Ordo Praedicatorum

Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan was recently appointed to be the new Archbishop of the Archdiocese of New York. Archbishop Dolan has had a great number of contacts with the Dominicans during his career in the Church, including his theological studies at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas (The Angelicum) in Rome.  But perhaps no contact with the Dominicans has had a greater impact on the new Archbishop than his visits to our little parish of St. Thomas Aquinas in Zanesville, OH.  In his book, Priests for the Third Millennium, Archbishop Dolan recounts this story of one of his visits to the “wise Dominicans” of Zanesville:

When I was doing graduate studies in Church history at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., I used to drive back to St. Louis at Christmas and summer for a visit home. The midway point on that fourteen-hour drive was Zanesville, Ohio. Except for its “Y” bridge and the Zane Grey Museum, it was not worth much of a stop, but I enjoyed spending the night with the Dominican Fathers at their parish [St. Thomas Aquinas] right off highway 70.
I always relished a vist with a crusty but wise old Dominican assigned there, and we would usually chat for a half-hour or so after supper. The frugality of his room always amazed me: one roome, which served as his bedroom and study, one closet with all his clothing, one bookshelf, a desk, a crucifix, a few religious and family pictures, a reading chair, and a lamp. That was it.
On one visit I remarked, “Your room is so plain. Where do you keep the rest of your stuff?”
“This is it,” he replied.
“But it is so simple,” I countered.
“Well, if I walk down to your room all you’ve got is your suitcase!”
“Well, sure, but, after all, I’m just passing through.”
Never will I forget his reply, “Aren’t we all?”
“I’m just passing through.” “Aren’t we all?” I sometimes wonder if my four years of graduate work were worth it all for the wisdom of that remark from that wise old Dominican.

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