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Acts of the 7 th European Assembly of Lay Dominican Fraternities Annex IIa
27
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Page 1: Belgium South - En

Acts of the 7th European Assembly of Lay Dominican

Fraternities

Annex IIa

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Lay Dominican Fraternities

in South Belgium

(French-speaking part)

May 2008

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Belgium in

Europe

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Where are we located?

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HUY

RIXENSART

LIEGE

BRUSSELS

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How many of us are there?

� Number of fraternities: 6

� Number of fraternal groups(< 5 professed members): 2

� Total number of professed members: 50

– temporary profession: 6– final profession: 44

� Total number of people: 74

� Religious assistants: 8(7 brothers & 1 apostolic sister)

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A bit of history

� A Dominican presence in Belgium since 1228

� Most convents closed at the end of the 18th century as a result of the French Revolution

� Restoration in the late 19th century

� From 1923 to 1941, growing separation between Flemish-speaking and French-speaking Dominicans

� In 1990 the French-speaking Province became a General Vicariate

� In 1958 the Belgian Dominican Province was split into the St Rose Province of Flanders and the St Thomas Province of south Belgium (including Brussels)

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How young are we?

� Our oldest recorded fraternity is 109 (Huy)

� The second oldest recorded fraternity is a 100 years old this year (Liège)

� Our youngest group (Brussels) was set up five months ago in connection with the Dominican online university DOMUNI

� Our oldest member is 99

� Our youngest member is 33

� The average age in our fraternities is 55

� Ratio of men to women: 24%

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Our job profiles

� 48% of our members are retired.

� Most of them do voluntary work in hospitals, prisons, social services associations, parishes, etc.

� 52% of members have a job in:� industry � education� psychology� politics� medical services� law� art� languages� publishing, etc.

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Our monthly fraternity meetings

� Typical structure:

� common prayer (mass, vespers with a community of friars or sisters, or our own service)

� A meal or sandwiches

� Study & discussion

� Topics may include:

� Biblical study� Church and other writings� Dominican documents� Saints of the Order� Sacraments� Witnesses’ accounts� A range of other topics such as

truth, social approaches to evangelization, etc.

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Our annual meetings

� Once a year a week-end retreat, whose topic is part of our formation programme, preferably preached by a Dominican

� Once a year, a formation day for all the French-speaking lay Dominicans

� Festive celebrations on Saint Dominic’s Day on 8 August, to which the whole Dominican Family is invited

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Our range of apostolic work

� Catechism, liturgy, parish work

� Clergy formation

� Prison visiting

� Hospital and retirement home visiting

� Organisation of pilgrimages & religious events

� Media

� Dominican online university DOMUNI

� Social care

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A group example: The HuyNovena to Our Lady of La Sarte

� Prepared every year by a local fraternity

� Every night for 9 days a service combining prayers and preaching on a theme chosen by the fraternity

� A daily attendance of around 200 people

� Speakers: friars, lay Dominicans, secular priests and lay people

2008: The Ten Commandments as words of life2007: Riches of the Old Testament

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A few individual examples

� A lay Dominican composer organized:� a religious music festival in 2006 on mass in the history of music� next festival: September of this year in the Brussels region

� A lay Dominican writer is publishing this autumn:� a biography of the 1958 Peace Nobel prize winner,

Dominican friar Dominique Pire

� A lay Dominican artist:� paints icons� organizes summer workshops on icon painting

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Communication

� A 32-page publication

Amitiés Dominicaines

� Every three months

� Circulation: 300 copies

� The construction of a website is planned for the last quarter of this year

Our icon painter illustrated this cover

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Looking beyond our borders:within Belgium

� Growing cooperation with the Flemish Dominican Family since 2004

� Joint press office at the Walberberg European Assembly

� Two joint study days:

– Saint Catherine of Siena

– European issues

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Looking beyond our borders:outside Belgium

� Dominican Family Congresses:

� 1983: Bologna� 2000: Manila

� Increasingly closer relationship with the Canadian lay Dominican Council

� Lay Dominican European Assemblies:

� 1989: Prouilhe� 1992: Budapest� 1995: Kanie� 1998: Vienna� 2004: Walberberg� 2008: Bratislava

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PROUILHE 1989

BUDAPEST 1992

WALBERBERG 2004

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MANILA 2000

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Our apostolic orientations:between tradition and creativeness

1. Develop and promote our Christian and Dominican identity

2. Develop preaching as our full participation in the Order’s mission

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Our apostolic orientations:between tradition and creativeness

3. Develop and support formation

4. Develop communication among us while respecting our differences and striving for transparency

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Preaching in a secular world

St Dominic in the eyes of an 8-year-old little girl

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Preachers and prophets: WHY?

� Lay Dominicans have a prophetic mission in the Church and for the Church as a natural bridge between the world and the clergy through their families, their jobs, their role in society

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Preachers and prophets: HOW?

� Announcing the Gospel:

� on an equal footing with Dominican friars & sisters

� in a unique though complementary way to that of other Dominicans

⇒ Increased credibility of the Gospel for our contemporaries

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Preachers and prophets: HOW?

� Team preaching

� Biblical commentaries

� Leading bible study groups

� Lectures with multiple speakers

� Participation in theological cafés, etc.

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Preachers and prophets: WHERE?

� In churches and shopping centres

� In parishes

� In schools

� In the workplace

� On the Web

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TOGETHER ON THE STEPS OF

SAINT DOMINIC

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION !