Timothy Radcliffe

Timothy Radcliffe, O.P. (born 1945 in London) is a Roman Catholic priest and Dominican friar of the English Province, and former Master of the Order of Preachers from 1992-2001. He is the only member of the English Province of the Dominicans to have held the office since the Order's foundation in 1216. He is currently the Director of the Las Casas Institute of Blackfriars, Oxford which focuses on the promotion of Social Justice and Human Rights.^[2]

Formation

Timothy Radcliffe entered the Dominican Order in 1965 and was ordained a priest in 1971.

Career

During the mid 1970s Timothy was based at the West London Catholic Chaplaincy at More House, Cromwell Road, London SW7. Timothy Radcliffe taught Holy Scripture at Oxford University at Blackfriars, and was elected provincial of England in 1988.^[3] In 1992 he was elected Master of the Dominican Order and held that office until 2001. During his tenure as Master, he was ex officio Grand Chancellor of the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Angelicum in Rome.

In 2001, after the expiration of his nine-year mandate as Master of the Dominican order, Timothy Radcliffe took a sabbatical year. Starting in 2002, he became again a simple member of the Dominican community of Oxford. He is now a highly sought after speaker, teaching and preaching in many countries.

Timothy Radcliffe occasionally presided at the Mass for gay people at Our Lady of the Assumption, Warwick, which Cardinal Murphy O'Connor, the Archbishop of Westminster, recognised as part of the Archdiocese's mission to gay people.

Honors

In 2003, Timothy Radcliffe was made an honorary Doctor of Divinity in the University of Oxford, the University's highest honorary degree.^[4] The Chancellor of the University of Oxford ended his citation with the following words: "I present a man distinguished both for eloquence and for wit, a master theologian who has never disregarded ordinary people, a practical man who believes that religion and the teachings of theology must be constantly applied to the conduct of public life: the Most Reverend Timothy Radcliffe, MA, sometime Master of the Dominican Order and Grand Chancellor of the Pontifical University of St Thomas Aquinas, for admission to the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity."^[5]

He was the 2007 winner of the The Michael Ramsey Prize for theological writing, for his book What Is the Point of Being A Christian?

Timothy Radcliffe is Patron of the International Young Leaders Network and helped launch Las Casas Institute, dealing with issues of ethics, governance and social justice. These are both projects of Blackfriars, Oxford.

Incomplete bibliography

Books

• Sing a New Song. The Christian Vocation. Dublin: Dominican Publications, 1999. ISBN 1-871552-70-2
• I Call You Friends. London: Continuum, 2001. ISBN 0-8264-7262-1
• Seven Last Words. London: Burns & Oates, 2004. ISBN 0-86012-365-0
• What Is the Point of Being A Christian?. London and New York: Burns & Oates, 2005. ISBN 0-86012-369-3
• Just One Year: Prayer and Worship through the Christian Year, edited by Timothy Radcliffe with Jean Harrison. London: Darton, Longman and Todd for CAFOD and Christian Aid, 2006. ISBN 0-232-52669-9
• Why Go to Church? The Drama of the Eucharist London: Continuum, 2008. ISBN 978-0-8264-9956-1. Archbishop of Canterbury’s Lent book 2009.
• Take the Plunge: Living Baptism and Confirmation. London: Burns & Oates, 2012. ISBN 978-1-4411-1848-6.

Articles

• "'I was hungry and you gave me food'". The Tablet 264 (8856): 17. 7 August 2010. 

Letters to the Order

• Vowed to Mission (1994)
• Jurassic Park and the Last Supper (1994)
• The Wellspring of Hope. Study and the Annunciation of the Good News (1996)
• The Identity of Religious Today (1996)
• Dominican Freedom and Responsibility. Towards a Spirituality of Government (1997)
• The Bear and the Nun : What is the Sense of Religious Life Today ! (1998)
• The Promise of Life (1998)
• The Rosary (1998)
• Letter to our brothers and sisters in initial formation (1999)
• To Praise, to Bless, to Preach. The Mission of the Dominican Family (2000)
• The Throne of God (2000)
• St Catherine of Siena (1347-1380) Patroness of Europe (2000)
• The Parable of the Good Samaritan (2001)
• “A city set on a hilltop cannot be hidden” A Contemplative Life (2001)
• Mission to a Runaway World: Future Citizens of the Kingdom (2002)

References

1. ↑ Catalogus - Province of England of the Order of Preachers (2013-2014), p. 41
2. ↑ "Las Casas Institute". http://www.bfriars.ox.ac.uk/hall/las-casas/las-casas-people/. Retrieved 2 December 2014.  External link in |website= (help)
3. ↑ Catalogus of the Province of England of the Order of Preachers 2010, p. 7
4. ↑ Timothy Radcliffe's Honorary D.D. Citation
5. ↑ Oxford University Gazette, "Chancellor's Honorary Degree Ceremony, 21 November 2003", Supplement (1) to Gazette No. 4677, Wednesday, 26 November 2003, http://www.ox.ac.uk/gazette/2003-4/supps/1_4677.htm#11Ref Accessed 9 August 2013

External links

• A selection of his sermons
• The 15 Letters to the Order written as Master of the Dominican Order from 1993 to 2001