Preaching is central to our identity as Dominicans. Preaching is meant to be a lifestyle for a Dominican, rather than an activity engaged in for a few minutes on a Sunday. Saint Dominic envisioned an entire Christian life built around the mission of proclamation and it is to this life that we are committed.
What is Dominican Preaching?
Dominican preaching is particularly shaped by a concern for truth. “Veritas,” the Latin word for truth, is one of the mottos of the Order. Another motto of the order is, “to contemplate and to give to others the fruits of contemplation.” The Dominican tradition is rooted in study; not only of the academic sort (though the intellectual life is one of the hallmarks of the Dominican way), but also of the spiritual sort. A Dominican contemplates both with his mind and his heart. A Dominican strives to be equally at home with quiet prayer as she does reading dense theological works. A Dominican does not preach only from theory about God and the mysteries of life, but from his or her own relationship with the Triune God. Dominican preaching is rooted in the Holy Scriptures and 2000 years of Christian life and practice.
Statement of Belief
The Anglican Order of Preachers has a particular mission to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ for the salvation of souls and the building up of the Body of Christ. To this end it is important that a community whose motto is “Truth” confess a common faith rooted in the ancient belief of the Christian Church as proclaimed in the Nicene and Apostles’ Creeds.
In addition, the Order proclaims the following beliefs: (1) an affirmation of belief that the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are the Word of God, and contain all things necessary to salvation; (2) an affirmation of the classic Anglican belief put forth by Saint Augustine: “unity in essentials, in non-essentials liberty, in all things charity”; (3) an affirmation of the Sacraments ministered with unfailing use of Christ’s words of institution and of the elements ordained by Him; and (4) an affirmation of the Historic Episcopate, locally adapted in the methods of its administration to the varying needs of the nations and peoples called of God into the unity of His Church.