DOMINICAN LAITY Newsletter #5 March 2009 Dear members of the New Zealand Dominican family May the path of Lent lead us to the fullness of joy in Christ crucified and risen! There have been two happenings of importance to start this year. The visit of Barbara Reid OP, Professor of New Testament at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. Barbara gave summer school seminars in Dunedin, Auckland and Wellington, and at each one the organisers were surprised at the numbers of people who attended. Sister Barbara is an extremely knowledgeable and wise speaker, and she captured the attention of all Her theme for the seminars was: Creating communities of hope and reconciliation in a chaotic world. Through four talks, she made profound links between prayer/reflection, scripture, moral theology and social action. The four talks were: (a) the need to start from within – listening to God as a prelude to action. (b) forgiveness – taking the love and compassion of God and finding non-violent ways of exposing and confronting injustice wherever we see it. (c) Friendship and love – through community, God is made present to all. (d) prophetic women – bearers of hope and life in a chaotic world. The February issue of Tui Motu has a great article on Barbara’s talks. If you have not seen it, contact us and we shall get you a copy. As mentioned in the last newsletter, Mike attended the Dominican Asia-Pacific Leadership Conference in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Representatives from 12 countries were there,
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