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DOMINICAN VOLUNTEERS
INTERNATIONAL
(D. V. I.)
The Vision
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One of
the great declarations of the Second Vatican Council in Ad Gentes,
2, was that the Church, by its very nature, is missionary. All
Catholics, therefore, are missionary, by the very fact of their
baptismal commitment. Since then a new impetus has been given to
the members of the Church to exercise their missionary vocation.
For many, this has meant going “on the missions” as lay people,
a call that was almost exclusively confined to Sisters and
priests in previous times
Lay
Dominicans were not slow to express their desire to participate in the
charism of St. Dominic, whose greatest desire was to die a martyr “on
the missions”, by living their vocation as preachers in a new world. For
decades Dominican volunteers joined other members of the Order in
overseas missions. The General Chapter of Bologna decided to organise
this trend and in 2000 A.D. the Dominican Volunteer International
Movement became a reality.
Being a
family it was considered best to make this missionary outreach
collaborative between the various branches of the Family by recruiting,
forming and sending volunteers to Dominican missionary territories.
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Qualifications
Before
undertaking a special formation, geared towards a particular country and
culture, it is expected that the volunteer is a person of at least
twenty-one years of age, spiritually and emotionally mature,
responsible, with a definite profession or ability, a deep desire to
share the love of God with others, reflective, willing to make
sacrifices in an accustomed life-style, and eager to work with a team.
At present there are two Dominican Volunteers in both
Trinidad & Tobago and in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Altogether
there are fifteen countries throughout the world with Volunteers. Among
these are Peru Philippines Argentina
Cameroon, Indonesia and Israel.
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