We are Catholics growing in faith and discerning the Dominican charism
in our lives. Called by the Holy Spirit to form a local chapter of Lay
Dominicans, seven of us – two men and five women – made our simple
profession (for three years) to the Order of Preachers on 3 Aug 2008.
Since then, two more have made simple profession, while four others are
currently novices in formation. May God, who has begun this good work in us, bring it to completion!
All glory to God!
Who are the Lay Dominicans?>> >
Where and when do we meet?
We meet on the first and third Sundays of every month from 7 to 10 pm.
Venue:
St. Francisco de Capillas’ House
51 Kensington Park Road
Singapore 557285
Phone: 6282 8627
Come Join Us!
Updates
-8 August 2001
Happy Feast of St Dominic!
Praise be to God! We had such a blessed time of celebration with Holy mass and great Makan!
-7 August 2011
Today we made history! 5 of the group members made their solemn profession as Lay Dominicans and 2 made their profession for 3 years!
-17 July 2011
Priscilla facilitated the discussion on the last segment of The History of the Dominican Order.
-3 July 2011
Estella led us in the discussions on SOTT, World Religions.
-5 Jun 2011
The meetings in June are used for our preaching project dry-runs.
-15 May 2011
For our first session, we continue with History of the Order led by Priscilla. For the second session, Christina will facilitate a iscussion on a short talk by Fr. Don Gurgeon O.P. on “ The Preacher as an Active Contemplative” .
Vespers is at 7pm, come join us!
- 1 May 2011
Lay Dominicans had their retreet and we had a mind-blowing time!
-17 April 2011
Karen facilitated the group presentation on the History of the Dominican Order, followed by a time of meditation led by Francis.
-3 Apr 2011
We began with vespers at 7pm followed by
1. SOTT : Virtual Communities (Richard) 2. Scripture: Divided Kingdom (Sally).
-20 Mar 2011
Anna facilitated the discussion on the History of Order (chp5) – Life & ministry of Order and Sally presented Scripture: Divided Kingdom. Here is the document link.
http://www.domcentral.org/trad/shorthistory/short05.htm
- 6 Mar 2011
We met at 7 pm at the Friary for Vespers, followed by Liturgy of Hours and History of Mass by Jonathan and Suma Theology – Law covered by Fr David.
-20 Feb 2011
Our prior will present the next segment of Summa and Priscilla will lead us in our next segment on the History of our Order.
-6 Feb 2011
This sunday, Hsien Li led us in the discussion on Benedict XVI’s address on Thomas Aquinas.
Please read and bring your own copy. BENEDICT XVI_Aquinas
See you all at the friary!
- 16 Jan 2011.
No meeting – Our Prior got married!
- 2 Jan 2011
Francis continued with the Summa - sins. After which, the group celebrated their Epiphany party early!
- 19 Dec 2010
For Scripture study, Sr MM led us through the last session on Royal Kingdom and Sally continued the discussion on Bioethics Advisory Committee’s recommendations on human-animal combinations for research. Here’s the report :
- 5 Dec 2010
Christina led the next segment on History of the Order (Missions to 1500)
http://www.domcentral.org/trad/shorthistory/short03.htm
and Fr David covered the Summa on Habits and Virtues.
- Our day of recollection on 17 Nov 2010
We had a good day of recollection with our prior and Fr David presenting on Antiphons, followed by a time of personal reflection and group sharing.
Lay Dominicans Day of Recollection 17 Nov 2010
- 7 November 2010
Anna covered THE GROWTH OF THE ORDER, 1221-1303 and Fr David presented the next segment on Summa – Habits and Virtue.
-3rd October 2010
Priscilla facilitated a discussion on the Pope’s Letter on St Albert the Great. Here’s the link if you want to read it:
(
http://www.pcf.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/audiences/2010/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20100324_en.html
)
Sr MM covered the Royal Kingdom for Scripture studies.
-19 September 2010
Karen facilitated on the History of the Dominicans and Francis gave another segment on the Summa Theologiae.
- 4 September 2010
It was a special meeting with mass and the profession of Sister Rose. Afterwhich, Francis briefly covered the Dominican Charism.
At our last meeting, Karen led the scripture studies on Psalm and Francis presented on the Summa by St Thomas Aquinas
-7 Mar 2010
First session - we will look at Pope Benedict XVI’s recent reflection on the life of our father, St. Dominic (
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/audiences/2010/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20100203_en.html
).
Second session - Sr. Karen led our Scripture study on the Psalms.
-21 Feb 2010
At our last meeting, Richard presented on ”Information Technology and the Human Spirit”, and Fr. David gave a quiz on Summa Theologiae.
-7 Feb 2010
This Sunday, Francis introduced us to the Holy Father’s latest encyclical, ”Caritas in Veritate”. Then, Sr. Karen kicked off our new scripture study with an overview of the Psalms.
-17 Jan 2010
In the first session, we discussed the Letter that our Master of the Order, Fr. Carlos Azpiroz Costa, wrote on the Rosary (
http://www.usaopnuns.org/Costa.html
) two years ago.
In our second session, Fr. David treated us to another segment of the Summa Theologica. He has completed Part 1 of the Summa.
- 3 Jan 2010…
We celebrated Epiphany with vespers, lots of feasting and games, and could still pray compline with such reverence after so much wine and pimms & lemonade. Jason, our impromptu photographer has kindly sent the link the photos he took with his trusty mobile phone camera.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2053584&id=1201443090&l=5fd26d1659
- 20 Dec 2009
Fr. David spoke on the Summa Theologiae and Peter facilitated our study of 1 Cor 15-16: Resurrection. This concludes our study of 1 Corinthians, as we’ll be studying the Psalms next year led by Karen.
-6 Dec 2009
Jon did a good job on the Signs Of The Times: Problems in modern moral thinking. His slides can be downloaded from this link. Modern Moral Philosophers
Sr. Karen led our Scripture study of 1 Corinthians 13-14: Love and Charisms.
Come join us!.
-15 November 2009
We did not have our regular bible study or the Summa Theologica because Fr Timothy Radcliffe came to visit. We had a good time of Q & A , followed by supper.
Q&A with Fr Timothy Radcliffe
Makan Time
-7 Nov 2009
We had our day of recollection at the Holy Spirit Church. The theme was on the 2nd coming of Christ. We had a good time of learning and reflecting.
Day of Recollection_07112009
-18 Oct 2009
Fr. David treated us to another section of the Summa, and Anna facilitated our discussion of an essay by Fr. Herbert McCabe OP, “On Obedience”.
The chapter is taken from his book “God Matters”.
-3 October 2009
Francis continued with the next chapter of St. Catherine’s “Dialogue” and Estella facilitated our Scripture study of 1 Cor 11-12 on Women, Charisms and the Eucharist. We had an lively discussion mostly on the women of today- wearing veils and submitting to husbands.
Come join us!
-20 September 2009
Estella presented on Priesthood and Jonathan talked about Liturgical prayers.
-6 September 2009
Francis will continue with where we left off from St. Catherine’s “Dialogue”, and Michael will facilitate bible sharing on 1 Corinthians, ch. 8-10: Food for the idols.
-23 August 2009
In our 1st session, Francis did the “Introduction to the Dominican charism” In the 2nd session, Fr. David continued with the Summa Theologica by St Thomas Aquinas.
-Lay Spiritual Project
Thanks be to God for His Grace is sufficient for us! We appreciate all your prayers and participation for our Lay Spiritual Project 2009.
FOUR FRIDAYS, ONE LIVING FAITH
Does juggling your responsibilities as Catholic, spouse, worker, parent and son or daughter stress you out? Do you often feel that you have to be at two or three places at the same time, or that you need multiple personalities to properly fulfill all the different roles you have?
31 July: Overcoming the split through integration
7 August: How God works for us, the skills to become human and the divine skills to be Church
14 August: How we work for God in the world and build the Church.
Event Date : Fri Jul 24, 31, Aug 7, 14, 7.30-9.30pm
Location : CANA, 55 Waterloo Street
Organised By : The Lay Dominicans
Contact : 9363-4668 (Anna)
Contact Email : LayDominicans@gmail.com
Website :
http://dominicansingapore.wordpress.com/lay-dominicans/
-18 July 2009…
Estella went through the lay spirituality project dry run for her part. The group managed to iron out some last minute details which needed our attention.
-5 July 2009…
We continued with our dry run for the Lay Spirituality Project. Francis presented on the Sacraments and Lydia on Charisms. At supper, we had the most delicious prawn noodles brought by Christina and the best durians in town from Hsien Li’s garden.
-21 June 2009
Anna and Lydia kicked off the dry run for the The lay dominican Project- Four Fridays, One Living Faith. We had a nice birthday celebration for Lydia and Richard.
- 7 June 2009
Francis will present on the Dialogue of St Catherine of Siena, and Anna will facilitate our third session on 1 Corinthians: 6, 7 on Civil courts and sexual immorality. Please bring your bibles.
-17 May 2009
1st session: part 2 of our discussion of Fr Paul Murray’s piece on contemplation, Searching for God,
2nd session: Fr David’s presentation of the Summa.
-1- 3 May 2009
The Lay Dominican retreat at Montfort Retreat Centre was a blast! Fr David’s talks on Virtues were well presented and thought provoking. All of us benefited from the silence and the time of reflection. We bonded as a group and left the retreat centre encouraged and with a better understanding of virtues.
-19 April 2009
Fr David continued with his presentation on St Thomas’ Summa.
-5 April 2009
http://www.vatican.va/news_services/liturgy/documents/index_via-crucis_en.html
-15 Mar 2009
Fr David continued with his presentation on Dignitas Personae and a second presentation on St Thomas’ Summa.
-1 Mar 2009
We met on Sunday for our first meeting in Lent. Francis prepared a Lent reflection for our first session. We used St Catherine de’ Ricci’s (she was a Third Order Dominican) Verses of the Passion of Christ:
http://www.saintmichaelarchangel.com/StCathRicci.htm
The 2nd session was on Scripture and Peter facilitated a discussion on 1st Corinthians, chapters 1- 2 with an overview.
-15 Feb 2009
Our meeting began with vespers as usual at 7pm, followed by Fr David’s presentation on Dignitas Personae and a second presentation on St Thomas’ Summa.
- 1 Feb 2009
Franncis presented the Dialogue of St Catherine while Lydia concluded our study on the book of Acts.
-18 Jan 2009
1st session:
Francis presented the eighth session from the Dialogue of St Catherine
2nd session:
Karen facilitated our Scripture session on Acts 21-24: Journey to Jerusalem and imprisonment. The group had lively discussion regarding the conscience.
At supper we celebrated the birthdays of 3 of our fraternity members. Food and fellowship was excellent.
-15 Jan 2009
The Dominican friary in Singapore was named after St. Francisco Fernandez de Capillas who was proclaimed Protomartyr (First Martyr) of China on 16 September 1748 by Pope Benedict XIV. We celebrated the feast of the Friary and of our Lay Fraternity with Vespers at 7pm on Thursday, 15 Jan 09, followed by dinner.
-4 Jan 2009…
1st session
Fr David presented on Dignitas Personae (Part I). Dignitas Personae is the latest instruction on certain bioethical questions by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
2nd session
Fr David will also present the last session from part 1 of the Summa on angels.
Both sessions were heavy but very thought provoking indeed.
-21 Dec
Vy kindly opened his house for Movie Nite cum Christmas party at 7pm. We began with Vespers (Advent version) then ate dinner while we watched the movie. We had some good exchange of comments and discussion after the movie. The evening ended with gift exchange and Compline. We all had a great time.
-8 Dec
Our Day of Recollection
Date: 8 Dec 2008.
Time: 9am – 6pm.
Venue: Church of the Holy Spirit.
Theme: Lay Spirituality.
All praise and glory be to God!
The lay Dominicans had our day of recollection which began with Lauds and mass, followed by 2 excellent talks by Fr David on lay spirituality-The split between life and faith. After lunch, we had 2 hours of meditation, followed by a time of sharing by the fraternity members. Each member was given 10 minutes each to share about our lives in relation to our faith. The sharing was candid yet sincere and we got to know each other better. Our day of recollection ended with vespers. Feedback from the members who attended were very good. All were edified and had many good things to say about our day of recollection.
Previously at our Lay Dominican meeting:
-16 Nov 2008
1st Session :
Vy presented on the Signs of the Times – the Credit Crisis. He gave us the background of the financial system to help us understand how the crisis came about. The challenge was then for Catholics and in particular, our lay dominican group to have the courage to hold on God’s values and stand firm in such trying times.
2nd Session :
Fr David continued with the Summa Theologica by St. Thomas Aquinas. He dealt with the topic on creation.
-2 Nov 2008
1st session:
Lydia presented on Tears, from the The Dialogue by St Catherine of Siena.
According to The Dialogue, St Catherine begged God for the knowledge of the reasons and fruits of tears, and God opened the eye of her intellect and showed her 5 kinds of tears.
- Imperfect tears caused by fear
- Tears of damnation-tears of wicked men
- Tears of repentance
- Tears of those who have arrived at the perfect love of their neighbour, loving God without any regard whatsoever for themselves.
- Tears,which are linked to the 4th, are tears of sweetness, let fall with great peace.
Also mentioned were the Tears of fire, and the differences of these tears. For further reading, please read the ”The Dialogue” on the segment of tears, page 72.
2nd session:
Estella facilitated a very lively discussion on the our study of Acts of the Apostles, chapters 15 – 20. The style Estella chose was thematic and the theme on missions was the highlight. The main portions of scripture for discussion were on Chapter 17:16- 34 (on the approach that St Paul used when presenting the resurrection of Christ to the Areopagus, the tribunal at Athens) and on Chapter 20:18-35 (St Paul’s parting words to the elders of the church from Ephesus).
At the end of the session, we were all encouraged to imitate St Paul and do all we can, within our circumstances and a clear conscience, to bring Christ to others.
Have a blessed week ahead.
-19 Oct 2008
1st session:
Lydia facilitated on Anthony Fisher’s “Be Good At What You Are” – St Catherine of Siena’s Theology of the Laity. What an interesting and lively discussion we had, with the focus on cultivating virtues and lay spirituality. It was aptly pointed out that we are to ‘be good at what we ARE’, not just be good at what we do. Therein lies the difference between just striving for excellence and success in life and seeking to cultivate virtues so that we are equipped to be good at what we are. According to St Catherine, cultivating virtues is “directed very personally to weaknesses and strengths of character of each individual.” More than this, virtues are for St Catherine, attributes of vocation. St Catherine’s theology of the laity is a spirituality for the workplace. We are called to be good not just in our personalities but in our particular roles. To a soldier, be a brave one. To a judge, be a just and merciful judge. To a merchant, be honest.
For those interested to know more, do read further the following link.
stcatherinestheologyofthelaity
2nd Session:
Fr David continued with The Summa Theologica by St Thomas Aquinas. Last night was on Angels. The session was very enlightening and we had many more questions after that!
Just a note:
We had our fraternity meeting before our Friends of St Dominic joined us at vespers. Our prior shared a quote from Ven. John Henry Newman – perspective for lay spirituality. I thought it appropriate for us to mull over it as we start off a brand new week.
“God has created me to do Him some definite service; He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another. I have my mission — I may never know it in this life but I shall be told it in the next. I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons. He has not created me for naught. I shall do good, I shall do His work. I shall be an angel of peace, a preacher of truth in my own place while not intending it if I do but keep His commandments. Therefore I will trust Him. Whatever I am, I can never be thrown away. If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve Him; in perplexity, my perplexity may serve Him. If I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve Him. He does nothing in vain. He knows what He is about. He may take away my friends. He may throw me among strangers. He may make me feel desolate, make my spirits sink, hide my future from me — still He knows what He is about.”
Have a blessed week ahead.
January 13, 2009 at 9:28 am
Dear Fr. David
I am reading the book ‘What’s the point of being a
Christian’? by Timothy RadCliffe. I found it to be
interesting and I wanted to know more about the
Founder Saint Dominic.
I am interested to know more about St. Thomas Aquinas -
Summa Theologicae.
I am searching for a group to join with Spirituality and
Prayer Life.
January 28, 2009 at 8:26 am
Thanks Christine for your comment. If you like “What’s the point of being a Christian?” you may like his latest book “Why go to church?”, which i tried to buy from Borders but was out of stock.
In our meetings we are not presenting on the Summa once a month and speak about other Dominican and relevant topics. Please, feel free to join us every first and third Sunday of the month at 7:00 PM.
February 5, 2009 at 1:32 pm
Dear Fr. David
I am now reading ‘A Place At The Table’ by a Dominican Nun.
I am interested in Justice for the Poor. I will pray about it
and then I will come to the Lay Dominican meeting.
My Spiritual Director says that it’s all in my mind and that I
have no calling to be a Lay Dominican. That is why I delay
in coming.
Can I read St. Thomas Aquinas ‘Summa’ all by myself and
if I have any questions, I call and ask you or e-mail to you.
Thank You and God Bless
August 31, 2009 at 3:21 pm
Dear Padre,
Greetings!
Can you update the news for this website:
1. The next meeting on this Sunday? 6/9/9? 7pm?… plus what’s up news? the agenda for the meeting? hehe.
2. I found the information that Francis presented (The intro to lay dominican charism) helpful… would it be helpful for it to be downloaded on this website?
* The above is just some feedback…