Trust in Faith
Sister Kathleen Flood, OP
Glimpse the Quintessential
Preacher: Mary of Magdala
Sister Mary Ellen O’Dea, OP
Listening with Our Lives
Sister Ann Willits, OP
Announcing the Good News
Sister Helen Marie Raycraft, OP
Lay Preaching
Barbara Skierecki
The Word Is Near to You
Sister KC Young, OP
Stories of Preaching
Announcing the Good News
Sister Helen Marie Raycraft, OP
As a member of the Dominican Missionary Preaching Team, I have been an itinerant missionary preacher since 1972 working in Bolivia, Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Trinidad and Tabago, and more than 30 states in the USA.
Itinerancy is a way of life, a freedom to go where the people are and insert ourselves in their lives in order to break open the Word of God with them. When we visit the people’s homes and neighborhoods, we are their guests and, therefore, not always in control of the agenda. It challenges us to get dirty feet, to sweat and immerse ourselves in the poverty and suffering of others.
The vocation to be a full-time preacher and evangelist has given me the privilege of being immersed in the Gospel while accompanying others as they claim their baptismal vocation and in turn announce the Good News. I am energized in seeing people get excited about Jesus and move out in ministry. As I work to form lay evangelization teams, I am awed by their ways of presenting the Gospel. In recent years I have been accompanying over 40 Dominican lay people in claiming their charism of preaching in diverse ways in both English and Spanish. Their educational levels vary, so this is quite a challenge. All of these experiences convince me that the charism of Dominic is very alive.