2006

Tuesday 2nd August 2006
800 Years of Passion for Truth
“In today’s society, with its emphasis on the cult of celebrity, thousands of people throughout the world are taking time to remember a man who lived over 800 years ago but whose influence remains.  That’s more than fifteen minutes of fame!” says Dominican Sister, Jenny Gerathy of Waratah. 

Sr Jenny belongs to 'The Dominican Family', often referred to as the ‘Order of Preachers’. The Dominican Family includes about 100,000 Friars, Sisters, Nuns, Dominican Lay men and women, and Youth and Volunteer movements in over 100 countries. This year, the Dominican Family is celebrating the 800th anniversary of the foundation of the first Dominican community in Prouilhe, in the south of France.

The Dominican Order takes its name from its Spanish founder, Dominic Guzman.

The first Dominicans to arrive in Australia sailed from Ireland to Maitland on the Martha Birnie, arriving in 1867. Since then, they have been involved in primary and secondary education in Newcastle, Waratah, Mayfield and Maitland, along the Eastern Seaboard and in the Solomon Islands. The graves of some of the pioneer Sisters are in the grounds of St Mary’s Campus, Maitland. 

While Dominican Sisters are probably best known for their work in education, Sr Jenny says that the Dominican Family is now involved in a dynamic range of works. “We are in school teaching and administration, counselling, chaplaincy to prisons, hospitals, hospices and aged care facilities. We are teachers of children and adults with hearing and vision impairments. We work in parishes and retreat centres. We teach English as a second language. We advocate for those who are poor and marginalised, for justice for refugees and indigenous people. We are artists, musicians, writers and much more!”

Locally, Dominican Sisters gained a reputation for teaching deaf and hearing impaired children. Families moved to the Hunter so that their son or daughter could be educated by specially trained Dominican Sisters who began the first Australian Catholic school for deaf and hearing impaired children in Waratah in 1875. Currently, St Dominic’s Centre for Hearing Impaired Children at Mayfield has 45 students, and works closely with St Columban’s and San Clemente, primary and secondary schools on the same site.  

Local Celebrations

The Dominican Family, friends, relatives, colleagues and associates are celebrating their 800th anniversary with Mass and a luncheon this Saturday, 5 August 2006. The Mass will take place at St Mary’s Chapel, Grant St, Maitland, at 11.00 am.

Attending will be former students, parents and teachers from St Mary’s, San Clemente and St Columban’s Mayfield, Corpus Christi Waratah, and people with links to the former Catherine of Siena aged care facility at Waratah. There are currently 29 Dominican Sisters in the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle.

BACKGROUNDER ON ST DOMINIC GUZMAN

13th century Dominican nun, Blessed Cecilia Caesarini offers us a detailed description of Dominic:

He was thin and of middle height. His face was handsome and somewhat fair. He had reddish hair and beard and beautiful eyes. From his forehead and eyes shone a sort of radiance which drew everyone to respect and love him. He was always cheerful and alert, except when he was moved to compassion at the sight of someone's troubles. His hands were long and fine and his voice pleasingly resonant. He never got bald, though he wore the full tonsure, which was mingled with a few grey hairs.

Dominic was born between 1171 and 1173 in the Castilian village of Caleruega, son of Felix de Guzman and Jane of Aza of Spanish nobility. Christian Spain was still struggling to free itself from Moorish occupation and, even for a knightly family, life was austere. Felix as local lord owned little more than range land, a few flocks of sheep, and the manor house and tower, still standing.

From his earliest youth Dominic was trained to become a priest. When he was about 14, he went to the cathedral school of Palencia to study philosophy and theology. Here Dominic manifested his great generosity during a famine, using his slender resources to help the poor and gaining additional funds by selling his books. Completing his studies when he was about 24, he served at the cathedral of Osma, and soon afterwards was ordained a priest.

His ministry led him to a heightened awareness of many in Europe who had no knowledge of or opportunity to learn about God’s love for them. Dominic was particularly disturbed by the influence of heretics, Albigensians and others. He determined to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, and in time, to offer others the means to do the same. The establishment in 1206 of a monastery at Prouilhe, in the south of France, for women and girls seeking an alternative to marriage and the houses for women run by the heretics, marks the beginning of Dominic’s “Order of Preachers”. Now referred to as 'The Dominican Family', the Order comprises some 100,000 Friars, Sisters, Nuns, Dominican Lay men and women, the Dominican Youth Movement, Dominican Volunteer Movement and countless others.

Sources: www.op.org, www.opeast.org.au

Media Enquiries:  Catherine Mahony Ph: (02) 4979 1136 or 0419 263 901.

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