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Fr. James R. Motl, O.P.
Personal phone: 314-633-4602. |
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PROMOTER’S CORNER
From the time I took on the job of Provincial Promoter for Dominican Laity (now Lay Dominicans) I heard the question, “When are we going to get new formation program for the Province?” I learned that this had been a pressing question for almost twenty years. Some chapters made notable progress in creating their own initial formation programs. Dolly Suazo has developed a fine program in Denver. Norm Laurendeau and Tom Ryba put together a challenging program for the more recent West Lafayette group. Mary and Bob McAuliffe worked hard on the study program in Minneapolis. Guy Murphy composed a very attractive program for each of the levels of initial formation in the River Forest chapter. Guy offered this program for province-wide use at the 2005 Provincial Council meeting. I was not fully satisfied with the River Forest program as a model suitable for the whole Province, and I asked that the issue of a new provincial formation program be tabled until more work could be done on it. At the 2005 meeting I suggested that Tom Ryba, a Doctor of Sacred Theology with Notre Dame University who had been a visiting professor of theology at the Dominican Newman Center at Purdue University, become the Provincial Director of Formation. He is a professed member of the St. Mary Magdalene group there. The Executive Committee of the Provincial Council approved this appointment
Due to the initiative of Michael Porterfield and Cyndi Ricard of the St. Louis chapter and with help of funding from the Irvine Fund administered by Mary Lee Odders, Dr. Ryba, Michael, Cyndi, and I were able to meet in April to put together the elements of a new formation program for the several stages of initial formation with a lengthy bibliography of suggestions for continuing formation. This new program was formally adopted by the Provincial Council at its April meeting. It is based on six constituent elements:
- consideration of what is appropriate for each stage of initial formation (inquiry, candidacy leading to first promises, and candidacy leading to final promises);
- the four pillars of Dominican life (prayer, study, community, and mission);
- formation themes (Dominican history, prayer and spirituality, preaching, contemporary church documents on the vocation of the laity, the social teaching of the Church, theological themes such as God, Christ, the Church, and Catholic morality);
- National Certification Standards of Lay Ecclesial Ministers issued by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops;
- assisting new members to achieve a level of knowledge and understanding appropriate to each;
- helping new members to grow spiritually, to understand their gifts, and to become integral members of the Dominican community.
On the Memorial Day weekend Tom, Michael, Cyndi, and I will meet with Ruth Kummer in West Lafayette to finalize the program and to devise flexible methods of presenting it so that it can be adapted to the varying demands of different chapters and individuals. We know that our chapters have differing needs and that those interested in joining have widely varying backgrounds. One chapter consists mostly of active college professors. Others have largely retired persons as members but want to attract a new generation. The St. Louis chapter recently received first promises from four people: a widely respected professor of philosophy, a theological student, a home care provider, and a mother and grandmother of a large family. At this meeting we will also plan a Formation Workshop for the chapter leadership of the Province. This workshop, which was announced sometime ago, will take place in the Detroit area on November 1-4, 2007. The Formation Director, the President, and the Spiritual Director of each chapter and group are expected to attend. The cost of this workshop, including transportation to and from the workshop will be paid from the Irvine Fund. It will be the first major use of the interest from this fund, which has been accumulating interest for four years. The purpose of the Fund is to educate and promote formation among Lay Dominicans in St. Albert’s Province. I can think of no more important use of the fund than this workshop. I believe that if the elements of this program are understood and implemented it will lead to new life for our local communities of Lay Dominicans. The program is challenging, but it is doable. It can mean not only the strengthening of our chapters and groups, but it will also make it much easier to start new groups
Aquinas Institute, the Dominican school of pastoral theology in St. Louis is helping us to implement this program by allowing us to use their webpage to make the program and its elements easily available. At the workshop those who attend will learn how to download the program materials from this webpage at no cost. Books that cannot be copied will be available through Amazon.com. I know that every chapter and group has at least one person who has Internet access and can make the materials available to others who do not use the Internet. Eventually professors at Aquinas may be making video-recorded lectures on topics in the program available on this webpage. We will also be working on developing a certificate program in Dominican studies through Aquinas for those with more scholarly interests who may want to gain academic recognition for their formation studies.
You can see from my article that I consider this new formation program and the workshop to introduce it extremely important for the future of Lay Dominican life in our Province. I beg every Formation Director and President to make every sacrifice to attend. I will personally be contacting the Spiritual Directors in the next few months to request their attendance as well. You will be receiving more details about the workshop when they are available after the Memorial Day meeting. In the fall issue of Challenge Mary Lee Odders, our provincial treasurer and chair of the financial committee that administers the Irvine Fund will provide information about how to apply for travel reimbursements. There is no set “travel allowance,” since people will come from differing distances and situations. I plan to take Amtrak because I have the time and I enjoy train travel. Others coming from greater distances or with more demanding schedules will choose to fly. Those who live closer may choose to drive. We will of course appreciate it if you avoid first class travel, unless it is required by a physical condition. Anyone who wishes to contribute all or part of their travel costs may do so, but do not let concern about the cost stand in the way of coming to the workshop. Please plan now to attend, if you are a President, a Formation Director, or a Spiritual Director. It is the strong opinion of the provincial committee that has developed this new program that its success depends on the involvement of every level of leadership pertaining to formation within each local community. Please pray for the success of this project.
Fr. James R. Motl, O.P.
Promoter for Lay Dominicans
Province of St. Albert the Great, U.S.A.