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.
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!
“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
Congratulations to our newest Life Professed Members, Brenda Allor, Sheila Meyer and Doyen Nguyen. This is a great day, and a culmination of many years of prayer, study and work on their part. Welcome fully in to our Chapter!
Left to right, Fr Mark Francis, OP, Doyen Nguyen, Brenda Allor, Sheila Meyer
We will have a reception, as soon as Covid regulations allow, for the newly received and professed, from last year, today and those next month in June. Stay tuned, and we will keep you posted.
Dear Brothers and Sisters, Fr. Justin Gable, OP and Fr. Michael Hurley, OP are offering an online series of courses entitled, “The Foundations of Virtue”. Both of these Friars are exceptional in their knowledge and in their faith. Please consider registering for this course. There is a fee, but if you would like to attend and are unable to pay, Fr. Justin will waive the fee for you (see his letter below). Please send this to all your chapter members, and to any family or friends who may be interested.
God bless you through the intercession of Saints Philip and James,
Denise (Harvey, LPC President)
Dear Friends, Good morning! I am excited to let you know about a class Fr. Michael Hurley and I will be offering–the first in what we hope will be a series of courses in Ethics and Moral Philosophy–entitled “The Foundations of Virtue.” We will be introducing key concepts and themes for understanding virtue and the ethics of Aristotle and Aquinas through a close reading of Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics. Attached is a flyer advertising the class. Included in the flyer is a URL for course registration. The cost is $100 (but we are more than glad to waive the fee should this prove a hardship for anyone wishing to take the class). Class sessions are Saturday mornings, 10 AM to noon (Pacific Daylight Time) via Zoom, beginning May 15. We’d be grateful if you would spread the word (including the URL). For those of you in our Dominican parishes, might it be possible to add this to your parish bulletin? Thank you so much for helping us! Blessings,
Fr. Justin Fr. Justin Charles Gable, O.P., Ph.D. Regent of Studies, Western Dominican Province 2390 Bush Street San Francisco, CA 94115 Associate Professor of Philosophy Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology 2301 Vine Street Berkeley, CA 94708
Dear Brothers and Sisters, Happy Feast Day!!! Many blessings and graces to you through the intercession of St. Catherine!
Below is an email from the Friars with special announcements. In particular, there is a Solemn High Mass in the Dominican Rite, on Saturday, the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker. Please participate via live stream, if you are able.
Also, there is a consecration prayer to St. Joseph. For those who did not consecrate themselves to St. Joseph on March 19, please do so now. It is my request that all lay members of our Province consecrate themselves to St. Joseph, this year. Jesus Himself entrusted His Humanity to St. Joseph. Our Lady also placed Herself under his care. St. Joseph’s guidance and protection was instrumental in the success of Jesus’ preaching ministry and the founding of our Church. It goes without saying, then, that we too need the guidance and protection of St. Joseph for our “preaching” ministry. May God bless you!
Denise PS, As always, please forward this email to your chapter members.
PRAYER OF CONSECRATION TO ST. JOSEPH
O Glorious Patriarch and Patron of the Church! O Virgin Spouse of the Virgin Mother of God! O Guardian and Virginal Father of the Word Incarnate! In the presence of Jesus and Mary, I choose you this day to be my father, my guardian, and my protector. O great St. Joseph, whom God has made the Head of the Holy Family, accept me, I beseech you, though utterly unworthy, to be a member of your “Holy House.” Present me to your Immaculate Spouse; ask her also to adopt me as her child. With her, pray that I may constantly think of Jesus, and serve him faithfully to the end of my life. O Terror of Demons, increase in me virtue, protect me from the evil one, and help me not to offend God in any way. O my Spiritual Father, I hereby consecrate myself to you. In faithful imitation of Jesus and Mary, I place myself and all my concerns under your care and protection. To you, after Jesus and Mary, I consecrate my body and soul, with all their faculties, my spiritual growth, my home, and all my affairs and undertakings. Forsake me not, but adopt me as a servant and child of the Holy Family. Watch over me at all times, but especially at the hour of my death. Console and strengthen me with the presence of Jesus and Mary so that, with you, I may praise and adore the Holy Trinity for all eternity. Amen.
Happy Feast of St. Catherine of Siena! St. Catherine of Siena is a great saint for our time. Born in Italy in 1347, she grew up during a pandemic, worked to bring peace between political factions of the Church, and fought tirelessly to lead souls back to Christ. Pope Pius II canonized St. Catherine in 1461, and Pope Pius XII named her a patron of Italy in 1940. Thirty years later, Pope Paul VI named her a Doctor of the Church, along with Saint Teresa of Ávila, making them the first women to receive this honor. Click here to learn more about St. Catherine of Siena
Feast of St. Joseph the Worker Livestream Solemn High Mass | May 1, 1:30pm PDT According to the Dominican Rite Join us on the feast of St. Joseph the Worker for a special live-streamed liturgy as we continue our celebrations for the Year of St. Joseph. Celebrant: Fr. Augustine Thompson, O.P. Watch on Livestream.com/opwest or YouTube.com/opwest
Who is St. Joseph the Worker? St. Joseph’s labor for Mary and Jesus was his cooperation with Redemption, and an act of mercy for every human being. Click here to read the full article and learn moreMother’s Day Novena Enrollments | May 1-9 Join our St. Jude Shrine in honoring all mothers, and mother figures, by enrolling them in the Mother’s Day Novena, running May 1 through May 9th. Enrolled individuals will be added to the list of intentions on the St. Jude Shrine altar in San Francisco, and remembered throughout the novena leading up to Mother’s Day on May 9th. Click here to enroll someone in the Mother’s Day Novena
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Feast of St. Joseph the Worker Livestream
Mother’s Day Novena Enrollments | May 1-9
