ACTS OF THE 7th EUROPEAN ASSEMBLY OF LAY DOMINICAN FRATERNITIES

ANNEX IIIb

FR. PRAKASH LOHALE’S ADDRESS

Introduction

I am brother Prakash Lohale from the Indian Province. It is a little more than 2 years
since the Master General of the Order, Fr. Carlos Azpiroz Costa, invited me to Santa
Sabina in Rome. My job is to promote Justice and Peace in the Order.

My Task

How do I see my role in promoting justice and peace? I see it as a three-fold task:

a) Accompanying, being a presence, to those who work for Justice and Peace.
Specially brothers and sisters who work in very difficult and dangerous
situations.

b) Encouraging those brothers and sisters who want to work for Justice and
Peace.

c) Motivating (winning over) those who resist or are allergic to working for
Justice and Peace.

Support

I am very happy to be here and participate in this Congress on Preaching to a

Secular World. I think you have great potential to support the work of promoting
Justice and Peace. You are in such places where we cannot go sometimes. You are
in touch with the world more than us sometimes. You feel the pulse of people who
are suffering and struggling.

Sr. Rose Ann, co-director of Dominican Volunteers International (DVI), tells us that
always the best volunteers come from Lay Dominican fraternities and International
Dominican Youth Movement (IDYM). So my hope is that each one of you can be the
best promoters for Justice and Peace. You can help the Order in the work of
promoting Justice and Peace. I am convinced that you can help us realize that
Justice and Peace is a priority in our mission together.

Conclusion

In 1977 at the Quezon City Chapter in Manila, it was decided that Justice and Peace
would be one of the four priorities. It is now more than 30 years since Justice and
Peace was declared a priority in the Order. Perhaps we must ask ourselves whether
Justice and Peace is an essential dimension of our preaching, as the World Synod of
Bishops (1971) reminded us: “Action on behalf of justice and participation in the
transformation of the world fully appear as a constitutive dimension of the preaching
of the Gospel“ (Justice in the World, §6). This statement is really powerful and a
Dominican ideal. It may well be because it came from a French Dominican friar,
Vincent Cosmao, who was a disciple of Fr. Joseph Lebret OP. So during these days
when you discuss about preaching, I hope you will look at this vital question in your
deliberations.

Finally, the recent Bogota Chapter in Colombia challenged us when it told us that we
have to “find new and creative ways in promoting justice and peace”. My hope is that
you will help us find these new and creative ways.

Thank you very much.