Dominican – Page 2

Building a tithe barn to last 600 years

The Dominican nuns at Our Lady of Grace Monastery (North Guilford, CT) lost their barn this past winter with the constant snow fall. The old barn collapsed under the weight of lots of snow –it’s poor, old legs couldn’t bear the torment of heavy snow and ice. But the monastery needs a barn.

Since the nuns have no sustained interaction with the outside world due to being papally enclosed, the ever competent grounds keeper and building supervisor, Ryan, decided to build an old fashion tithe barn that’s expected to last 600 years. No nails will be used to keep the building together. And, all the wood was harvested from the monastery property and trimmed to need by Ryan and a local friend who’s graciously sharing his equipment and time.

Continue reading Building a tithe barn to last 600 years

Who are saints? They are “Flesh and Blood Human Beings”

As Father Gabriel B. O’Donnell reminds, being a saint doesn’t mean that you are divested of your own personality, to have intimacy with God doesn’t mean you change who you are as a person. Domincan Father Gabriel O’Donnell is currently the academic dean at the Dominican House of Studies, Washington, DC.

Watch PBS Religion & Ethics Newsweekly which helps us to understand the role of saints today.

Father Gabriel speaks to the process of sainting a person based on shepherding the process for two Americans, Father Michael J. McGivney and Rose Hawthorne. See the “Sainthood Process.”

Another piece is worth watching, too: “Path to Sainthood.”

Religious Orders talk about their purpose at Notre Dame Univ

Last week at the University of Notre Dame (my alma mater) members of the various religious orders along with a secular priest, spoke about their place in the Church. In church lingo: they spoke about their charism (the diivne gift). As you know ND was founded and continues to be sponsored by the Congregation of Holy Cross (CSC) but through the years members of religious orders like the Franciscans, Jesuits and Dominicans (among others) have worked and/or studied at ND. The richness ot the women religious ought to be explored at some point.

Speaking to the university was an opportunity to attend to the distinctions among the orders in a healthy manner. The Observer carried the story.

Benedictine, Capuchin and Dominicans take Vows, ordained deacon

Several men have committed themselves more fully to the Lord and His Church today. A Benedictine monk, a Capuchin friar and Dominican deacons took vows or were ordained.

Dom John McCusker, Benedictine monk of The Abbey of Saint Mary and Saint Louis, St Louis, MO.

Brother Salvatore Cordaro, OFM Cap., professed Solemn vows in the Province of St Mary. The Mass and profession of vows took place at The Church of Saint John the Baptist, NYC.

5 Dominican brothers of the Province of St Joseph were ordained to the Order of Deacon. The ordination took place in Crypt Chapel of the Basilica National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception by the Most Reverend Martin D. Holley, auxiliary bishop of Washington, DC.

We are exceedingly joyful for the witness of these men for the Kingdom of God. Let’s pray for them!

Thanks to Andrew Skonieczny for the photo.

Exercising proper judgment in our life so that we share in God’s glory

Last week the novices of the Order of Friars Preachers –the Dominicans of the Province of Saint Joseph– heard the following talk by Dominican Father André-Joseph LaCasse. Father LaCasse is the pastor of the Church of Saint Gertrude, Cincinnati, OH. I am not a Dominican but I have great affection for the Dominican vocation and many friends are of that persuasion, however many readers of this blog are not Dominicans. So, I thought after reading LaCasse’s talk there is something we can all be helped by what was said about the fraternal life the Dominican Order. In my estimation Father LaCasse’s thoughts are applicable to all states of the Christian life: the single person, the married couple, the Capuchin, the secular priest, bishop, etc. In the School of Community (of CL) we’ve been working on Father Luigi Giussani’s notion of charity and sacrifice and are about to start the section on virginity. And I ask myself: How is it that as a Christian I live in a state of perpetual discernment of faith, hope and charity through a life of sacrifice? In what concrete ways do I live honestly? Well, I’m off to confession to find that out. You?

You are privileged here because you
live with friars who have lived this life for quite some time. In our community
we have two jubiliarians, one who is close to being a jubiliarian, and the rest
of us who have lived this life for over twenty years. Our lives as religious is
a steady progress towards perfection, but a perfection that experiences many
imperfections along the way. Our lives are not extraordinary. None of us has
won prestige. None of us is in the limelight. We live ordinary lives of
consecration, hoping that we can do our best to advance the cause of Jesus
Christ and his Church.

The Dominican life is a life of
prayer, study, and the apostolate. Most days are ordinary days where you are
called to be simple servants of the Church. Do you desire to be a servant? Are
you willing to die to your own desires in order to do the desire of God manifested
through the will of our superiors? In a real sense you will not be able to
answer this question until something is asked of you that takes real sacrifice
and humility. But still the question needs to be asked now: Am I willing to die
to myself and become a servant of the Church? The question needs to be answered
now because from the very beginning of your discernment you must be brutally
honest with yourself.

Continue reading Exercising proper judgment in our life so that we share in God’s glory

Clementina Valentina, RIP

The Christian community of faith in New Haven, Connecticut mourns the loss of Clementina Valentina, 85, Third Order Laity of the Order of Preachers. Our friend and fellow companion has been called home by the Lord.

The Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated today at The Church of Saint Mary (New Haven, CT) by Father Albino Barrerra, OP and concelebrated by several Dominican friars and a secular priest, the Rev’d Father Donald A. Guglielmi. The Dominican laity were present as well as several Knights of Columbus. As a fitting tribute to such a beautiful woman was the presence of about 100 people gathered in prayer for the Clem.

Clem’s life only makes sense for many of us, as Father Albino said, through the lens of faith. In theological terms, in Clem’s life there was a hermeneutic of faith and continuity formed in the heart of the Church. Like the many narratives in the gospels where faith in Jesus led to conversion, healing and new life, Clem’s life of faith first given to her by her parents at Baptism sustained not only her but also her friends and acquaintances. God gives us the friends we need in order to know Him. In fact, the three gifts of Clem given to us these many years and that have built up the Kingdom of God on earth, I am convinced, were Clem’s capacity for loyal friendship, her deep and abiding faith in and witness to Jesus Christ through the Church and profession in the Third Order of the Dominicans (the Dominican laity) and her quiet, unassuming way of doing things in love. I will miss her warm embrace, her stellar proclamation of the Scriptures at Mass and her good example.

May the Mantle of Our Lady of Grace wrap Clem today and for eternity. Saint Dominic and Saint Catherine of Siena, pray for us.

Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist to purchase JPII Cultural Center in DC

Mother Assumpta Long announced last evening that her new congregation of religious sisters, the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist, are hoping to purchase the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center across the street from the Catholic University of America, Washington, DC and using the facility as a house of studies.

Mother Assumpta’s email letter to Deal Hudson making the announcement of purchase of the JPII Center is here.

The video presentation can be seen here.

May the great Mother of God, Mary most holy, pray for the sisters and for us!

Nashville Dominicans sisters lead in new vocations

As mentioned a number of days ago I posted a list of religious congregations attracting new recruits in 2010, now the Associate Press has picked up on the trend. I am glad they did.

The AP story can be read here.

Unremarkable, perhaps quite cliched, is the remark of Dr Catherine Mooney linking the vocations to Pope John Paul II. As much as it goes, the life and work of John Paul led many to to become a member of a thriving religious order. But do you think a theology professor would mention the work of the Blessed Trinity as a source of the call? Relying merely on a pope’s influence doesn’t go to far. Does it?

Thanks be to God for those who freely say ‘yes’ to the call of Christ to live the consecrated life. Saints Dominic and Catherine of Siena, pray for us.

Fr Bruno Cadoré –new Master of the Order of Preachers, elected

The 2010 Dominican General Chapter opened on August 31st (and will close on September 21st) and the 130 capitulars elected Father Bruno Cadoré, 55, as the 86th successor of Saint Dominic; he immediately succeeds Father Carlos Aspiroz Costa who has served for the last 9 years. Father Bruno, until now, has been the Prior Provincial of the French Province and trained as a pediatrics physician with an interest in child hematology and in bio-ethics. He’s also lived and worked in Haiti.

Father Bruno will live at the Convent of Santa Sabina on the Aventine Hill in Rome.

The Dominican General Chapter meets every three years and elects a new Master of the Order every nine. This is the 290th General Chapter.

UPDATE: Father Master Bruno Cadore gave an insightful interview on H2O News and says some important things about the Word of God and how it shapes our lives, about the necessity and joy of the fraternal life and the unity we are called to live as brothers and sisters. Watch the video here.

Saint Dominic, pray for us.

Blessed Jordan of Saxony, pray for us.

Saint Raymond of Penyafort, pray for us.

Saint Bruno, pray for us.

Saint Catherine of Siena, pray for us.

Blessed Margaret of Castello, pray for us.

Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, pray for us.

Cistercians and Dominicans meet in General Chapter

Prayers are requested for the members of the General Chapters of the Cistercian monks and the Dominican Friars who begin their meetings today in Rome. In the coming days both Chapters will deal the Order’s business and hold an election for new leadership: the Cistercians will elect a new Father General and the Dominicans a Master General.

You can follow the Cistercians here and here.

You can follow the Dominicans here.

Our Lady of Perpetual Help, pray for us.

Saints Robert, Alberic, Stephen and Dominic, pray for us.