Students at Albertus Magnus College get nervous when I start talking about preaching. They say, “Oh, I can’t get up and preach in front of people, that’s too scary”! And then I explained that there are different types of preaching, and that, as Dominicans, we/they need to know how to preach with and without words. They look at me with a funny look on their faces, and then I explain more of what I mean.
Since they are students at a Dominican college, they know that preaching is part of the Dominican charism and that “OP” after my name stands for the “Order of Preachers.” Because they attend Albertus, they understand that they are also called to be preachers as well. Through our pillar of service, I discuss the ways that we preach when we are out in the world helping others. This is a form of preaching. It’s called preaching with our lives!
Some Albertus students just returned from an Albertus Spring Break Mission Trip to Columbus, where they preached with their lives in the service that they performed with some of our founded ministries.* They also had opportunities to be preached to by hearing the stories that the sisters at the Motherhouse shared with them. This is how we preach to each other.
Albertus students have also attended the National Dominican Preaching in Action Conference, held each year at a Dominican college or university in the U.S. Students who attend these preaching conferences learn to preach through the arts. They create art, music, and songs, write, and dance to preach, using all of their senses. These experiences open up a whole new understanding of what preaching is. After students return from an annual preaching conference, they are asked to preach formally during one of our on-campus weekday Masses. Students love hearing from other students about how they live out the Gospel message today.
I have seen great examples of our students sharing their preaching talent through art, poetry, prayer, song, music, written stories, formal preaching, service to others, care for creation, and study. Together, we have grown in our understanding of what preaching can be.
Do you want to learn more about how you can preach with your life? Then, I encourage you to open yourself up to hear God’s call in your life to become a preacher, just like Dominic did!
Another way to learn about Dominican life and whether God might be calling you to explore religious life with us is to attend one of our discernment and vocation programs. Coming up on April 25th is an afternoon online program, Becoming Women of Peace: Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow, for you to learn how women such as St. Mary Magdalene and St. Catherine of Siena were women of peace in difficult times, and how we can be peace, build peace, and preach peace today. Click here to register for this program.
Founded Ministries are ministries established by the Dominican Sisters of Peace that continue to retain a special relationship with the Congregation called “sponsorship.” Sponsorship refers to our commitment to preserve the Catholic Faith and Dominican Charism in a ministry. The congregation has 17 Founded Ministries in seven states. (Explanation provided by Mark Butler, OPA, Director of Founded Ministries with the Dominican Sisters of Peace.)