Aaaaaannnnddddd. . .we're back!
Arrived in Nawlins' last night. All is well. The assembly was a success. Good company, good food, prayer, and naps!
I always grouch and whine about going to assembly, and I always come away glad that I went.
This year we had a stellar retreat leader, Sr. Anne Willits, OP.
The most important event of the assembly: the solemn profession of fra. Peter Damien Harris, OP (below in cappa). fra. Peter Damien is a subject of Her Britannic Majesty and a citizen of Jamaica. He is a convert from Anglicanism. Pray for him!
Follow HancAquam and visit the Kindle Wish List and the Books & Things Wish List
Click on St. Martin and donate to the Dominicans! ----->
I see many fondly remembered faces in that picture!
ReplyDeleteAny you'd like to forget? :-)
DeleteOkay, now that I see it's not a typo, I must ask: how come it's "fra." with a small "f" and not "Fra." with a big "F"?
ReplyDeleteAnd my congratulations to the newly solemnly professed!
I'm sure there's some sort of arcane grammatical or ecclesial reason for it, Anita. I have no idea.
DeleteJust found your very positive comments about St. Anne interesting. My experience is that friars tend to be extremely cautious and sometimes disparaging around sisters. What was it that so impressed you about Sr. Anne?
ReplyDeleteSherry, I will confess to a little apprehension when I see an OP sister listed as a retreat leader or speaker. I don't know why I feel this way. Every single OP sister that I know personally are wonderful Dominicans! Most of the trepidation of the friars comes from the outspoken sisters who tend to dominate their congregations with goofy social-justicey stuff. Like all groups of people, the loud ones tend to set the stereotype. At some point in our formation (i.e., not protected by solemn vows), all friars have been forced to endure the occasional lecture by a fringe-sister, or work with one on a project.
DeleteAnne is a powerful preacher. . .direct, humorous, on-text, and gives you the sense that she's actually wrestled with the living tradition rather than just dismissing it. She said one or two social-justicey things that set off warning lights for me. . .but in context they made some sense. She also has a doctrine of God that I can't sign onto. . .it's not heretical or new agey or anything like that. . .just needed a few distinctions. If she had spoken on the subject in front of a parish, I would've felt compelled to make those distinctions.
Dear Fr. Philip Neri, Happy Feast day tomorrow from your Summit sisters. See you soon!
ReplyDeletefra. is short for frater. Usually I see fr. for frater for the brethren in Europe.
Thank you, Sisters! Looking forward to it too. . .so, we're spending four days reading and discussing Flannery O'Connor, right? ;-)
Delete