Dominicans with the Pope
December 1st, 2009 by Fr. Dominic Legge, O.P.
Today, the Holy Father celebrated Mass with the International Theological Commission in the Pauline Chapel in the Vatican. (For more on what else is interesting about this particular papal Mass, see here.) As a Dominican, it is always a thrill to see images like this one, because proclaiming the Gospel at the Holy Father’s Mass is our brother, Fr. Charles Morerod, OP. Fr. Morerod, a Swiss Dominican who is the Secretary General of the ITC (a Commission that aids the Holy Father by examining difficult contemporary theological questions), is also the Rector Magnificus of the Angelicum in Rome, and no stranger to the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C. (The audio of his 2006 lecture at the Dominican House on ecumenical dialogue can be found here. If you’d like to see an interview with Fr. Morerod, see here.)
Two other prominent Dominicans also serve on the ITC: Fr. Gilles Emery, OP (professor of dogmatic theology at the Albertinum in Fribourg, Switzerland), and Fr. Serge-Thomas Bonino, OP (dean of the Toulouse province’s studium and professor at the Institute Catholique of Toulouse, France). We see in them an excellent example that a strong Dominican and Thomistic formation is a great gift to the universal Church!
