Religious
Life Dominican tradition of radical witness
By TIM UNSWORTH
Chicago
There is an old shibboleth that goes this way: "There are only
three things God doesn't know: What the Dominicans are thinking, what the
Jesuits are doing and how many orders of nuns there are."
All three elements of this saying have changed drastically in
recent decades. However, the eight-century-old Dominican family manages to
adhere to much of its St. Dominic-inspired spirituality based on the apostolic
life portrayed in Matthew's gospel. It boasts a vocation fueled by preaching,
with emphasis on liturgical and private prayer, asceticism, Christ and his
passion, the Eucharist and Mary.
The Order of Preachers -- hence the OP -- isn't thriving. Their
numbers are down from 11,000 to 7,000 in the past 20 years. But history has
shown that they have endured air pockets like this and survived.
At least that is the spirit conveyed by Fr. Timothy Radcliffe,
master of the Dominican Order, who oversees the 7,000 Dominican priests and
brothers. In addition, there are 2,000 contemplative nuns, 37,500 sisters and
150,000 lay associates affiliated with the order, which is now found in 86
countries.
Radcliffe, a 50-year-old British subject now based in Rome, is the
84th successor to Dominic de Guzman of Spain, who founded the order in 1215.
Radcliffe is on an official visit to the United States, the first of a
Dominican master since 1987. He hopes to meet every member of the order
face-to-face before his nine-year term expires in 2001.
Just before Christmas, he visited Fenwick High School in Oak Park,
Ill. The prestigious 1,100 student, coeducational school is named for Dominican Fr.
Edward Dominic Fenwick, an itinerant missionary who established the order in
the United States and who later served as the first bishop of Cincinnati
(1822-1832), a territory that then included Chicago. While Fenwick remains its
only high school in the nation, the four American provinces have 860 priests
and brothers involved in a spectrum of apostolates. Although the 244-member
Chicago province receives only three to four candidates each year, worldwide
one out of six Dominicans is in formation.
Radcliffe, who was a full professor at Oxford and provincial of
the English province before his election, views his mission as "visiting,
listening, seeing and encouraging." He feels strongly that the friars, that is,
brothers, must strive to recover the contemplative tradition. "Things must come
out of a profound silence," he said, citing a brother monk from Asia, who had
"discovered Christ in the Buddhist tradition." Clearly, his ecumenism goes
beyond borrowing a few sentiments, as one would a cup of sugar. He seeks a
religious and cultural blending of traditions.
According to the enthusiastic master, it would appear that
religious orders with the best chance of survival will be those who understand
the growing importance of collaboration with women and the growing sense -- and
acceptance -- of the richness of other cultures, particularly those of Latin
America, Africa and Asia.
"The next step," he said, "is an interreligious dialogue with
Islam." He was firm in that conviction in spite of conflicts with Islamic
fundamentalists in Algeria that resulted in the assassination of Pierre
Clauerie, a Dominican bishop in Oran. "I attended his funeral in his
cathedral," Radcliffe testified. "It was filled with Muslims."
In the United States, Radcliffe said he had found "great vitality,
especially among the young friars who want to be preachers."
"Americans have a money-driven culture," he continued. "It can
help you to flourish or to be devoured. American religious must refuse to let
themselves get caught up in the culture of greed."
Radcliffe's comments strongly echoed those of his spiritual
father, Dominic, who believed that for preachers of the gospel to be credible,
they must return to the "apostolic life" in which priests would travel and
preach, as described in the Bible. "At the same time," according to Dominican
Fr. Benedict Ashley, emeritus professor of moral theology at Aquinas Institute
of Theology in St. Louis, writing in Harper's Encyclopedia of
Catholicism, "Dominic was convinced that priests must be men of profound
contemplative prayer and charity who would support one another as brothers
(friars) in their work."
The basic unit of the Dominicans is the priory, which is headed by
a chapter of friars who elect the "first brother," or prior. The priors in turn
elect the provincial and the provincials elect delegates who elect a master of
the order.
From 1216 to 1347, the order grew to 20,000 members. The first
century was marked by brilliant successes in universities. It produced church
doctors such as Albertus Magnus and Thomas Aquinas who did much to show how the
findings of science and philosophy could be used to present the gospel in a
systematic and coherent way. However, the Black Death (bubonic plague) all but
destroyed the order, as it decimated much of the population of Western
Europe.
The years 1347-1517 witnessed the era of Catherine of Siena and
Meister Eckhart, who gave the Dominicans two lasting spiritualities: one
apostolic and reform-oriented, led by Catherine and Girolamo Savonarola, and
the other an inward-oriented "negative" spirituality, inspired by Meister
Eckhart.
The third period (1530-1789) brought the order to the French
Revolution and witnessed a revival of Thomism. The Dominicans played a major
role in the Council of Trent and debated with the Jesuits over the nature of
predestination, grace and free will.
It was followed by a period that saw a decline from 30,000 members
to 3,000, followed by a revival under Henri Lacordaire and another revival of
Thomism under Leo XIII.
In 1968, the Dominicans revised their constitutions, a revision
that renewed the fundamentals of the spirit of the founder.
Radcliffe exudes the earlier Dominican spirit, which appears to
have been somewhat eclipsed by the fame of Dominic's contemporary, Francis of
Assisi (1181-1226), and by Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556). Dominic, who was
canonized only 13 years after his death in 1221, is often credited only with
the introduction of the rosary devotion, something he didn't do.
Radcliffe strongly supports Dominic's democratic process, a system
credited with influencing the structure of the British parliament. He remains a
traditionalist on the structure of the order's solemn vows. He views the vows
as "an act of generosity, giving to an unknown future."
"The vows are tough," he continued. "They are prophetic -- out of
sync, but prophetic."
Radcliffe rejects a restructuring of the vows, preferring to let
the Dominican associates "create the space" while the traditional friars
provide a "radical witness" through their solemn vows. He echoed the sentiments
of Aquinas who urged his fellow friars "to gaze with love on God and then to
share what has been seen with others."
Recently, he has also been pressing the social dimension,
stressing human rights, nuclear disarmament and care for people with AIDS,
complemented by a deep inward spirituality.
Dominican Fr. David Wright, vicar provincial for the Chicago
province, described his fellow friars as "a community that sustains whatever
they're doing."
Radcliffe put it another way. "In the Dominican approach," he
said, "you try to come to a common truth you can both agree on. We don't aim
for victory. We aim for community."
National Catholic Reporter, February 21,
1997
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