Study

'Truth goes hand in hand with beauty and goodness'
Evangelii Gaudium 142.


The charism of the Dominican Order is contained in our great motto 'Veritas' ('Truth'). Dominican sisters, as members of the Order of Preachers, and whether or not they are involved in academic work, are committed to devoting time and energy to increasing their knowledge and deepening their understanding of the Wisdom of God. This can only come about through the help of the Holy Spirit, and so we have a second motto: "To contemplate and to hand on to others the fruits of contemplation". (Contemplare et contemplata aliis tradere"). Every scribe who has been trained for the Kingdom of Heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure things both new and old. Mt. 13:52



Scripture is the 'daily bread' of our study. In addition, the Fathers and Doctors of the Church — especially St Thomas Aquinas and St Catherine of Siena the Church's documents, contemporary theology and our lived experience, constitute the "new things and old" of Our Lord's teaching. Sharing study and meditation with others is both an aspect of our own study and prayer and of our apostolate. We share through: correspondence, articles, translations; through teaching, talks and discussion; through study and meditation groups; through use of the internet; through retreats and days of recollection. Sisters will receive a thorough grounding in theology, which may take the form of study for an academic qualification.

In addition, they receive appropriate academic and professional training for the ministries which they pursue. Sisters should continue to deepen and broaden their knowledge through regular study throughout their lives. However Dominican study is not simply an exercise in acquiring paper qualifications, or even the acquisition of knowledge for its own sake, but should always be directed to a deeper knowledge of the things of God, enabling us, in the words of our third motto 'To praise, To bless and to preach (Laudare Benedicere, Praedicare)


