Upcoming OP Events & “On the Road Again!”

Happy Feast of St. Luke the Evangelist!  I wanted to alert you all to some excellent events to learn more about the Dominicans and a possible vocation.  (in case you missed my last letter to the men discerning with us, here it is)

October 21-22, 2011  Thomistic Circles:  Christian Marriage – Nature & Sacrament 

Some excellent scholars from great institutions throughout the world will be here to talk & discuss this important topic.  You might be asking: “Why would the vocation director for the Dominicans be suggesting that I attend a conference on marriage?!  Well Blessed John Paul II once said somewhere:  “When I was a seminarian I came to love marital love.” This later would find great fruit in his writing the Theology of the Body.  Most of the men who come to us would also make excellent husbands & fathers. The renewal of Christian Marriage should be a high priority for any preacher of the Word!

October 31, 2011  Vigil of All Saints at 7:30PM

Arrive early, last year some 400 young adults/people were here. It is an inspiring Christian alternative to Halloween. Join us as we honor the Saints (including some Dominicans) with the Readings, Night Prayer (compline & some Dominican chant), Reliquary Procession, & the Litany of the Saints. Priests will be available for Confessions. Light refreshments follow…and usually there is a lot of good food as well!

December 2-4, 2011  Vocation Weekend
We have just a handful of spaces left.  It is a great opportunity to meet our friars, to pray with us and learn more about a vocation to the Order of Preachers.

Activities of the Vocation Director
1) This week we are doing the first of our official training for the Dominican Rite for our friars here at the Dominican House of Studies.  
2) This weekend I am off to Cincinnati once again to attend a young adult conference (Oct. 22) after celebrating Mass and speaking to the college Knights of Columbus at George Washington University (Oct. 21).  My talk will be: A Knight’s Sword: Our Lady’s Rosary.  The K of C are an excellent organization that you should consider joining.  Fr. Michael McGiveney, their founder, is buried in our Dominican church, St. Mary’s in New Haven, CT.  (Sunday Oct. 23 I will celebrate/preach the 12:30PM Mass at St. Gertrude in Cincinnati)
3) Sunday, October 30 at Holy Name Church in Columbus, Ohio I will be celebrating and preaching the 10AM Mass for the students from Ohio State University.  After the Mass the Ann Arbor Dominican Sisters and I will be giving a presentation to the students on the Dominican Spiritual Life.
4) I will be at the All Saints Vigil on October 31. A few men aspiring from Franciscan University and Columbia University will be staying with us that night. If you would like to come let me know now.
5) November 1-5 I will be the supply priest at our parish, St. Thomas Aquinas in Zanesville, Ohio.
6) November 5-6 I will be helping with Masses at our university parish of St. Thomas Aquinas in Charlottesville, VA.
7) November 8-10 I will be at St. Leo’s Catholic Church in Fairfax, VA to preach their 40 Hours Eucharistic Devotion.
8) November 9 I will be doing the 5PM Mass at George Mason University.
9) November 13 I will be doing the 5PM student Mass at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, VA.  The Ann Arbor Sisters & I will be speaking to the students about Dominican life afterwards.
10) November 17 I will be doing the Serra Club Mass at St. Matthew’s Cathedral and giving them a talk about how to promote vocations.
11) November 19 I will do the 4:30PM Vigil Mass at Nativity of our Lord in Broomfield, Colorado (my hometown!) with a Reunion for all Alumni of Nativity of Our Lord School right after.


Please keep me in your prayers as I do each of you!  Here also is our latest update from our office of advancement which serves also as a good update of what has been happening in our province.  In case you missed it I just returned from a trip to Nashville and back through our province with stops in Steubenville, OH & Wilmington, DE.  If you would like to meet with me, give me a call – the 800 number also rings my mobile.  By the way, I have already begun to do application interviews.  If you feel the Lord might be calling you to enter our next novitiate class, let’s talk!

On the Road Again!