Today we joyfully celebrate the feast of our founder, Holy Father Dominic. In the 12th century, St. Dominic gathered a group of men committed to the truth of the Gospel. For 800 years, his followers the Dominicans have preached for the salvation of souls.
When St. Dominic saw the confusion of his day, he responded with charity and clarity.
Much like in St. Dominic’s time, today we are surrounded by confusion. We live in a world that no longer knows the Gospel— a world that doesn’t know the joy of the incarnation and the resurrection.
But like St. Dominic, we are filled with hope!
Following in his footsteps, we continue to preach the truth with charity and clarity. Let us ask Holy Father Dominic for special strength to spread the Gospel in our own age of confusion!
Happy Feast Day!! Let us give thanks to God for raising up St. Dominic to be a light in the Church and in the world. As his sons and daughters, may we always keep that light burning.
From Denise Harvey, our Lay Provincial Council President, on 7/29/2021:
Dear Brothers and Sisters, I hope you are all doing well and enjoying the summer! We are fast approaching the Feast of our Holy Father Dominic. As you know, this feast day marks 800 years since St. Dominic’s entry into Heaven. As his sons and daughters, let’s prepare for this great feast by praying a novena together, as one family. This novena is composed by the Sisters in Nashville. It’s beautiful and reflective: https://www.nashvilledominican.org/our-vowed-life/st-dominic/novena-to-st-dominic
Let’s bring our personal intentions to this novena along with the intentions of: Our Friars/ Brothers/Sisters/Nuns, increase in vocations, all deceased Dominicans, all the holy souls in purgatory, our Church, our Holy Father, our country and it’s leaders, an end to abortion and all laws that offend God, all who are ill, those seeking employment, an end to the pandemic, those who are traveling, an increase in the love of virtue, and a renewed love of Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.
This novena begins tomorrow, the 31st, and ends on St. Dominic’s day. Please forward this to all your chapter members. Thank you for your participation. God bless you!
Denise
PS: Our mini LPC Zoom meeting is also fast approaching! We are meeting on Saturday, August 14 at 9am PST A Zoom link and an Agenda will be sent out the end of next week.
Fr Tony Galati sent us a Thank You card for the chalice and paten we gifted to him on his ordination day. He wrote
“Dear brothers and sisters in St. Dominic, Thank you, thank you! Thank you for the beautiful chalice and paten you gave me on my ordination day. I am grateful more than I can say. Archbishop Sample has requested that he consecrate it prior to my actually using it, and that hasn’t happened yet, but when it does, my first Mass with that chalice will be for your chapter. I’ll also try and get some photos of me using it. Know of my ongoing prayers for the chapter and its members who have been such a huge part of my formation over the years — Oh, so true! God bless you all, and I’ll look forward to seeing you at some point in the not-so-distant future. Fr. Tony Galati”
From Denise Harvey, Lay Provincial Council President
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Thank you for your prayers for our former president, Fr. Tony Galati, who was ordained on Saturday. Photos of his ordination are attached. Please continue to keep Fr. Galati, and all our newly ordained priests, in your prayers.
Also, our Fra Angelico Chapter in Modesto is inviting you to a presentation on St. Joseph, by Br. Joseph Murray. Br. Joseph is a former member of their chapter. He then discerned a calling to join the Oratorian Community as a Brother, in Washington, DC. The presentation is on Saturday, July 10, and is free (flyer attached). Please join them if you can. It’s a blessing to witness the vocations of our members and of our member’s children. May God continue to bless our Church with vocations.
God bless you on this Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul!
From Denise Harvey, Lay Provincial Council President:
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
May the Grace of our Lord, Jesus Christ, be with you!
I wanted to give you a few updates on Chapter Meetings, LPC Meeting, Ordinations and Prayer Partners.
First, as our local state and counties have recently re-opened, many of our chapters have received permission to begin meeting in person. This is a great grace and a sure sign of hope. But, several of our chapters have not yet been granted that permission. For those chapters, we encourage the continuation of Zoom meetings.
Also, there are some members who are uncomfortable with meeting in person, either now, or in the near future. This can be due to age or health risks. We ask the chapters to accommodate those members by continuing to provide the option of attending via Zoom.
This accommodation brings up the possibility of admitting new members, who are geographically distant, to participate virtually. Our recent experience with the pandemic, has given us the format to do this. A few chapters have already begun the practice. If a chapter is willing to consider the idea, there are a couple of aspects to keep in mind.
First, this allowance would have to be approved by the chapter. Second, a member participating virtually would still be required to attend the annual retreat and profession ceremony. Third, the formation director would need to be in contact with the member individually, to ensure that formation and our daily duties, are being carried out. As a reminder, the option of receiving/ professing a member in a private meeting, is still in effect. This option was given by our Master, due to the pandemic.
Regarding our LPC, since California is among the states that fully opened this past week, we hope to have a date for our next in person meeting very soon! That said, the state has allowed individual businesses to impose certain restrictions, as they see fit. We will be working with the retreat center, to work out the logistics. I will be in touch with the reps as soon as we have a date confirmed. And, as you know, our Mini LPC Zoom Meeting is scheduled for Saturday, August 14th at 9:30am PST. I will be sending out an Agenda closer to the date.
Second, as many of you know, our former president and member of the Holy Rosary chapter, Tony Galati, has been studying for the priesthood for the past several years. On Friday, June 26th he will be ordained in his local diocese! This is a great blessing to the Church. Please keep Tony, and all the newly ordained priests, in your prayers. Please also make sacrifices for an increase to the priesthood.
Finally, Fr. Augustine has blessed all our chapters with a special grace. He has asked the Nuns at our Menlo Park Monastery to be prayer partners for all our chapters! Each Nun is assigned a few chapters and is committed to praying for them each day. The list of Nuns/chapters is attached. I encourage each chapter to reciprocate by praying for the Nun who is assigned to them. This is a wonderful fellowship. It reminds us of our Order’s origin, when St. Dominic established the Nuns first, so they would pray for the Friars.
I hope you, your families and chapters are doing well. You are in my daily prayers.
May God bless you and Our Mother, together with St. Joseph, protect you.
Your sister, Denise
From The Dominican Nuns at Menlo Park (Corpus Christi Monastery):
We are now set to praying for our Dominican Laity. Below are the sisters’ names. We are honored to pray for our Dominican Laity chapters.
No.
Chapter Name
City and State
Prayer Partner
1
St. Dominic of the desert – CIF
Green Valley, AZ
Sr. Mary Isabel, OP
2
Mary, Mother of Truth
Mesa, AZ
Sr. Maria Christine, OP
3
Holy Trinity
Phoenix, AZ
Sr. Amata Marie, OP
4
St. Mary Magdalene
Temple, AZ
Sr. Mary of the Holy Family, OP
5
St. Martin de Porress
Tucson, AZ
Sr. Maria Christine, OP
6
St. Rose of Lima
Antioch, CA
Sr. Andre Marie, OP
7
St. Monica
Benicia, CA
Sr. Andre Marie, OP
8
St. Dominic
Eagle Rock, CA
Sr. Joseph Marie, OP
9
Bartolome de las Casas
Fullerton, CA
Sr. Andre Marie, OP
10
Queen of Angels
Los Angeles, CA
Sr. Mary Bernadette, OP
11
Corpus Christi
Menlo Park, CA
Sr. Joseph Marie, OP
12
Bl. Fra Angelico
Modesto, CA
Sr. Marie Dominic, OP
13
St. Albert the Great
Oakland, CA
Sr. Maria Carmela, OP
14
St. Joseph
Oakland, CA
Sr. Marie Dominic, OP
15
St. Andrew
Riverside, CA
Sr. Mary of the Holy Family, OP
16
Mary, Mother of the Eucharist
Sacramento, CA
Sr. Joseph Marie, OP
17
St. Dominic
San Diego, CA
Sr. Katherine
18
St. Dominic – CIF
San Francisco, CA
Sr. Cecilia Marie
19
St. Thomas Aquinas
Santa Paula, CA
Sr. Mary Isabel, OP
20
San Jacinta
Visalia, CA
Sr. Katherine
21
Sts. Catherine and Vincent – CIF
Yuba City, CA
Sr. Maria Christine, OP
22
Saint Margaret of Castello
Boise, ID
Sr. Amata Marie, OP
23
Bl. Bartolo Longo
Las Vegas, NV
Sr. Cecilia Marie
24
St. Thomas Aquinas – CIF
Reno, NV
Sr. Katherine
25
St. Agnes of Montepulciano
Eugene, OR
Sr. Mary Bernadette, OP
26
Holy Family
Portland, OR
Sr. Maria Carmela, OP
27
Holy Rosary
Portland, OR
Sr. Mary Isabel, OP
28
St. Catherine of Siena
Salt Lake City, UT
Sr. Amata Marie, OP
29
Our Lady of Victory – CIF
Salt Lake City, UT
Sr. Cecilia Marie
30
Blessed Sacrament
Seattle, WA
Sr. Marie Dominic, OP
N.B. We are #27. Please pray for Sr. Mary Isabel, OP.
On Pentecost Sunday, I was asked during the meeting to share my knowledge about Covid in a written document. I promised that I would get it done within two weeks or so. It has taken me a much longer time to do it because I came down with a very severe cold/flu two days after the meeting. Here is the document. Please distribute it to other members in the Chapter. I think it will take people a few hours to digest it.
“On the 29th of May 1921, it being the Sunday within the octave of the feast of Corpus Christi, five choir sisters – Mother Mary of the Rosary, Very Reverend Mother Prioress, Mother Mary Emmanuel, Reverend Mother Subprioress, Mother Mary of the Immaculate Heart, Sister Mary Agnes, and Sister Mary of the Visitation – two lay sisters – Sister Mary Rose and Sister Mary Thomas – and Sister Mary Benedict, touriere and natural sister of Sister Mary Rose, set out to found in San Francisco a new monastery with perpetual exposition and adoration of the Most Blessed Sacrament…”
Monastery Chronicles – Archives Corpus Christi Monastery, Menlo Park, California