Monastics Among Us
October 17th, 2007 by Fr. Pius, OP
Earlier this year, the Dominican House of Studies played host to some non-Catholic Christians interested in learning more about religious life — both its history and current practice. There are part of a Protestant movement that is known as emergent Christianity, which seeks to bring Christianity to a post-modern mindset. As part of their visits with us, one of our guests wrote an article for the Protestant magazine Relevant entitled “Monastics Among Us: How New Thought and Ancient Faith are Colliding”. Below is the first paragraph of that article, describing the author’s reactions to our Dominican way of life:
This past October emergent author Brian McLaren and I arrived at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C., just before their daily evening prayer service began. Ushered into the lofty chapel, we were directed to seats in the dark wooden choir stalls. Men preparing for the priesthood, most in their 20s or 30s, wearing flowing white monastic habits, filled many of the seats in the choir stalls. We attempted to join in their prayer time: singing a hymn, chanting several Psalms, listening to a Scripture reading, more chanting of Scripture, reciting intercessions, lifting up personal prayers and ending with the Lord’s Prayer and a concluding blessing.
If you would like to read the entire article, it is available on Relevant Magazine’s website.
