July, 2004
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The friars have just completed their chapter in Canberra, and have sent off the Acts to the Master of the Order for approval. [The photo shows the signing of the final documents by the diffinitors: Martin Wallace, Gregory McCormick, Kevin Saunders, Tom Cassidy (Provincial), Ephraem Chifley (Secretary) and Joseph Vnuk.
One feature of the chapter was the relatively youthful Council elected to assist Tom Cassidy, who was re-elected as Provincial. The Council consists of the four diffinitors named above, plus Mark O'Brien and Paul Rankin. Formation was high on the agenda of this chapter (as always!), and there was a strong response to the call of the recent General Chapter to address the human development of candidates in a sustained and integrated way. The province will keep its six Australian parishes, at least until the next chapter, and committed itself to a second house in Papua New Guinea as soon as it can be done. (It remains a challenge to find the available men!) The Master of the Order has confirmed fr Gregory Mc Cormick as Regent of Studies for the Province. Fr Bernard Maxwell has accepted appointment as Promoter of the Dominican Family, fr Dominic Murphy will continue as Vocations Director, and fr Gregory McCormick will be representing the province at the coming General Chapter in Poland. A new initiative is the founding of a preaching team, focused on youth retreats, to be headed by Dominic Murphy. It is hoped that members of the wider Dominican family will be interested in this venture. Another "family" venture is the Catherine of Siena Institute, which the Order has agreed to support as a work of the province. Finally, 2006 was in our sights: the 800th Anniversary of the founding of the Monastery of Prouille, and the 50th of the arrival of the sisters and friars in the Solomon Islands. It is hoped that we can make this a great family celebration. |
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