The Profession Approaches...

This is what I will profess during tomorrow's liturgy:

To the honor of Almighty God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and of the Blessed Virgin Mary and of St. Dominic, I, Alan Phipps, before you, the Moderator of this group, and Fr. N, the religious promoter, representing the Master of the Order of Friars Preachers, promise to live according to the Rule and Directory of the Dominican Laity for three years.

I will then receive the scapular, which is a sign and a reminder of dedication to God, to the Church, and to the Order. The scapular should serve more precisely as a reminder, as the Moderator will say during the Rite, "to preach the message of Jesus' love through your thoughts, words, deeds, and life."

O.P. First Profession

This Sunday, I will officially complete my candidacy (aka "novitiate") as a Lay Dominican and will make my first profession, which is a 3-year temporary profession. Superficially, it means that I will no longer be a novice and, in committing myself to live out the Rule of the Laity, I will also have also been granted the privilege of adding the "O.P" post-nominal initials to my name. The spiritual reality, however, it is much more deep. This is my vocation. This is my mission: to preach - in every way a person can really preach without actually mounting a pulpit. In studying and reading the writings of so many great Dominicans, I am truly humbled to have even made it to this point. I pale in comparison to so many of the great giants of the Dominican Order, particularly those of the Third Order such as Catherine of Siena and Rose of Lima. It's almost as though I'm sneaking in the back door. Who am I to even ask? Please pray for me!

Yves Cardinal Congar, O.P.

I attended a lecture downtown last night on the inimitable and controversial 20th century theologian Yves Congar, O.P. (pictured above, at right, speaking with Josef Ratzinger (aka Benedict XVI) at the Second Vatican Council) I confess that while I was peripherally aware of Congar's theology, and his often being lumped together with the likes of Rahner, Schillebeeckx, and Küng, I wasn't really aware of the influence his theology had on the theology of the laity expressed at the Second Vatican Council. It was quite extraordinary. Even in his on-again-off-again relationship with Rome, and many of his controversial ideas concerning ecumenism, I find him to be a fascinating figure, and I'm actually more curious to spend some time studying some of his treatises on church reform - We shall see!

The Eleventh Doctor

As an anxious schoolboy, I await the coming of the Eleventh Doctor, who, I am told, will be making his appearance around Easter of this year. I have to say I am personally attached to the Tenth Doctor, but who knows what can happen. Having a Doctor who is younger than I am is a bit off-putting, I must say.


If you have no idea what I am talking about - don't worry too much about it. All will be made clear :)