What is the Mission of the Dominican Laity?
(from the www.3op.org web page)
From The Rule of Lay Fraternities of Saint Dominic:
"Among the disciples of Christ, those men and women who live in the world are, by their Baptism and Confirmation, made sharers in the prophetic, priestly, and royal offices of our Lord Jesus Christ. They have as their vocation to radiate the presence of Christ in the midst of the peoples so that 'the divine message of salvation be known and accepted everywhere by the whole of mankind' (Decree of Vatican Council II, Apostolicam Actuositatem on the Apostolate of the Laity, §3) Some among them are moved by the Holy Spirit to live according to the spirit and charism of St Dominic, and are incorporated into the Order by special commitment according to statutes of their own.
They form communities and together with other groups in the Order make up one family (cf. Constitutions of the Brethren, §141)Hence they are marked out by the particular style of their spiritual life and of their service to God and to their neighbor in the Church. As members of the Order, they share in its apostolic mission, by study, prayer, and preaching in keeping with their state as members of the laity."
(Drawn up by the International Congress of Dominican Laity, Montreal, June 1985, approved by the Holy See, January 1987, and promulgated by the Master of the Order, February 1987 (see Analecta of the Order, 1987, pp. 82-87).
Lay Fraternities and Third Orders in the Church
(from www.3op.org)
When we speak about Lay Fraternities and Third Orders in the Catholic Church, we generally mean lay members of religious orders. The Dominicans, Franciscans, Benedictines, Norbertines, Carmelites, and Missionaries of Charity are all examples of orders in the Church who have lay branches, although each order may have a different way of referring to its lay members. For example, in the Dominican Order, we are called lay Fraternity members, or tertiaries. In the Missionaries of Charity, lay cooperators are called coworkers.
It should also be noted that some orders receive professions from those in their lay branch, as with the Dominicans, while others simply invite laity to participate fully in the living of the order's charism without making professions.
Lay men and women in the Fraternities of St. Dominic do not necessarily live in community with each other but practice many of the same spiritual disciplines of the religious of that order. Any Catholic in good standing may join these associations.
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How is a Lay Dominican any more a part of the Dominican Order than any one else who attends a church staffed by Dominican friars, and who study Dominican spirituality?
"The Fraternities of St. Dominic are part of the Dominican Order because in receiving a person into the Novitiate the Dominican Order makes them a member of the Order. From the beginning of the Order of Preachers, there have always be lay people who associated themselves with the Friars. Some were called to a great involvement in the living out of Dominican spirituality and these were received into our Fraternities of St. Dominic, whose first Rule was approved in 1285 by the Master of the Order. The tertiary make a Profession to the Master of the Order himself at the end of that first year. This Profession is one of a promise to live according to the Rule of the Fraternities of Saint Dominic."
~Fr. James M. Sullivan, OP
Former Provinical Promoter
for the Fraternities of Saint Dominic
Province of Saint Joseph, USA
