Dominican Laity
New web site is resource for vocation discernment

Lanie LeBlanc, OP (Southern Dominican Laity, USA) has developed a new web site, www.whydominican.net, that offers free Dominican formation materials. Why Dominican? was designed as a two-year initial formation program consistent with the approved formation topics of the Southern Dominican Lay Province. Lanie also invites all Dominicans to participate in a collaborative Word Cloud project by answering the question, “As a Dominican, how do you live your passion for preaching?”

Below is a letter from Lanie to the Dominican Family.

Dear Dominican Family,

The purpose of this e-mail is to share a free online formation program called Why Dominican?, available at www.whydominican.net, with you and with the entire Dominican Family. Why Dominican? was designed as a two-year initial formation program in English for the Dominican Laity. It basically consists of 10 modules for Inquiry and 10 modules for Candidacy, each containing a Study Guide for the participants and step-by-step lesson plans called Presentation Notes for the Formation Team. It is based on my experiences as the founding Moderator/local President and Formation Director of the Lay Dominicans of the Holy Cross group in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, six years as the Lay Provincial Secretary, and the former Provincial Promoter of Lay Formation for my lay province. The topics, therefore, match the approved formation topics of the Southern Dominican Lay Province, USA. Why Dominican? is easily adaptable, however, to other lay provinces or to any small group of students or parishioners who might be interested in having a greater awareness of Dominican life. Additional modules may be written if there is an expressed need for other topics.

Invitation: Part of the Candidacy module “Study and the Passion for Preaching” is an activity to contemplate a “word cloud.” A “word cloud” is a visual image which represents all the printed responses received from a prompt. It is based on the frequency of the words that are used. The more the word is used collectively, the larger the word appears. The prompt used is "As a Dominican, how do you live your passion for preaching?"

Each month or so, I will post a word cloud derived from new responses received. Click here or on the image at right to view the word cloud for September.

As part of Dominican collaboration, I am inviting all Dominican friars, sisters, nuns, and laity to send their personal response to the prompt (about three to five sentences or so) to me at lanieleblanc@mindspring.com. Each response can be anonymous in the word cloud or included in a separate pdf file with the person's name and community. Click here to view the actual responses for September.

Please share this information about Why Dominican?, the word cloud prompt, and my e-mail address for the responses with other Dominicans. It would be wonderful for those learning about the vast scope of Dominican preaching to be able to contemplate how actual Dominicans live their passion for preaching!

THANKS in advance for your input, your support, and suggestions. Feedback, revisions, and improvements are intended to be integral parts of Why Dominican?

May the Lord grant all Dominicans special blessings flowing from the Feast of the Triumph of the Holy Cross, the date this project was posted.

Blessings,

Dr. Elaine (Lanie) LeBlanc OP
The Lay Dominicans of the Holy Cross
Southern Dominican Laity, USA
lanieleblanc@mindspring.com