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Received 7/22/2021

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”

Chalice Image

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.

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. 

In Father Dominic, 
Doyen Catherine Thomas.