“Truth in Charity”
As a fairly new parish priest, the best part for me about DSPT was that the philosophy and divinity programs both taught me how to look at and understand new ideas, be they traditional, radically new, or simply coming from a different world-view. The question was always, “What truth abides within?” DSPT lives by the Dominican motto, veritas, and the students and professors there look for the truth wherever it resides, because we follow Jesus Christ who is Truth. As a Dominican training for ministry, we were taught to understand that all people are looking for the Good and the True, even if they do not recognize Him and were asked to think about how we could lead them to Him, who is the fullness of Truth. We begin by finding the common truths that we share, and even if we never achieve true unity, we can still always learn from the other, in charity and respect.
The obvious love for truth (and Truth) at DSPT is contagious. Even my divinity courses that were more pastorally focused (as opposed to strictly academic) were geared toward equipping me to serve God’s people by finding ways in which I could best preach and teach in a world where much of the classical philosophical and religious underpinnings have been undermined or simply ignored. In today’s world where “everything goes,” we need many more men and women who are trained to speak Truth to today’s culture, men and women who are trained by schools like DSPT.
