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Acts of the 7th European Assembly of Lay Dominican
Fraternities
Annex IIa
Lay Dominican Fraternities
in South Belgium
(French-speaking part)
May 2008
Belgium in
Europe
Where are we located?
HUY
RIXENSART
LIEGE
BRUSSELS
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)
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)
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%
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.
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.
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
PROUILHE 1989
BUDAPEST 1992
WALBERBERG 2004
MANILA 2000
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
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
Preaching in a secular world
St Dominic in the eyes of an 8-year-old little girl
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
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
Preachers and prophets: HOW?
� Team preaching
� Biblical commentaries
� Leading bible study groups
� Lectures with multiple speakers
� Participation in theological cafés, etc.
Preachers and prophets: WHERE?
� In churches and shopping centres
� In parishes
� In schools
� In the workplace
� On the Web
TOGETHER ON THE STEPS OF
SAINT DOMINIC
THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION !