Lay Dominicans in Europe

A meeting of representatives of the Lay Dominican Fraternities from the Provinces of Europe with their Promoters and guests has been held every three years since 1989. The first of these meetings was the Assembly held in Toulouse, France, followed by Budapest , Hungary in 1992, Kanie, Poland in 1995, the fourth in Vienna, Austria in 1998, the fifth in Fognano, Italy in 2001 and the sixth in Walberberg, Germany in 2004 and the seventh in Trencianske Teplice, Slovakia in 2008. These Assemblies were organized by volunteers in collaboration with the Brethren until after the Vienna meeting.

The object of these Assemblies is to encourage Lay Dominicans to carry out their vocation as a significant part of the Order of Preachers.
At the Vienna Assembly it was decided that there should be a European Council for Lay Dominican Fraternities and a Council was democratically elected. One of the tasks of this Council was to prepare the Statutes which were  presented and promulgated at the meeting in Fognano.
In accordance with these Statutes, a new Council was elected from the participants before the close of  the Assembly in Trencianske Teplice, Slovakia in 2008.

Patricia Kelly (Ireland) represents Europe on the International Council until 2010 when Eva Kameniarova (Slovakia) - who was elected in 2008 - will take over this position.

The new European Council - elected during the last Assembly - consists of the following five members. They distributed duties among themselves during their first meeting that was held in Bruxelles, in October 2008.

Anja Andersen (Germany) anja.sandersen@googlemail.com - Treasurer

Anne-Marie Lee (Ireland)- amfsweeneylee@hotmail.com - Formation

Benedicte Jerebzoff (Belgium) - bhindes@skynet.be - Secretary

Gabriel Silva (Portugal) - 2gabrielsilva@gmail.com - President

Jean-Michel Solente (France) - jmsolente@yahoo.fr - Communication

Patricia Kelly (Ireland) - pky1@eircom.net - co-opted member: represents Europe on the Internationl Council

Fr. David Kammler OP - Laici@curia.op.org - Promoter General for the Dominican Laity - supports our work.