Feast Day Attendance?

Dominican Brethren,

Our rule indicates that we should attend the Holy Eucharist every Sunday (which occasionally may require going to an extra service if your church doesn’t offer the Eucharist on a particular Sunday, e.g. Lessons and Carols Sunday, Morning Prayer, etc). However, the rule also implies that we should attend the Eucharist on the Major Feast days of the Church.

How have you – or haven’t you – been doing this? This is quite a challenge since many local parishes do not observe the major feast days.

Creative ideas and thoughts about observing feasts day would also be welcome!

I also want to announce that our London novice, Justin Read-Smith and his wife Liz recently welcome their daughter Katherine Grace to the world. Please pray for them!

Looking forward to your posts.

In Christ,

Brother Kevin op

Blessed Advent (Merry Christmas, almost!)

I want to wish all of you a joyous and wonderful celebration of the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

A friend sent me this helpful link which shows a RC parish in AK which is starting to celebrate the Dominican Rite liturgy on a regular basis.

What do you think?

http://dominican-liturgy.blogspot.com/

In Christ,
Brother Kevin op

Christmas Plans and Prayers

Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Please post (or e-mail me) a little bit about your Christmas plans and any prayer requests you might have related to these or other matters in your life.

What is the Foundation for Our Preaching?

What is the Foundation for Our Preaching?

This is a significant question – especially in a Church that is debating truth claims and presuppositions – because our brethren in the Roman Church can point to the official teachings of their Church to back their preaching, what about us?

As an Order we need to be united in the essentials of the faith and be a passionate community proclaiming them, but what will we will stand on?

Looking forward to your post.

Advent Begins

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Today begins the season of Advent – that season of the Christian year dedicated to preparing for the celebration of Christ’s birth as a baby and for preparing for His final coming as King of kings and Lord of Lords.

How are you personally (as a family?), and how are your congregations observing this season.

I am fond of saying that Advent is one of the most counter-cultural observances that we North American Christians can be engaged in – in other words it ain’t easy with Christmas shopping and insanity starting even before Thanksgiving now.


Looking forward to your posts.

In Christ and dominic,
Brother Kevin+

What Are You ThankFul For

Please share some thanksgiving: both personal and related to your ministries

Prayer Requests

Prayer Requests,

Dear Catherine House please share a prayer request personal or ministry related so that we can be in regular prayer for one another. Either send me the prayer request via e-mail or post it to the blog.

I am still waiting to hear back from some of you regarding what time 7am, 7pm, weekday, or weekend, would work for you in terms of getting together via on-line chat room.

Looking forward to your prayer requests.

How is Evangelism Going?

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Part of Saint Dominic’s vision for his Order of Preachers was that they would be an evangelistic order. How can we individually and together engage in evangelism? How are you engaging in evangelism now?

Please post your comments to the blog or send me your response via e-mail.

http://saintcatherinehouse.blogspot.com/

Also, Sister Elena has asked that we as a house try using an online chat room and have a Catherine House meeting via Chatzy. I’ll ask Brother Carl to share the information regarding how to get to the on-line chat room.

It’s very simple I did just the other day.

We’ll shoot to meet this Wednesday at 10 Central Time (9 Eastern) I may be a little late as I’ll be coming from the campus Bible study at the local college that I lead weekly.

Yours in Christ and dominic,
Brother Kevin+

Current Preaching Work

Dear Catherine House,

Each of us is called to be a preacher – so let’s share some current preaching, teaching, or other proclamation work that we are currently engaged in. Knowing this can be an encouragement and we can pray for one other.

Share briefly about what you are doing and the context.

Spreading the Order

Dear Catherine House,

I want to thank you all for responding to our last series of messages regarding the life of our house. What we will do is carry on with supporting each other through prayer, e-mail, and the blog.

Additional, but not required ways of nurturing our life as a Dominican family is the telephone, in face meetings, and computer enabled meetings, etc.

I want to thank especially Brothers George, Carl, and Rick who did research and are working on ways to expand our use of communication, not only for our Order, but for the sake of preaching the Gospel.

Each of us has a calling to be an evangelist – esp as a Dominican, but we also have a calling as Dominicans to spread the word about our community.

Please respond with any plans or ways in the past you have spread the word about the Order.

http://saintcatherinehouse.blogspot.com/

For example, I had a OP booth at the Diocese of North Dakota convention earlier this month.

Brother Kevin OP

Prayer Requests

Please post a prayer request that the members of the house can be in prayer for you about.

Our Life as A House

Dear Brothers and Sister,

As you know our Order is divided into two houses: Aquinas (East of the Mississippi) and Catherine (West of the Mississippi) for the purposes of common fellowship, support, and ministry.

As prior I oversee the house and have a responsibility for pastoral care and leadership of those in Catherine House.

I would like to hear suggestions and ideas about how we should conduct our life as a house.

What would help you to live your Dominican life more strongly? Ideas can be crazy and big, as well as less bold and more “realistic.”

Please post to the blog and/or e-mail them to the group.

http://saintcatherinehouse.blogspot.com/

I am expecting that every member of the house will respond via e-mail and/or to the group.

Also check below for a sermon by Brother Ken Murphy O.P. he is preaching it on October 19th and he would appreciate feedback.

Yours in Christ,
Brother Kevin+

A Sermon By Brother Ken Murphy O.P.

Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor's, and to God the things that are God's.We have lived our lives on this spinning oasis created by the hand of God having no problem giving to the emperor what is the emperor’s.

We understand the emperor,the emperor is mom or dad,the emperor is the school teacher or instructor,the emperor is the city council and mayor, the emperor is the governor, the congress, President, the IRS,the emperor is anything or anyone finite, mortal, that has authority over us during our limited stay on this revolving rock rushing throughthe reality of the physical universe.The emperor is three dimensional, it has height and width and depth,but it is also the fourth dimension, it is time.

Time rules our mortal flesh.Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor's.If we buy food, we pay the emperor.If we want gasoline, we pay the emperor.If we work, we pay taxes..... we pay the emperor.When we see time age our bodies, we are paying the emperor.Who among us isn’t thankful to see a 50% off sale orwho wouldn’t be happy to have their taxes lowered....Thank you, thank you, thank you .... all hail the emperor.

This authority can be good or it can be bad ...it can be evil,but we understand the emperor. How well do we understand,“give to God the things that are God’s.”God created this universe, all the physical things that we can see and touch and hear and smell,but God also created love, joy, kindness, grace and salvation.We can define these things, but they have no height or width or depth.They aren’t bounded by time.

They have no limits.I have heard people say, “no more cake please, I’m full.”But, I’ve never heard anyone say, “ No, thank you, no more joy or kindness for me, I’ve had enough.”We’ll never be able to pay our taxes with love.and God will never take a 20 dollar bill (despite the fact His name is on it) as penance for a sin.Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor's, and to God the things that are God's.So what should we give to God?The things that are God’s.

What are the things that are God’s?The things that are God’s are the boundless unlimited concepts that existed before the creation of the universe.Love, joy, praise are not made of molecules, held together by ionic orcovalent bonds.They bond us to God and to each other. They existed before the first flash of light .... before the first sin of man.Hear what our Lord Jesus Christ saith: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and withall thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and greatcommandment. And the second is like unto it: Thou shaltlove thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandmentshang all the Law and the Prophets.

We need to give God our love and praise, in a reverent and respectful manner. We need to give our neighbor our love and praise, in a reverent and respectful manner. We need to attend Sunday School and Church together andexperience the love and joy and fellowship that God has given us andthat we can give back to him, as we praise Him and worship Him in the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit.The grace that He gives us can’t be purchased with all the wealth of the world. Yet, the poorest man can afford to give to God the things that are God’s. Amen

High and Low

Brothers and Sisters please share a high and low related to your walk with God and life in general - it should be something recent, in the last month or so.

Look forward to your postings.

The Mission of the Order

The mission of our Order is the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ for the salvation of souls. In what ways should we explore doing this collectively – and what ways can we do this individually?

Look forward to your responses.

Dominican Identity

Being a Dominican can be difficult in the local and wider Church because often people

1) Don't know the Anglican Communion has religious order 2) Aren’t aware of religious orders that include married persons and 3) Really don’t know about religious orders what so ever.

Esp. for lay brothers and sisters it can be hard for people to understand your decision and what you are and why you are doing it. People often misunderstand and assume this means you are going to become a priest.

Considering the confusion, misunderstanding, and ignorance about religious orders it can be easy to loose a sense of your identity as a Dominican – the fact that you are now Brother so and so or Sister so and so and this is a new identity and calling which gives focus and particular obligations that you did not have before.

So how do you maintain a strong sense of your Dominican identity in the face of all this?

Looking forward to your posts.

Preaching

The rule requires that every Dominican share whenever possible the Gospel of Jesus Christ – for some this will be in sermons or lectures, but there are many ways to proclaim the Gospel.

Our community has tried to keep the work of preaching and teaching central to what every member does (lay or ordained), but even pulpit preachers would be failing to live up to their vows if they only exercised a ministry of proclamation in the pulpit.

How do you carry out the call to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ?

The Holy Eucharist

The rule requires that life professed brothers and sisters receive the Holy Eucharist every Lord's Day and on Major Feast Days - it also encourages more frequent attendance if possible - with many believing that daily reception should be undestood as the Dominican ideal (not to mention the Roman Catholic and Anglo-Catholic standard for those pursing the spiritual life seriously).

How do you live this out? Where do you need to grow?

Do you observe any specific devotions or practices related to the Mass (e.g. fasting before receiving, holy hours, genuflecting to the reserved sacrament, etc)

Looking forward to your responses.

Study of Holy Scripture

For life professed members the rule requires an hour of daily Scripture study which can be done in a variety of forms (language studies, book studies, memorization, praying, etc)

Knowing the truths of Scripture is critical for any Christian who desires to grow, but for a Dominican knowing the Scripture well is essential. How can one be a preacher (in whatever form) if we do not know the truths and words of the Gospel of Christ?

How do you regularly engage in the Scripture and what is your plan for moving toward the hour of study (if you are not already life professed)?

The Daily Office

The Rule of our Order calls for the daily observance of the Offices of Morning and Evening Prayer.

These offices are intended to be prayed with others (in community), but for many of us we have to pray them alone.

Ordinarily, (though not stated in the Rule) the form for these services would be taken from the Book of Common Prayer.

The idea of the daily offices is to keep holy time - that is to base our daily schedule around prayer and our commitment to Christ and not merely to include Christ and prayer when time allows.

The full Anglican office also includes the noonday office and compline though these are not required by the rule.

What is your experience of praying the office? What is most difficult about it? Has there been any "benefit" for you in doing it?

Please post your comments and feel free to respond to others comments as the week progresses.

Informal Customary for Catherine House

A customary is a guide to liturgical and other practice for a church, diocese, or religious community.

Here are some things you may find helpful to know.

These are based on the Rule of the Order as well developed practice within the community.

HABITS AND CLOTHING

Full-Liturgical Habit:
- black cinctrure (prayer rope/rosary optional), black cowl, white alb, with scapular (optional), and cross (optional)

To be worn when serving in the liturgy in some way. It may be worn at anytime at the discretion of the brother or sister.

For example, I wore the full habit almost all the time when I served and lived in NJ (and this was at a camp and conference center!). I remember visiting a youth event once and playing football while wearing the whole deal, I still made some touch downs!

Street-Habit:
- any combination of black and white clothing, cross (optional), clerical collar or if lay member Morivian collar (like the one Brother Ken wears)

To be worn when engaged in any kind of ministry work or when attending weekend worship, but not serving in the liturgy (though it is perfectly acceptable to wear the full-habit when just attending worship).

For example, before I came to North Dakota I served in an essentially non-liturgical, very low, Lutheran Church near Philadelphia. We didn't use vestments, no liturgy, and no collars by the other two pastors. I wore a street habit (black trousers, white shirt, and black vest, with cross) for close to three years when I was there.

When Not in Liturgy or Engaged in Ministry
Left to the discretion of the brother or sister. You will find some look to wear black and white cominbations virtually all of the time as a sign of their vow of simplicity and their committment to their vows. Some are unable to do this at work and some discern another way for them.

For example, I almost ways tend to be in street habit (clericals for me as a priest), or even a white and black combination when at informal things, but on occasion, and esp. if I'm going out somewhere with my wife will wear civilian clothes.

FORMS OF ADDRESS

Brother or Sister As Appropriate to Gender

There are two major views on the use of religious forms of address (e.g. Father, Mother, Brother, Sister, Bishop, etc)


1st: and this is by far the most popular view today, is that they are merely formal titles and should be rarely used, or perhaps used with children, or in very select settings. The thought is these are burdenson and seperate the ordained or vowed person for the rest of the body and this should not be done.

2nd: and this is an older more sacrament view, these aren't merely formal titles, but represent the fact that a person has given up their status as a "private individual" to become a living and breathing symbol of the Church. Calling the priest Father reminds the priest that he is a man under orders, called to represent the heavenly Father. It reminds the people that they are part of a sacramental church and that the priest is their soul doctor, a person who is to help them get close to God, and not just their buddy, or a nice guy who leads church services.

Most of us would not say "That guy is going to spalsh some water on that kid" or "we are going to have some bread today" or "we are going to that building with the fancy windows this morning" and so on. We are a sacramental church and don't believe its just water spashling on the kid, and we don't believe its just bread, and we don't believe its just a building, and so on. We believe more is at work here.

In the same way the Church believe that a priest is more than just a man wearing a funny shirt, and a brother or sister is more than just a person with a nice black hood.


Use of Religious Address

You will find it varies considerably in the Church and even within the Order. I for example am old school in a variety of ways including in the use of religious address - esp in the context of parish and diocesan life.

Please e-mail or post to the blog your thoughts, comments, questions, and experiences with these matters.

2008 Chapter Concluded

The 2008 Chapter of the Anglican Order of Preachers concluded Saturday, August 9th, at 12noon.

Postulants to Take Novice Promises

God willing, Carl Hooker, Philip Ray, David Smith, Robert Rowlands, and Jackie Sather, will take novice promises in the Anglican Order of Preachers on Saturday, August 9th, at Grace Episcopal Church, Jamestown ND.

Italics indicate member of Catherine House.

Brother to Take Life Vows

God willing Brother Ken Murphy O.P. will take life vows in the Anglican Order of Preachers on Friday - the feast of Saint Dominic - on August 8th at Grace Episcopal Church, Jamestown, ND.