Collaborative Dominican Novitiate Marks 20th Anniversary

ST. LOUIS, MO, January, 2008-- The Collaborative Dominican Novitiate marks its 20th year of promoting Dominican Life and Mission in 2008. To celebrate this milestone, former novices and participants will offer occasional reflections on the experience and what being part of the CDN has meant to them. Over the years, 22 congregations have been members of the CDN.


Reflections on the Novitiate:

If we are who we are meant to be, we will set the world on fire
Catherine of  Siena.                 

This is a quote that keeps reappearing in our discussions and meetings about NED6. It was not the total motivator in 1988 that led the 23 Congregations to take the leap to establishing a collaborative novitiate, but consciously and unconsciously, it was at work. We were all 20 years younger, many had been involved in leadership or formation therefore, appreciating and enjoying the interaction, insights and company of other congregations. We all agreed on how important supporting, nurturing, and presenting a broader picture of the gift of the Dominican Charism was to those joining us for the first time.

There were long, sometimes intense discussions, concerns raised about not losing identity, canon law and reentry for candidates. There were no crystal balls but the moment felt right to take the leap.

We gave to our newer members a taste of how living the common life could and should be. Most loved it; some were helped to know this was not the life for them. This moment in time will always be a milestone. It was preparing us, encouraging us to greater collaboration to keep hope alive in a world filled with fear, mistrust and anxiety.

In 1989, I was slated to be a Co-director. Arriving in St. Louis in mid August I was back home in New Jersey two weeks later. Serious family illness prevented me from continuing. This other path has led me in different directions with no regrets but with the occasional day dream of what might have been!

Arriving at the CDN 40 years after I was supposed to have begun Dominican life gave me, I believe, a unique perspective on the role and impact of the CDN from both a personal and more global view. I had experienced pre-Vatican II religious life vicariously through friends and my continued interest and involvement in the Dominican Sisters of Blauvelt, NY and was in 1998-1999 experiencing a phenomenon of post-Vatican II, the CDN in its tenth anniversary year. Our formation was certainly different.

We were 12 Novices with an age range of 32 years. With our two directors, we came from eight congregations---east to west including the midwest and north to south---with a diversity of life experiences. A draft of our vision statement read as follows, “We are a faith community of shared vision rooted in the Dominican traditions of Study, Prayer, Ministry, and Community. We are committed to coming together in our diversity for individual and communal growth and for bringing the Gospel values to those with whom we come in contact.” It was truly impressive to see how our multigenerational and multicultural community evolved, in fits and starts, into a group that became caring, respectful of diversity and weathered good and bad times for both individuals and the whole. Visits to other Dominican motherhouses reinforced our appreciation for the Dominican women in the U.S. and for each of our own congregations.

Study at Aquinas was for me, who had spent 35 years in academia, a sheer delight. Courses on the Vowed Life, Hebrew Scripture, and Wisdom Literature were enjoyably challenging. The Dominican environment made study part of our spiritual life and informed our prayer life. Participating in the Aquinas community with men and women of Dominican and other religious orders, laity, and diverse faculty was a wonderfully stretching and enjoyable experience, which also enhanced our weekly intercommunity meetings among novices from many Orders in the St. Louis metropolitan area. 

Our ministries throughout St. Louis were also diverse. For me, being at the Vietnamese Health Center was a humbling and uplifting experience---doing things that I was used to having done for me, bridging the language gap, and striving for justice in the health care system for a proud, dignified, courteous people who were often caught in an alien and not too welcoming culture. During our mission week, I was privileged to be at Las Casas the Dominican ministry to the Arapahoe and Cheyenne Indians of Oklahoma, working with and learning from a group of elders.

Communal Prayer, scheduled into each day and as diverse as our community, ran the gamut from traditional chanting to many nontraditional forms. Personal prayer time, daily Eucharist, and quiet reflection were very individual. Our sometimes hectic and different schedules seemed to leave little time for anything but “active contemplation” but in the Gospels, both quiet and active contemplation was a part of Jesus’ life. Spiritual direction and theological reflection contributed to the breadth of our prayer experience. I found all forms, to varying degrees, enhancing my relationship with God.

In retrospect, the CDN experience prepared us for religious life in the 21st century---Dominican rather than Congregation focused; increasingly collaborative, between Dominican congregations, and more inter-communal with other Orders; movement toward a more closer union within regions such as the recent one of seven congregations into one; serious analysis of resources with respect to individual congregational needs and charisms; and, deeper understanding of the world-wide Dominican Order and its charism. 

Congregations
who participate

Adrian
Akron 
Amityville 
Blauvelt 
Caldwell
Catherine de' Ricci
Columbus
Hope
Houston
Kentucky
Oakford
Oxford
St. Mary's
Racine
SanRafael
Sinsinawa
Sparkill
Springfield
Grand Rapids
Great Bend
Tacoma