OP-L was created by Czeslaw Jan Grycz in August 1994 to serve as a general e-mail forum for Dominican friars, sisters and laity. It is open also to non-Dominicans interested in discussing Dominican history and contemporary life, Church history and teaching, and current justice & peace issues. The common language in this forum is English, but messages in French, Spanish, German, Norwegian and Latin will be understood by at least some of the regular participants. Messages since December 1998 can be browsed in the list archive. 

List moderator: Pedro Saavedra, OP <psaavedr@capaccess.org> 

Subscribing and Unsubscribing

Subscribing to and unsubscribing from the list are both done in the same way. You send an email to a special address and then reply to the confirmation email you will receive. The list is available in two formats: either you get every email to the list as it is posted, or you get a single email each day containing all the posts for that day, which is known as a digest. The right emails for subscribing and unsubscribing are then as follows:

To switch from individual emails to digest or vice versa, unsubscribe from the version you don't want and then subscribe to the version you do.

Posting to the list

Whichever version of the list you are subscribed to, to send an email to the list, send it to op-l@op.org. Please take care: for convenience, the list automatically alters emails so that replies to them are automatically sent to the list. It is therefore easy to make the mistake of sending what is a private message intended for a single person to the whole list.

Archives

The mailing list is archived. You will find the main index page here and the username and password can be requested from the list owner.

Guidelines for discussion

Participants are encouraged to follow traditional internet netiquette in their exchanges, and also to keep in mind the Master of the Order's remarks on the spirit of Dominican discussion, as offered by him on different occasions: 

"The concept of the ancient 'dispute' was that one did not win by showing the error of one's opponent, but rather by showing that he was correct, even though only partially. In place of overthrowing him by showing how wrong he was, one had to find some place to accept the minimum of truth that he possessed. It was a form of discussion that built community and consensus. A famous Dominican bishop of Trinidad used to say: 'Never affirm, never deny, always distinguish'. Even if the other person says something clearly absurd, one must then reply: 'Perhaps there is some truth in what you say.' That is our tradition. What we have to offer the Church at this time is a place where debate can happen, debate without fear of truth, exchange of words that build community. That is the proof of the worth of our studies."

— fr.Timothy Radcliffe o.p., Homily at the closing of the General Chapter of Mexico, 1993

"If a brother has theological or political or moral convictions that are contradictory to our own, do we dare entertain for a moment the thought that he might be right, at least in part?"

— fr. Timothy Radcliffe o.p., Christmas message to the Order, 1993

"We can never do theology well unless we have the humility and the courage to listen to the arguments of those with whom we disagree and take them seriously. ... We have to lose those certainties that banish uncomfortable truths, see both sides of the argument, ask the questions that may frighten us."

— fr. Timothy Radcliffe o.p., The Wellspring of Hope, 1996

Should you want to leave the forum after a while, send an empty message to: 

mailto:op-l-unsubscribe@op.org

and you will be removed from the mailing list.