LAICATUS PRAEDICANS

WHO ARE WE?          QUI SOMMES-NOUS ?            ¿QUIÉNES SOMOS?

Who are lay Dominicans?

The Dominicans are a religious Order, The Order of Preachers (OP = Ordo Praedicatorum), within the Roman Catholic Church, gathered as a worldwide Family of Preachers by the special mission of our founder Saint Dominic (+1221). Our common vocation is lived out in a variety of states of life: friars, cloistered nuns, apostolic sisters and many different groups of lay people. In the spirit and charism of Saint Dominic we share his apostolic mission by study, prayer, community and preaching, in ways that are in keeping with our state as members of the laity.

Lay men and women were already aggregated to the Order in the late 13^th century, with a Rule, approved by the Master of the Order and suited to their way of life. They are now organized in groups called ‘Fraternities’/‘Chapters’ which are governed by the Rule of Montreal (1985). Professed Lay Dominicans are full members of the Order, and make their profession in the form of a solemn promise.

The Order of Preachers has three official languages: English, Spanish and French.

What is the ECLDF?

The European Council of Lay Dominican Fraternities (ECLDF) is elected at the European Assembly of Lay Dominican Fraternities, which meets every three years. The Assembly gathers representatives from European Union countries as well as Norway, Switzerland, Croatia, Russia and the Ukraine.

Who are the members of the editorial committee and what do they do?

The European Assembly of Lay Dominican Fraternities held in Slovakia in May 2008 nominated three Lay Dominicans to be part of the editorial committee working on the project of setting up a website to share preaching experiences from lay Dominicans: Bénédicte Jerebzoff-Van Damme (Vicariate of Belgium-south), Guido Van Damme (Vicariate of Belgium-south), and Ruth Henderson (Province of St Dominic, north Italy). The committee also includes Fr. David Kammler, Promoter General for the Dominican Laity (General Curia, Rome).

The editorial committee is under the responsibility of the ECLDF. Its task is to select, edit and abbreviate where necessary the examples of preaching by lay Dominicans offered for publication. Names will be changed to protect the privacy of the authors and of those mentioned in the stories, or may be completely omitted if requested. The Province or Vicariate and country of origin of the published contributions will be identified.

Please send your contributions in English, Spanish, French, Italian, German, Dutch, Russian, Polish or Czech to our contact address. The chosen contributions will be published on the website in the original language. Subsequently, they will be translated into French or English as required. You may also send your comments and queries to the same contact address. We look forward to hearing from you.

What is the photograph used in the header of the website?

It is a view of Fanjeaux, a small village near Carcassonne in the south-west of France, where St Dominic lived for many years before establishing his Order. He often used the path shown on the picture to walk between Prouilhe, the monastery of cloistered nuns he founded in 1206, and Fanjeaux.

What are the pictures punctuating the stories?

The small pictures at the beginning of the stories describe the Nine Ways of Prayer of Saint Dominic. They have been sculpted by a Dominican cloistered nun, Sr. Caritas Müller from Cazis, Switzerland.