Parable Conference for Dominican Life and Mission Records
Scope and Contents
The Parable collection was kept as close as possible to original order set up by the most recent Executive Director, Sr. Connie Schoen. In Series I, the "history" folders are labeled by year as designated by the creator of the records. They contain a variety of information from that year including program brochures, correspondence, minutes and agendas. Detailed item-level inventories are placed in the front of each corresponding box. There are also two itemized inventories of books, one is Lands of Dominic related with materials germane to the pilgrimage and the other is Parable Books with as reference works addressing the Dominican family.
This collection has many images from various events and pilgrimages. There are several slide show presentations with accompanying scripts and audio tapes. These have been separated out to accommodate storage needs of the items (scripts in box 20, slides in box 21 and audio in box 22). In Grant Correspondence (Box 18 FF 2) there is a narrative that contains good historical documentation of the Parable Conference. Land of Dominic Pilgrimages has been separated from the other pilgrimage (Central American, Peru and Dominican Republic) in boxes 10 and 11 for easy reference. The land of Dominic calendats have been placed in box 24 and CD ROMs of images and poer point presentations are in Box 22 with other digital media.
There are several VHS tapes in box 23 of various conference presentations and educational programs. These have been copied onto DVDs (box 22) in digital format so that they may be placed on the internet at a later date. Box 21 contains many photographs that chronicle parable events. They are grouped by event and most individuals and places are identified.
In 2015, an additional binder of material formerly classified as "Box 0" was integrated into the main arrangement. The contents of this box consisted of both duplicates of significant correspondence, as well as unique correspondence and reports that directly connected to materials arranged in the other boxes.
Dates
- Existence: 1975-01-01 - 2009-12-31
Creator
- PARABLE Conference for Dominican Life and Mission (Organization)
- Dominican Leadership Conference (Organization)
Biographical / Historical
The Parable Conference for Dominican Life and Mission was a national collaborative organization sponsored by all the branches of the Dominican Family in the United States; nuns, friars, laity, and sisters. It was created in 1976 out of dialogue and collaborative thinking from a group of U.S. Dominicans, women and men, who believed that the Order's preaching mission could best be carried forward by uniting their efforts to address the needs of the contemporary church and the world.
The Parable Conference developed a series of programs to promote research, study and prayerful reflection of Dominican life and mission, and to encourage, support and model collaborative efforts. In addition to conferences on a variety of issues, the Parable sponsored retreats and parish missions where Dominican sisters and friars would travel to different parishes to serve as guest preachers. Popular programs included the Lands of Dominic (LOD) pilgrimage and the subsequent Central America, Dominican Republic and Peru pilgrimages.
The Lands of Dominic pilgrimage traces the life of St. Dominic de Guzman through Spain, France and Italy. It provides Dominicans an opportunity to walk in the steps of Dominic and reconnect with the past. The latter pilgrimages were added due to the popularity of LOD and to expand to areas where Dominicans had a major impact on the indigenous people of these lands. Out of Lands of Dominic, At Home with Dominic was created as a stateside retreat and virtual tour for those who could not make the trip.
Faced with difficult economic challenges, the Board of Directors sent a letter in January of 2008, seeking input from Dominican leaders throughout the United States on the future of the Parable Conference. Based on the responses of the letter and lack of funding, the decision was made to dissolve the Parable Conference. After fulfilling program commitments and the 2008 Lands of Dominic Pilgrimage, the Conference was disbanded in the summer of that year.
Extent
7.5 Linear Feet
Language of Materials
English
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Deeded from the Parable Conference, 2009
- Dominicans -- Manuscripts Subject Source: Library Of Congress Subject Headings
- Dominicans -- Missions Subject Source: Library Of Congress Subject Headings
- Title
- Parable Conference for Dominican Life and Mission
- Status
- Under Revision
- Author
- Grant Gerlich, Aaron Reisberg, Baron Ruffin
- Date
- 7/30/2015
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- Undetermined
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
Repository Details
Part of the Mary Nona McGreal, OP Center for Dominican Historical Studies Repository
Dominican University
7900 West Division Street
River Forest IL 60305 USA
(708) 524-6677
(708) 524-6546
mcgrealcenter@dom.edu