Veritas Winter Issue January 2025

The Lay Dominicans of England, Scotland and Wales

Jubilee 2025

Celebrating the Jubilee of Hope

The concept of Jubilee is one rooted in the earliest days of Judeo-Christian tradition.  Its purpose is to re-establish a proper relationship with God, with one another, and with all of creation.  Today, we celebrate this tradition once every 25 years as a year  of grace, offering us the opportunity to renew our faith through prayer, pilgrimage,and acts of charity.

The Jubilee Logo explained

  1. The Cross is the ultimate symbol of hope, reminding us of Christ’s light in the darkest of times; His victory over death itself.
  2. The figures represent all humanity from the four corners of the world.  Each one holds onto another in solidarity, with the first one holding onto the Cross.
  3. The waves of the stormy sea represent the many difficulties we encounter on the pilgrimage of life, difficulties that often demand a greater sense of hope.
  4. The Cross takes the shape of a sail at the top, transforming to an anchor at the bottom – a great symbol of hope that keeps us centred through the storms of life.

Jubilee Prayer

Father in heaven, may the faith you have given us in Your son, Jesus Christ, our brother, and the flame of charity enkindled in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, reawaken in us the blessed hope for the coming of your Kingdom.

May your grace transform us into tireless cultivators of the seeds of the Gospel.  May those seeds transform from within both humanity and the whole cosmos in the sure expectation of a new heaven and a new earth, when, with the powers of evil vanquished, Your glory will shine eternally.

May the grace of the Jubilee reawaken in us, Pilgrims of Hope, a yearning for the 

treasures of heaven.  May that same grace spread the joy and peace of our Redeemer throughout the earth.  To you our God, eternally blessed, be glory and praise for ever.  Amen

(Source: Your Guide to Celebrating The Jubilee of Hope, Diocese of Salford)

If your fraternity or parish is planning any events, for example, pilgrimages, “prayer walks”, charitable events, etc. please share them with us.

News from around the Province

Dominican pilgrimage to Spain.

A group of 17 Dominican pilgrims travelled to Spain, to spend some time in prayer, pilgrimage and community in the land where St. Dominic was born. The pilgrimage was led by fr. John Farrell OP, and we had talks on the history of Spain from Lay Dominican Dr. Fernando Cervantes. We were based in Zamora, where we visited the Dominican nuns at Las Duenas, and we also travelled to Salamanca and Avila.

We spent a day in Caleruega, where St. Dominic was born. We had a guided tour from the friars there and said the rosary for all the Dominicans of our province at the well which marks the place of his birth.

Lay Dominican Assembly 2024

Our Annual Assembly took place on Saturday 28 September. The theme of the day was Community, and our guest speakers were fr. Nick Crowe OP, Prior Provincial, and fr. Thomas Mannion OP, Provincial Promoter of the Laity. The talks are available to watch on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@LayDominicans-wo8mw/videos

A new group in Glasgow

We are delighted to announce that we are starting a new Fraternal Group in Glasgow. Over the last couple of years we have been celebrating the growth of the Lay Dominican presence in Scotland, with many new enquirers approaching the group in Edinburgh. Many of those attending the meetings in Edinburgh were travelling a considerable distance, so a new group in Glasgow has now been established.

On Tuesday 8th October, during the visit of the Master of the Order, fr. Gerard Timoner OP, the new group was inaugurated with a blessing from fr. Andrew Brookes OP, who will be the Religious Assistant of the Glasgow group, and Margaret Doyle, Provincial Lay President, presented Catherine and Martin with a statue of St. Dominic from Caleruega.

The Glasgow group is a blessing for the whole of the Province. Please keep them in your prayers.

Visit of the Master of the Order

On 12th October 2024, fr. Gerard Timoner OP, said Mass for the Dominican family at St. Dominic’s, the Rosary Shrine, in London.

After Mass there was the opportunity for the whole Dominican family to spend time together, to talk and to enjoy the excellent hospitality provided by the parishioners of St. Dominic’s.

During the day, the Lay Provincial Council met with the Master. We talked about the growth of the Lay Dominicans in the Province and about all we are doing to improve communications between the fraternities, and with individual Lay Dominicans who are not able to attend their local group regularly. We also spoke about the Synod on Synodality and about the development of our formation programme.

Forthcoming Events

St. Thomas Aquinas Study Weekend

Why the Crucifixion? Talks and discussions Friday February 21st to Sunday 23rd, 2025         Douai Abbey Upper Woolhampton Reading RG7 5TQ Cost: £230 (help available) To book apply to: Sr. Valery OP Email: valerywalker@gmail.com Tel: 07986851376

Sing like a Dominican

Bristol Fraternity very cordially invites you to join a workshop on Dominican Chant. Combining theory and practice, this workshop invites you to learn about Dominican Chant in Dominican life. We will celebrate Mass together and the hands-on exercise allows you to immerse yourself into the beautiful tradition of Dominican chant, elevating your prayer life and understanding the offices, whilst building the Dominican community in the South-West.

The facilitator, Fr Matthew Jarvis OP, is currently Prior of St Dominic’s Priory, London, and member of the Dominican International Commission on the Liturgy. This workshop is based on his current research for a DPhil at the University of Oxford.

Dominican Seminar 2025

Friday 21st to Sunday 23rd March 2025

Hinsley Hall Conference and Pastoral Centre, 62 Headingley Lane, Leeds LS6 2BX

The theme of this year’s seminar is Hope. Conference fee is £280.  You should have received your booking form.  Please ensure that you have returned your booking form no later than 28th February 2025.  (If you have not yet received your booking form, please contact your fraternity president.)

Fraternity news

North East

Good news of our reinstatement as a full fraternity

Lay Dominicans in the North East have a long history – our remaining and, unfortunately, incomplete records show professions from 1910 onwards. However, at the beginning of this century, numerical decline began to set in, though those who remained met faithfully each month. The size of what was then called the Newcastle fraternity reduced so much that, in the 2010s it needed to be re-styled as a fraternal group, with the Lay Provincial Council becoming more closely involved in its running.

The group moved its meetings online during the COVID days of 2020 and this opened the (virtual) doors for several other people to attend. In 2021 we transitioned back to “in-person” meetings, though with the continuing availability of online participation. Many of those who had joined our online meetings during the worst of COVID continued to come along in person. Over time, some of these discerned that they may have a vocation as Lay Dominicans and, with the assistance and approval of the Lay Provincial Council, 5 people were admitted in December 2022 and temporarily professed in March 2024. We continue to attract enquirers and our new phase of growth emboldened us to ask that we be reinstated as a fraternity.

In the early autumn of 2024 our request was approved and we are now in the process of setting up our own Fraternal Council.

We thank the Lay Provincial Council for their support and also pay tribute to the Religious Assistants who have accompanied and advised us in recent years: fr Colin Carr OP, fr Samuel Burke OP, fr Matthew Jarvis OP and, currently, fr Thomas Mannion OP. The withdrawal of the Friars from Newcastle and Durhan resulted in our losing our traditional home base of St Dominic’s in Newcastle and so we are also grateful to Fr Andrew Downie of St Cuthbert’s Church in Durham for being a willing and gracious host for the Group. 

We are still a relatively small fraternity but we look forward to the challenges and opportunities of being a Dominican presence in the North East of England.

World Rosary Day in Durham

Our reinstatement as a full fraternity encouraged us to participate in the World Rosary Day of 7th October 2024. This coincided with the first week of term at Durham University and so we approached the Catholic Chaplaincy, also based at St Cuthbert’s in Durham, to suggest that we collaborate with them in offering this opportunity for prayer. They were delighted to do so and even provided a ‘Praise and Worship’ band to support us. We had no idea how well the event would be supported and were blown away when about 70 people from the Chaplaincy community and some of the local parishes came along. We fully intend to participate in World Rosary Day 2025.  

The celebration can be found on YouTube at https://youtu.be/f2mmnQWgUPs and, if you look in the description, there is a further link to the service booklet.

Advent Retreat

Fr Thomas OP kindly suggested that he lead an Advent Retreat for Lay Dominicans North East on December 21st, following one he had given at Crawley earlier in the month. We explored the concept of kingship in the Old Testament, with a focus on the great but flawed King David, in whose line the true King was to come.

We took the opportunity to advertise the event more widely and we were pleased to have a small number of new people coming along, with others telling us that they would have loved to have been there but had other commitments. This is clearly an initiative worth our repeating and offering to a wider audience. 

Andy Doyle

Edinburgh 

We ask your prayers for the repose of the soul of the oldest member of our Fraternity, Michael van der Zande, who died on 8th September 2024, the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Michael, who was in his 90s and lived in Dunbar, joined the Edinburgh Fraternity after our first Come and See day in 2012. Michael, who longed to be Finally Professed, having tried all his life to belong more closely to the Church one way or another, was given special dispensation from the Provincial, Martin Ganeri, to make his final profession over Zoom on 4th July 2020, during the time of Covid movement restrictions in Scotland, on the assumption that Michael might not ever be able to join us in person again.

 However, he was able to join the Fraternity one last time after that, for a retreat day in Dunbar in March 2022 given by Fr Sam Burke OP, at which we saw Michael once again full of his characteristic joy and energy at Fr Sam’s words, and at the thought of the Fraternity once more going out to preach the Gospel together. Michael had always loved the study of Scripture, especially the Old Testament, and used to attend the Living Theology summer school in Edinburgh, where he had first met Mary and Michael O’Duffin, who then belonged to the Glasgow Lay Dominicans. 

He lived near two of our other members, Teresa and Colin, who continued to visit ‘old Michael’, as we called him, and be in touch with him even when he was no longer able to join us any more. After Colin’s death last year, Teresa continued to visit ‘old Michael’ when he moved from Dunbar to a nursing home in Edinburgh for a few months earlier this year. Michael’s funeral was at Our Lady of the Waves, Dunbar, on 9th October; it was attended by five members of the Fraternity, including our former President, Steve Male. May Michael’s and Colin’s souls and the souls of all the faithful departed rest in peace.

We also have a number of new sisters and brothers to thank God for! Four members of the Fraternity made Temporary Profession in September and October. The first of these was Dr Tricia Murphy-Black, retired professor of midwifery, who made her profession on Saturday 7th September. The other three, poet Anthony Capildeo, University of Edinburgh Intercultural Advisor Lilian Lee and artist Lee Patterson, made theirs on 8th October during the visit of the Master of the Older, Gerald Timoner, to the Edinburgh community of friars at St Albert’s. On the same evening, Barbara Bradley (a PhD candidate), Margaret Gennelli Malcolm (a mature Theology student) and Tom Waring (a software engineer) were admitted into the novitiate; Emma and John-James Colvin (dentist and artist respectively) had already been admitted the previous Saturday 5th October at a Day of Recollection in St Theresa’s, East Calder.

Two of our other members, Catherine Nolan and Martin Colpi, were commissioned on the same evening by Margaret Doyle to begin a new Fraternal Group in Glasgow. This was the culmination of their work with Margaret and Fr Thomas Mannion, Provincial Promoter of Lay Dominicans, and was approved by the Lay Dominican Provincial Council in the summer. The Edinburgh Fraternity and the Glasgow Fraternal Group are now looking to play our part together in the reconversion of Scotland (since the 2022 Census shows we are no longer a Christian majority country). All prayers for this intention are very welcome!

Sara Parvis

Requiescant in Pace

We remember with affection and gratitude all the recently departed,

  • Michael Van der Zande (Edinburgh)
  • Jo Sheppard (Cambridge)
  • Dan Baird (Glasgow)

May they and all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.

Our next newsletter will be in the summer of 2025.  Please send any news and contributions to:

Teresa Jankowska, Communications Officer

t.jankowska@btopenworld.com