We are lay people who are Dominicans and members of the Dominican Order. Our inspiration is St Dominic. His mission was to preach Jesus Christ and bring the Gospel message to all but especially those who felt lost, confused or had gone astray. We form one family with the friars and

the sisters. We share in the apostolic mission of the Order and actively share in the life of the Church. We are a mixed bag of saints and sinners, worldwide we are over 150,000. We meet regularly to pray and study together and share each other’s joys, problems, and hope. We reflect on the Word of God seeking inspiration for our own lives and the lives of others.

As Dominicans we remember always that apostolic work springs from the fullness of contemplation. Thus we are contemplatives in action who serve the truth, show concern and compassion for those in need and are engaged in defending freedom and promoting justice.If the Dominican project is preaching, how does a lay person participate in this mission? “Being a preacher means that every one of us is sent by God to those whom we meet in every day circumstances, at work, at home, on the street, etc.It was Dominic’s vision that we should carry the Word of God to where people are, living and studying, arguing and relaxing.”We preach in different ways, but each Lay Dominican receives the grace of preaching and exercises that grace in the way they live.”We “are a letter from Christ…written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, written not on tablets of stone, but on the tablets of the human heart.”St Catherine of Siena, the patroness of the Lay Dominicans, was a preacher not just in what she said and wrote, but in giving others strength. “To affirm others with a word or a smile is to preach. To be present to those who mourn is to preach. In some situations the most effective word may be silence! What you are, is a preaching.”We are called above all to preach by way of example, through the joy that belongs to us as children of the Almighty God, through the peace which comes from knowing that we are loved and have been redeemed, through the gift of love which we are called to share as a sign of our communion with Christ.

The St Dominc’s Chapter of Lay Dominican’s meet on the last Thursday of each month in the Pastoral room at 8pm.