An Up-and-Coming Vocation

Brother Andre Bessette was canonized, today.  Saints are holy men and women who have been recognized as saints by the saintliness of their lives.  (Which is why Father Marie Jean-Joseph Lataste, O.P. should be beatified--but that's a different thread.)  Many priests, nuns, religious sisters, and laity, have been so blessed.  But not as many religious brothers.  This is one reason why Br. Andre's canonization is such an occasion to celebrate.

The Order of Preachers also has Cooperator Brothers.  This is a vocation to be encouraged.  The Brothers are called, like all Dominicans, to preach.  But not all friars feel called to be priests.  Some friars feel called to serve in other ministries.  These friars do not want to study theology, nor feel called to be priests, yet they are called. Brother Paul Byrd, O.P attempts to define a Cooperatator Brother:  ... cooperator brothers are not "exceptions" to the rule of religious life--their vocation is what religious life is all about: consecrated living, the praise and worship of God, and the ministry to the Church. They are fully religious, and equal in every way as religious to religious who are also called to be priests. In this way, they are not auxiliary, cooperators, coadjutors, etc., they are religious brothers. 


The Dominican Family includes many fraternities.  Each one adds its own dimension.  The cooperator brothers do everything the ordained friars do, except sacramental ministry.  This includes medicine, teaching, chaplaincy, parish pastoral ministry, spiritual direction, retreat work, administration, arts, you name it...  It's not lack of intellectual ability that makes a friar decide to be a cooperator brother.  It's lack of vocational calling.  It might be humility, or maybe it's that a man feels called to be a religious but doesn't want to study theology.  Many are called, few are chosen.


The Central Province of St. Albert the Great, has a good program.  Brother Paul explains on his blog:
Cooperator brothers are men whose love for God and desire to serve the Church has led them to seek to live as vowed religious. They are freed by the vow of poverty to give what they have to others; freed by the vow of obedience to do what the Church, through the Order, asks of them; and freed by the vow of chastity to love all those they encounter. With the support of their community of fellow Dominicans, they go about their prayer, study, and ministry with joyful hearts. And though they are not priests, their lives are rooted in the sacramental life of the Church.


If you are a young man, you can go see for yourself, what's it all about.  Their site is www.domcentral.org/vocations     All others can pray and support them.  

Blessed Father Dominic,
preacher of God’s grace,
you promised to assist us
even after your death.

Intercede for us before God
to help us encourage
more men and women
to follow our way of life,
the way of a preacher.

Bless us in our common life, study,
prayer, and ministry,
that our lives together
may be a joyful witness
creating a desire in others
to join the Sacred Preaching

Amen