Monastery! The greater part of these initiatives was carried out by the Nuns themselves, helped by the friars. However, the commitment shown by the Dominican laity was considerable and deserves mentioning. They contributed in witnessing to the relevance of the charism of St. Dominic in announcing the Gospel throughout the world.

Every region underlined the difficulties so many monasteries face today because of the diminishing number of Nuns and the scarcity of vocations – a pain that is always present -, but at the same time it stimulates us to renew ourselves personally and as a community in order to live the essence of our «mission» in the Order and to question ourselves on how to present it to the new generations. However, a sign of hope comes from the prospect of new foundations in Byelorussia, Nigeria, and Bolivia.

Wednesday, 7th November, we had a break from our work. After holy Mass, we went to the city of Colmar to visit the ancient Monastery there, which today houses the Museum of UNTERLINDEN, which is really rich in works of art. The church, which is now part of the museum, was founded in 1269 and was consecrated by St. Albert the Great. Time passed quickly as we admired one masterpiece after the other.

Continuing our itinerary, we reached the Marian Sanctuary of SHAUENBERG, which was once the famous hermitage of St. Ulderic. The cold was intense, but to pray at the feet of the small miraculous statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary strengthened us in spirit and warmed our bodies.

The next day, having finished the reports about the regions, attention was given to the evaluation of Monialibus and shared opinions and suggestions coming from the different Regions.

As six members of the Commission will be substituted in 2008, a new nun had to be named editor of our bulletin. Sr.Isabel M. Orenez Fernandez op., from the Federation of the Holy Rosary - Spain was chosen. A loud round of applause was given to Sr. Emmanuelle M.Cruz op from the Asia-Pacific region as an expression of our gratitude for the work she carried out with competence, dedication, and commitment. We wish all the best for Sr. Isabel M. who has accepted with enthusiasm her new responsibility, and all of us showed her the good will to collaborate in order to make Monialibus not only a news bulletin, but also an instrument for formation about our contemplative life.

We then tried to establish a method by which to carry out a synthesis of the material collected from all the Monasteries with regards to contemplation; this is a commitment that will surely take us some time to complete.

Our program also foresaw an exchange of experiences coming both from the community and the regional levels about «the Chapter of faults and Community gatherings». It is next to impossible to synthesize this important sharing. All the Regions centre their attention on the Word of God. We think that an excellent service would be given to all the communities if meaningful experiences lived in the different monasteries regarding this number of the Constitution, could be published in Monialibus.

Time flies and the days passed very quickly. At the end of our meeting, we carried out an evaluation of our meeting. Gratitude was shown for this beautiful experience of Dominican fraternity, for coming to know the Order living in the different regions, and for the commitment of all the members of the Commission to report as faithfully as possible the real situation in each one of the regions.

The final greeting was very emotional. The outgoing members of the Commission (Sr.Mary Emmanuelle Cruz op - Asia-Pacific, Sr. Joyce-Rita Mumu op - Africa, Sr. R.M.Blanca Gòmez Cano op - Peru, Sr.M. Inmaculada Franco Màrtinez op – Federation of the Inmaculada – Spain, Sr. Flora M.Collado Martìnez op – Federatio of S. Dominic – Spain and Sr. M. Vincenza Panza op - Italy) wished to leave a sign of continuity through symbolic gestures that meant light - joy - fraternity, so that ICM will always be a source of hope for all our Monasteries.

A sincere «thanks» has to be given to Bro. Manuel Merten op for the constant dedication to the Dominican Contemplative Life he offered during so many years, for the encouragement he always gave us, for his hard work, the patient listening and the communication through a joyous face he always showed us. His name will remain in the history of the Order as that of the Promoter of the jubilee year for the 8th centenary of the foundation of the Dominican Nuns. He gave each one of us a CD with photos of the meetings of the Commission held during these years of service to the Order. Thank you, Bro. Manuel!

A sincere round of applause was given to our excellent translator, Bro. Brian J. Pierce. Passing continuously from Spanish to English and vice versa without showing any sign of tiredness demonstrates his exceptional mastery of both languages. He will be the new General Promoter of the Dominican Nuns and the Monasteries as from next January. We wish him all the best for his new responsibility.

We begin a new century for Dominican contemplative life . Let us ask the Holy Spirit to renew us in His love.

Text by: Sr. M. Vincenza Panza op.
Italy

ORIGINAL: ITALIAN

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IN THE LIGHT OF THE WITNESS GIVEN BY OUR BROTHERS
A LETTER FROM THE PROVINCIAL OF THE PROVINCE OF SPAIN

October 28, 2007, was a memorable date, a day full of grace and joy for our Province of Spain and for the Dominican Family. Never in history has the Province experienced the beatification of so many of her members: 37 of our friars (74 members of the Dominican Family. These numbers represent real persons, with a face and a personal history, with a unique biography and with one Dominican profession that unites them to us as members of the same family. Besides, they are so near to us in time that some of us knew them, had them as professors, and heard their voices, their hopes and worries. These beatified martyrs are very near to us: they were born in our country, lived in the convents we live in, prayed and preached in our same churches and they lead a life very similar to our own in what is fundamental. Along the paths of Dominican living they were able to understand and live what the psalmist says: «Your love is better than life itself.» God’s love did not fail them; rather it supported them in order to remain faithful in times of great difficulties and suffering. To keep a grateful memory of them is to be faithful to our inheritance.

We can imagine many of the saints doing great things and living an extraordinary life. However these our brothers are so near to us; when we daily going through the places and paths they themselves went through, they speak to us of another holiness: that which is developed in ordinary daily life, in the simple fidelity to the commitment of following Jesus Christ, fidelity confirmed in suffering up to the end even offering their own lives. Never has holiness been so within reach through the ordinary and daily paths of persons who «came from the same dough as anyone of us». It is not strange at all that the testimony of our brothers moves us!

The death of Jesus Christ, the martyr par excellence, was not an isolated fact unconnected with the life he lived. It was rather the culminating moment of it all. Such also is the life and death of his disciples. Like every martyr throughout the history of Christianity, our brethren accepted to suffer a violent death rather than to be unfaithful to the testimony they had given throughout their life. It is, therefore, mainly through one’s own way of living – a life lived up to the full – that a Christian becomes a martyr. Thus, a martyr is never improvised but, rather, matures through the small fidelities of each moment lived in following Jesus.

Through this beatification the Church wants to give thanks and glory to God and seeks the good of mankind. Indeed, its goal is to make us more faithful to faith lived amid many difficulties, but more capable of pardoning others, more sensible to the suffering of so many victims in our world, more dedicated to reconciliation and peace. Certainly, the celebration obliges us to recall a historic past that has marked each one of us emotionally in a different way. However, when in the Bible we read about remembering, it refers mainly to the revelation of Divine mercy. Remembrance is linked to the strength God gives to the feeble, to the forgiveness he offers for our infidelities and the encouragement he inspires for us to keep hoping in his promises while we live our history. We are called to make memory in the biblical-evangelical sense, not in the political or ideological one. For this reason, we want to live the beatification as a motivation towards compassion and comprehension, towards an authentic reconciliation starting with the celebration of the memory and the joy of Ecclesial recognition.

There is no greater authority than that of the martyrs. Their testimony is a true light to guide our footsteps. Among the things their testimony teaches us there is a disturbing memory. It is especially disquieting for those of us who live a type of Christianity that is too comfortable and bourgeois. They remind us that it is dangerous to follow Christ. To stay by His side has its risks. A Christian identity does not mature until one experiences this threat and understands one’s place in the world. Perhaps this is the reason why martyrs often have an incomprehensible «desire» for martyrdom, in order to totally imitate the life of the Master. In a type of Christianity in which we risk nothing because of the Kingdom, Hope is obscured. That is why our martyrs are, above all, a «sign of hope».

The death of Christian witnesses is linked to that of the other victims of the spiral of violence. Our brothers died in an unfortunate page of our history in which there were many victims. Their blood mixed with that of many other men and women. When we Christians remember our martyrs we do not only make memory of our people, but we also remember all the other victims, whatever group they belonged to, because all the victims are on the same side. The evangelical sensibility towards those who suffer most, helps us not to be disturbed, on the contrary, it makes us see and celebrate the mysterious communion of all the innocent victims in the story of the passion. This sensibility towards other people’s suffering is above ideologies or politics, and maybe it is the only thing that is able to free us from any type of totalitarianism.

We count on the intercession of the new blessed for they are our brothers. Because they are exemplary brothers, there is nothing better for us than to live in the light of their witness. The early Christian church had enough light for its passage through history by finding inspiration in the witness given by the first martyrs of the faith. It is the same for us; the lives of several of our brothers, martyrs of the 20th century, become torches that guide us into our future. We had heard of their virtues, of their courage, of their faith, of their forgiveness. Now the Church is offering them as a model for Christian living for all peoples.

I encourage you to study the face and the biography of each one of the 37 beatified martyrs, our brothers. Each one of them is a torch that illuminates. Certainly, among them all, there would be someone with whom we can identify a little more. I invite you to rejoice and to celebrate on the 7th of November, feast of all the saints and blessed of the Order, in each one of our communities, this event of their beatification. May they intercede for our Province of Spain so that it could be more faithful in the following of Jesus, with more hope when facing difficulties, more committed to peace and reconciliation, more sensible to the suffering in our world!

October 7, 2007,
Feast of our Lady of the Rosary

Francisco Javier Carballo Fernández OP
Prior Provincial of the Province of Spain

ORIGINAL: SPANISH

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THE NEXT GENERAL CHAPTER OF THE ORDER

The General Chapter celebrated in St. Dominic’s Priory in Bogotá, Colombia, from July 18 to August 8, 2007, asked the Master of the Order to decide, together with his Council, and make known the place and date of the next General Chapter (Acts n° 314).

During the plenary meeting of the General Council held in November, after reviewing the several names submitted, the Master of the Ordered together with his Council decided that the next General Chapter, which will be an Elective Chapter, will be held in the city of Bangalore (India) starting on October 1 and ending on October 28, 2010.

Further information shall be given later.

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A MEETING OF THE REGENTS AND MODERATORS OF STUDIES OF LATIN AMERICA

PERU - We, regents and moderators of studies of the Latin American Dominican entities, met in the city of Lima, the land of saints St. Rose, St. Martin and St. John Macias (in the house of Saint Rose of Lima) from October 29 to November 2, 2007. We were called by Bro Marcio Couto, Socius for the Master of the Order for Intellectual Life and by Bro Carlos Cáceres, promoter of formation and Intellectual Life for the Inter-provincial Conference of Dominicans in Latin America and the Caribbean (CIDALC).

The Promoter of CIDALC called the meeting in the light of the last General Chapter of Bogotá in order to work guided by four objectives:

  • To size up the present situation of the intellectual life of the Order of Preachers in Latin America.
  • To bring together the regents and moderators of study of the Order in common activities that would foment inter-provinciality.
  • To implement actions that would promote the strategy for the intellectual mission of the Order as defined by the General Chapter of Bogotá 2007.
  • To strengthen with strategies and team work the office of the Promoter for Formation and Intellectual Life of CIDALC for the 2007-2010 term.

During the days of reflection, work and analysis we were accompanied daily by the fraternal companionship of our student brothers during prayers and the celebration of Lauds and Vespers. One should say that the liturgy during these days was led by the major superiors of each Area and by some brothers like Marcio and Bro Ángel Maestro, and were really profound moments in which we reflected on the Word of God in our lives.

During the first day (29th November) the regents and moderators of the different areas of Latin America and the Caribbean presented themselves:
Bro. David Díaz and Bro. Luis Javier Rubio (Province of Mexico)
Bro. Carlos Cáceres and Bro. Carlos Villalobos (Province of Central America)
Bro. Francisco Javier Martínez (Vicariate of Spain in the Dominican Republic)
Bro. Mario Rodríguez (General Vicariate in Puerto Rico)
Bro. Luis Alberto Orozco and Bro. Adalberto Cardona (Province of Colombia)
Bro. Juan José Salaverry (Province of Peru)
Bro. Daniel Wankun (from the Vicariate of the Province of Spain in Peru)
Bro. José Luis de Miguel (Vicariate of Saint Laurence of Chile)
Bro. Serman Zavala (from the Vicariate of Teutonia in Bolivia)
Bro. Johny Luján (from the Vicariate of the USA in Bolivia)
Bro. Rafael Cúnsulo (Delegate for the Province of Argentina)
Bro. Osvaldo Rezende (Province of Brazil)
Bro. Ángel Maestro (Invited guest from the Province of Spain)
Bro. Marcio Cuoto (Socius of the MO for Intellectual Life, Rome
Bro. Carlos Sánchez, O,P, Invited as Promoter for the Dominican Family in Latin America.

We then accepted the apologies forwarded by the brothers who were unable to participate: Bro Manuel Uña (from the Vicariate of Cuba) and Bro Ramón Figueras (from the Vicariate of Aragon in the Southern Cone).

Bro Marcio accompanied us during the first part of the morning session with the reflection and the challenges the General Chapter of Bogotá presented to us regarding the outlining of a strategy for the intellectual life of the Order. There was time for questions put to the Socius for the Master about this theme. We devoted this same day and the following one (30th October) to evaluate and reflect on the difficulties, the achievements and the challenges each one of the entities present faced so as to be able to view our Dominican reality through this context in matters regarding studies.

As a result of these reflections the secretarial team made it possible for us to collate valuable information that could form the basis that outlines the situation of our studies and to discern the intellectual strategy the Chapter foresees for the world meeting of Regents of Study as was petitioned by the Chapter. However, this effort has to be complemented by the Socius and by the promoter of CIDALC, in order to offer an analysis of the objective reality of study and the institutions of the entities that, for different reasons, were not represented. In this analysis, the burden of many duties the friars have to carry, crises in the institutions, the load of pastoral work or the lack of interest for permanent formation were seen as situations that could threaten intellectual life. Nevertheless, in the face of all this, the desire for assiduous study, the efforts of the provinces to have qualified brothers and the renewal of our studies figured as constant items in the new projects for the intellectual life of the Order.

Having examined the interesting reality of our entities, we gathered according to the different areas of CIDALC in an effort to be able to perceive these new projects for the intellectual life, which would respond to the Dominican life and mission in Latin America. For this reason, great importance was given to the participation and the contributions of the brothers in realistic proposals which should then be shaped into more concrete plans in which all would collaborate and which would guide the work of the new promoter for formation and intellectual life. The different areas of CIDALC put forward realistic initiatives regarding the intellectual mission of the Order which we hope would be accepted and stimulated by those responsible for the different entities.

In the evenings we enjoyed meeting and listening to the brothers talking about the appropriate and encouraging signs of the willingness that is forming in each one of the different realities of the Continent. So then, on November 1, we had the opportunity to listen to the initiatives in the area such as the plan for a Masters degree in Dominican studies in Peru which is sponsored by the Faculty of San Esteban of Salamanca. On the other hand, as a result of the growing inter-provincial collaboration, Bro Ángel Maestro, Regent of studies of the Province of Spain, spoke about the collaboration of his entity with the plan for the granting of Licentiate and Doctorate in fundamental theology they offer in a system of scholarships in agreement with each entity and, at the same time, the contribution in teaching in different areas of the Order. We seized the opportunity to make known the expectations around the project of a future faculty of theology of the Province of Colombia and the gratitude of the Central-American Province for the support and presence of the Provinces through the participation of students during the 8 years of life of their Chair of Theology, as an alternative space for the production of theological thought of the brothers in formation.

Having evaluated the meeting, the friars visited the Pio Aza Cultural Centre of the Vicariate of the Province of Spain in Peru, where we contemplated with amazement the fidelity and tenacity of our missionaries in favour of the indigenous brothers living in the Peruvian forest. After this «effort» we needed some very short but deserved rest. In a short time we started on our way to the Sanctuary of the Peruvian Saints where the community and the brothers received us warmly in the cloisters that in the past kept the memory and the presence of the best known co-operator brother and saint from Lima. In the evening we visited the city, its streets, avenues and parks; its handicraft markets and at the end of the day we went to the «Dama Juana» restaurant where we savoured Peruvian food and enjoyed a beautiful show of regional Peruvian dances.

Although tired, we thanked God for the fraternity, the efforts of our brothers to recall the intellectual wealth of the Order and with it the permanent reminder that assiduous study prepares and forms us to be compassionate people at the service of the Kingdom.

We thank the Province of St. John the Baptist and the Vicariate of St. Rose in Peru, and the Solidarity Fund of CIDALC for hosting us and for giving the necessary support for us to hold this meeting.

Cidalc al Día
Noticias

ORIGINAL: SPANISH

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FROM THE LIFE OF USMID

ITALY - On October 19-21, following the triennial goal we set ourselves, that is: Strong in FAITH, bold in HOPE, and hard-working in CHARITY, the Union of the Dominican Sisters of Malta and Italy (USMID) celebrated its annual Assembly on the theme: Hope in the Dominican Government. The meeting was held in Rome, in a beautiful setting in Via di Valcannuta.

The Assembly, which according to the statutes, is made up of Provincial and General Prioresses of the Congregations founded or working in Italy (about 20 in all), this time was open also to the Councillors so that, on such an important theme, discussions would be more rich and interesting. With profound satisfaction of us all, our confrere Bro George Frendo, a Maltese Dominican, for many years missionary in Albania and now Auxiliary bishop of Tirana, capital city of that country, shared with us the bread of hope in Dominican government.

The response of the Congregations to our invitation was good. Sixteen Congregations were represented, of whom ten by their Prioress General three of them accompanied by their Prioress Provincial. In a certain sense, we saw the Union being strengthened with the presence of some groups that, for some reason, were unable to participate for some time before. The few Congregations that were not present had phoned to inform us that they were unable to participate.

On examination we became aware of what we need to reflect on, and how. The theme of hope, a virtue that is in crisis in our society and often quite weak even among us, found us eager to listen, and this great and strong virtue entered our heart and moved our will.

Bro George’s presence helped us a lot. He is a real brother, humble, well-prepared, profound, and clear. His way of sharing the word was cordial, based on experience, respectful of our femininity and of our diversity, and it was also stimulating for that which unites us and makes us members of the same family.

It was unanimously said that the life of the Union is strengthened with every new meeting and that there is growth in communion among the different Congregations and among the sisters.

The presence of Sr. Maria Fabiola Velasquez, the new coordinator of DSI, at the opening session enriched our meeting. Her greetings and her message encouraged us and helped us feel even more that USMID is a reality that is open and moving towards a vaster Union, without limits, that embraces not only Europe, but the whole world.

The visit by the contemplative sisters of the Monastery of the Holy Rosary in Monte Mario was a very important moment. To participate in the Eucharistic celebration, to recall the history that links that monastery directly to Saint Dominic, in the context of the 800th jubilee of the foundation of the female Dominican life, was very important and encouraging and were linked to the other paths of hope opened during the Assembly.

Finally, the USMID Council met for a half-day with the Committee of the Priors Provincials of Italy (CPDI) and with the new Socius of the Master of the Order for Italy and Malta, Bro Bernardino Prella, so as to enhance the family feeling through the sharing of the most important elements coming from the Bogotá General Chapter, and in order to organise activities we will to carry out together especially regarding formation and pastoral work among youth.

We are convinced that St. Dominic was present among us, happy with the humble but sincere steps that his daughters and sons were taking in faith, HOPE, and charity.

Sr. Dolores Foralosso
Secretary USMID

ORIGINAL: ITALIAN

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THE CELEBRATIONS IN ROME OF THE 750TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE DEATH OF ST. HYACINTH

POLAND - A pilgrimage to Rome by the clergy and lay faithful of the ecclesiastical province of Katowice in Poland (the region of Silesia) started with a solemn Mass, celebrated in the Dominican Basilica of Santa Sabina in Rome on 15th October 2007. The pilgrimage was organized for the 750th anniversary of the death of St. Hyacinth Odrowÿÿ, the first Polish Dominican and the patron saint of the Katowice Province. Fr. Krzysztof Popÿawski OP, prior provincial of the Polish Dominicans was invited to take part in it.

Metropolitan Archbishop Damian Zimoÿ said that St. Hyacinth was a great missionary in medieval Europe, and also today we very much need the missionary spirit. St. Hyacinth arrived in Silesia after he had received the habit in Rome from St. Dominic. «These are the things that we want to translate into the modern language: missionary spirit, openness, common good - all that has to be built in Poland all the time. What I mean is that we should open new horizons so as to show that - just as, in Silesia, we have deposits of coal - so in Christianity there are the deposits of the Good News» - said the Metropolitan of Silesia.

The pilgrimage lasted for three days. In its programme, there were, among others, an international scientific session on the charism of St. Hyacinth, held at the University of St. Thomas in Rome (the Angelicum), the first show of a film about St. Hyacinth, and a gala concert by the «Silesia» ensemble in the Vatican.

On Wednesday, October 17, the restored picture of St. Hyacinth that is on the main altar in St. Stanislus’ Polish church in Via delle Botteghe Oscure was blessed before the general audience of Pope Benedict XVI in St. Peter’s Square.

This year, Polish Dominicans celebrate the jubilee of the 750th anniversary of the death of st. Hyacinth. The programme of the celebrations include, among others, a series of conferences on contemplative prayer - «Nine ways of prayer of St. Dominic», XI All-Poland’s Meeting devoted to St. Hyacinth on the Lednica Lake, Wednesday meetings at the tomb of St. Hyacinth in Cracow, together with Mass. At the end of October a symposium was held in Cracow on the role and place of mendicant orders in the history of the royal city of Cracow.

ORIGINAL: ENGLISH

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WORLD YOUTH DAY 2008

AUSTRALIA – Dear Brothers and Sisters in the Dominican Family

Greetings from Australia, the host country for the 2008 World Youth Day to be held in Sydney. This letter is to give you some basic information about the preparations being made by the Assumption Province, and to ask for the details of a friar or contact person with whom we can communicate about our work.

World Youth Day in July 2008 promises to be a unique occurrence in the history of the Church in this country for the world. From the rich heritage left to us by our father Dominic, we Dominican friars have much to offer the young apostles who will come to Sydney.

The friars are well situated in Sydney. Our priory and parish of St James is in Glebe which is a pleasant thirty minutes walk from the Sydney Central Business District. Our other apostolates include St Benedict’s Parish, Broadway, about five minutes’ walk from Central Station, and chaplaincies at the University of Sydney and Notre Dame University, Sydney Campus. We envisage using all four sites for preaching opportunities during the World Youth Day festival, together with a stall at the Vocations Exhibition at Darling Harbour, to the west of the city centre.
Further details will be forthcoming in the near future.

Would you kindly pass this letter on to the friar or contact person who would be our WYD liaison, and ask them to make contact with us by email: dom.murphy@op.org

We look forward to hearing from you and your Province.

Fraternally in our holy father Dominic,

Fr Thomas Cassidy, O.P.
Prior Provincial

Fr Dominic Murphy, O.P.
Convenor, Dominican WYD’08 Project

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NEW PROVINCIAL FOR ARGENTINA

Bro Pablo Sicouly has been elected Provincial of the Province of St. Augustine, Argentina. On November 21, 2007, the Master of the Order, Bro Carlos A. Azpiroz Costa op confirmed his election.

Bro Pablo was born on August 19, 1954. He made his first profession of February 23, 1980 and was ordained priest on March 6 1986.

CIDALC (Conferencia Interprovincial Dominicos América Latina y El Caribe) congratulates him and fraternally accompanies him with prayers.

At the same time we wish Bro Javier Pose a time of rest after eight years at the service of his Province, before taking on his new responsibility as Socius for the Master of the Order for Latin America and the Caribbean, and as President of CIDALC.

The CIDALC team

Cidalc al Día - Noticias

ORIGINAL: SPANISH

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THE CAUSE FOR THE CANONIZATION OF GIORGIO LA PIRA MOVES ON

ITALY - «The cause for the canonization of Giorgio La Pira moves on. We cannot predict the timing, but it is a cause that is dear to all», says Cardinal José Saraiva Martins, C.F.M., Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. This what the Cardinal said in an interview he gave to the daily paper of the Holy See, «L’Osservatore Romano», on the eve of the Holy Mass he celebrated last November 5 in the Basilica of San Marco in Florence on the occasion of the thirtieth anniversary of the death of Giorgio La Pira (1904-1977) and the blessing of his new tomb.

The earthly remains of the «saintly mayor» of Florence, in fact, were removed from the cemetery of Rifredi, on the outskirts of the city, where he was buried in 1977, and were transferred to the basilica where he lived sharing prayer with the friars, as a member of the Dominican Laity.

The Congregation itself had asked for this new tomb, in view of the process of beatification which was started on January 9, 1986, by Cardinal Silvano Piovanelli, whose documentation gathered in 16 boxes containing the assessments written by theologians about the published or unpublished writings of La Pira, were taken to Rome on May 6, 2005, by Cardinal Ennio Antonelli. «The anxious expectation of so many people waiting for the day of his elevation to the honours of the Altars is therefore justified» Cardinal Saraiva Martins added.

«I met La Pira when I was a seminarian here in Rome. I was immediately deeply impressed, and I have always followed him. My admiration for him always increases. For me he is one of the best models of the sanctity of the laity», he declared.

«The world and the Church need saints like La Pira» he added. «I recall his courage, his hope, his being Christian unafraid to profess his faith in all sorts of situations».

The cardinal then praised «his testimony of poverty», «his detachment from money, his walking through the streets of Florence with the joy of one who is really poor among the poor».

«For this reason his prophetical witnessing is not out-dated; it is anchored in Christ», he said.

His true charism, he went on to explain, was «the ability to testify to Christian hope, everywhere, in the Church, in public life and in the world».

Giorgio La Pira was born in Pozzallo (Ragusa) on January 9, 1904, in a poor family. On graduating in Law, he went to Florence where, in 1934, he became professor of Roman Law and founded the Messa di San Procolo for the spiritual and material assistance to the poor, which got its name from the abandoned church in which it met at first. He met Christ when he was 20 years old and, in 1924 he lived «the first holy Easter». Between 1929 and 1939 he developed an intense scholarly activity which put him in contact with the Catholic University of Milan. He dedicated himself totally to Catholic Action for young people and to Catholic publishing, writing in many magazines, among which the famous Frontespizio.

In 1939 he founded and edited the magazine Principi in which - during the Fascist regime, which in a short time would ban its publication – he presented the Christian requirements for a true democracy.

Then the year 1943 arrived; it was the year in which the clandestine paper called San Marco was born, while the secret police did everything to arrest him. He arrived in Rome, and the following year he held a series of lectures in the Ateneo Lateranense – organized by the Catholic Institute for Social Activities – which were published under the title «Le premesse della politica» (An introduction to politics).

He was mayor of Florence from 1951 to 1958 and again from 1961 to 1965. He left an indelible mark on the conscience and the face of the city through many administrative achievements and extraordinary initiatives of a political and social character. He carried out many reconstruction works in the outskirts of the city, and his commitment to the defence of the workers and the support of the poor was constant.

He played an important role in writing the Constitutional Charter supporting the immanent value of human beings and the inviolability of their fundamental rights. He also struggled to insert the right to work as an inalienable element of the dignity of man.

On January 6, 1951, kneeling in front of the altar of St. Philip Neri in the Chiesa Nuova in Rome, La Pira perceived that his new vocation was to devote himself to peace.

In an unpublished letter dated April 16, 1974, made public by the L’Osservatore Romano (November 4, 2007) he wrote that peace in the world is linked to peace in the family of Abraham and to the political, historical and geographical destiny of the people who live in the Holy Land.

When, in 1959, La Pira visited the USSR, he spoke in front of the Supreme Soviet at the Kremlin on the question of disarmament and also about religious freedom as an essential element in whole process of building peace. During his meetings with the most representative figures of the intelligentsia of that country, instead, he frequently exhorted them to rid themselves of the wreckage that was atheism of the State.

The «Meetings for peace and Christian civilization», promoted by La Pira in Florence from 1952 to 1956, in order to favour friendship among Christians, Jews and Muslims are emblematic.

La Pira always worked at the service of the common good, freeing himself from the conditioning brought about by power and the search for prestige or personal interest.

He nourished his civil and political commitment with prayer in a continuous tension between contemplation and action. He nourished a profound devotion to the Most Holy Trinity and, regarding the importance of the Eucharist, he stated: «Christianity lies all in the Eucharist […]. This is how the body of Christ, the Christian people, the city of God and, on this model, also the human city are built []. The Eucharist organizes the people of God, edifies the city, the people, the nations and civilization ».

Zenit.org
Rome, Monday, November 5, 2007

ORIGINAL: ITALIAN

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FROM LETTERS WE RECEIVE…

(…) I congratulate you for the good IDI is doing. I read all of it, for I love the Order as a Dominican friar born in Caleruega, Burgos, Spain, can.

I thank you in general for what you do for the Spanish Martyrs and in particular for Blessed Buenaventura Garcia Paredes OP. About 20 of the 74 martyrs were my professors or fellow students. With my 95 years of life and 80 years of profession I hope they are waiting for me in heaven.

Your brother

Fr. Vicente M. Peña OP
San Antonio (Texas), USA.

ORIGINAL: ENGLISH