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Joseph lived in the town of Nazareth
to fulfill what the prophets had foretold of Christ:
He will be called a Nazarean.

Happy Feast of Saint Joseph!

As the husband of Mary, St. Joseph holds a special place in God’s providence for the world’s salvation.  His guidance and protection of the Holy Family, especially during its sojourn in Egypt, continues even now as St. Joseph exercises his paternal care over the Church, Christ’s bride.  As she sojourns through history, awaiting its final fulfillment in the future kingdom, the Church draws strength from the carpenter’s prayers to evade the snares and corruptions of this world.  Like Christ and Our Lady, we place ourselves and our families under St. Joseph’s gentle protection.

As members of the Province of St. Joseph, we Dominicans here in the eastern United States celebrate today the feast of our great patron.  Join us in prayer as we place our priestly and religious lives again into his firm and just hands.  May he build up this Province dedicated to him into a bulwark of faith, hope, and charity, a strong city of fraternal love and zeal for the Word.

And remember . . . just like Wednesday, when we remembered St. Patrick, today is a day of feasting.  And remember, too, to pray for the Holy Father.  Today is his onomastico, his name day.

Click here for more on the life of St. Joseph.

Father,
you entrusted our Savior to the care of Saint Joseph.
By the help of his prayers
may your Church continue to serve its Lord, Jesus Christ,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, forever and ever. Amen.

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Connect with the Dominican Fathers and Brothers on Facebook!

Become a fan of the Province of St. Joseph and keep up with all of the news and views of your favorite friars.

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The student brothers in Washington invite you to join them in offering a Rosary Novena for Vocations.  Beginning today, December 17, please offer your daily Rosary and other spiritual exercises for the men and women God is calling to the Order of Preachers.

The Lord has been very good to the Province of St. Joseph in recent years.  We owe him our gratitude and continued trust.

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On Saturday in Washington, DC, Fr. Augustine DiNoia, OP, a Bronx native, will be ordained a bishop in accord with the honor and duties of his new office.  Last month, Pope Benedict XVI named him the Secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.  Since 2002, Fr. DiNoia has served as the Undersecretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

The Ordination Mass will begin at 2:00 PM in the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.  EWTN will broadcast the Mass live.

Below is the article covering Fr. DiNoia’s new appointment published in the June 18th issue of Catholic New York.

New York-born Dominican Theologian Named to Vatican Post

Pope Benedict XVI has named U.S. Dominican Father J. Augustine DiNoia an archbishop and secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments.

“I am happy the pope has entrusted to me an area that he considers so important,” the archbishop-designate told Catholic News Service June 16, shortly after the Vatican announced his new assignment.

“I think the liturgy should give us a sense of the heavenly liturgy; it’s about God, not us,” he said.

Archbishop-designate DiNoia, 65, has served as undersecretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith since 2002. Pope John Paul II had named him to the Vatican position and for his first three years at the doctrinal congregation, his superior was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, elected pope in 2005.

A native New Yorker, he grew up in the Wakefield section of the Bronx, where he was one of at least a dozen altar boys who served with Father Nicholas F. Milazzo at St. Anthony’s, Richardson Avenue, to become a priest.

A graduate of Cardinal Hayes High School in the Bronx, he was ordained for the Dominicans in 1970. He taught theology at St. Joseph’s Seminary, Dunwoodie, for a year as a visiting professor before moving to the Vatican in 2002.

His episcopal ordination will be July 11 at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington; U.S. Cardinal William J. Levada, prefect of the doctrinal congregation, will preside at the liturgy, he said.

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On May 29, five friars of the Province of St. Joseph were ordained to the priesthood.  The Most Reverend Celestino Migliore, the Holy See’s Permanent Observer to the United Nations, celebrated the Ordination Mass in St. Dominic’s Church in Washington, DC.  Click below for a short video summary of the ceremony.

In your kindness, please keep Fathers Thomas Petri, Bruno Shah, Jonah Pollock, Anthony Giambrone, and Gregory Schnakenberg in your prayers as they begin their lives of priestly service to Christ and his Church.

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The Dominican Friars of the Province of St. Joseph gathered recently at Providence College for a provincial assembly, during which we prayed, recreated, and surveyed together the current needs of the life and the apostolate.

Click below for a slideshow of photos taken during the assembly.

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Please keep these five brothers in your prayers as they prepare for their ordination this Friday.

You may remember one of them.  Br. Anthony Giambrone, OP, was assigned to the parish last summer.

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An interview with Fr. Stephen Boguslawski, O.P.

Father Steven Boguslawski, O.P. is President of the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception at the Dominican House of Studies. As such, he is one of the principal architects of the formidable intellectual project that formally gets underway April 18-19, 2009.

FOR PRESS AND EVENT INFORMATION
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What is the mission of the ‘new’ Dominican House of Studies (DHS)?

More aptly said, there is a renewed mission of the faculty which focuses upon an “open-Thomism,” a dialogue with contemporary as well as historical theology. We are building upon the sure foundations entrusted to us—what we develop now is inextricably linked to our past. The brilliance of St. Thomas Aquinas was to appropriate the truth by critical engagement with philosophy, Sacred Scripture, as well as theological and patristic sources. The renewed challenge is to similarly appropriate his methodology in a contemporary frame of reference. That is the “niche” or the branding we want to accomplish in the academic marketplace. However, it must also be said that Dominicans were founded for service to the Church—especially her mission to evangelize through preaching and teaching. That remains our primary focus: service to the Word in the midst of the world. And, of course, vocations are the life blood of this mission.

What is the significance of the new Academic Center and Theological Library?

The expansion to new facilities has been paralleled by a dramatic expansion of credentialed Dominican and non-Dominican professors. These professors received their training at an array of prestigious universities: Oxford, École Pratique des Hautes Études (Paris), Drew University, Fribourg, the Australian Catholic University, the Pontifical Biblical Institute (Rome), just to name a few. More Dominicans are scheduled to arrive in the years ahead, being specially trained for service in Washington, D.C.

The building expansion and the increase in full-time faculty are aimed at serving the academic and ecclesial communities of metro-Washington, as well as the Dominican Order and Province at-large. Our renewed emphasis upon Thomism, evangelization and the dialogue between faith and contemporary culture sets us apart.

What does the project offer the broader Church community? Can it help change the tone, the substance of the dialogue between the Church and contemporary secular culture?

The Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception at the DHS is convinced that training in a solid Thomistic core produces competent clerics and laity in service of the Church by instilling an intellectual rigor that critically appraises competing truth claims in society. The ability to engage cultural trends and legitimate questions arising from ministerial experience requires a suppleness of mind which appropriates the truth wherever it is to be found—always given norms, however, by Sacred Scripture, tradition, and magisterial teachings.

That is not always an easy task—indeed, it is rarely an easy task! Evangelization and re-evangelization depend upon individuals being conversant with those who have been predominantly formed by the culture-at-large—unafraid to bring the fullness of the Gospel to them, because good evangelizers or preachers are able to articulate the internal intelligibility of the faith here and now, and with a good measure of joy. More simply put, our students can explain the reasons for their hope. Dominicans do not subscribe to the modern artificial divide between doctrine and pastoral practice.

The new academic center and theological library mark an “inflection point” in the history of ‘487’ (Michigan Avenue) and I see the Providence of God at work presenting us with new opportunities and new responsibilities. If we do what the Lord asks us to do, we will thrive.

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Joseph lived in the town of Nazareth
to fulfill what the prophets had foretold of Christ:
He will be called a Nazarean.

Happy Feast of Saint Joseph!

As the husband of Mary, St. Joseph holds a special place in God’s providence for the world’s salvation.  His guidance and protection of the Holy Family, especially during its sojourn in Egypt, continues even now as St. Joseph exercises his fatherly care over the Church, Christ’s bride, as she sojourns through history toward its final fulfillment.  Like Christ and Our Lady, we place ourselves and our families under his gentle protection.

As members of the Province of St. Joseph, we Dominicans here in the Eastern US celebrate today the feast of our great patron.  Join us in prayer as we place our priestly and religious lives again into his firm and just hands.  May he build up this province dedicated to him into a bulwark of faith, hope, and charity, a strong city of fraternal love and zeal for the Word.

And remember . . . just like Tuesday, when we remembered St. Patrick, today is a day of feasting.

Click here for more on the life of St. Joseph.

Father,
you entrusted our Savior to the care of Saint Joseph.
By the help of his prayers
may your Church continue to serve its Lord, Jesus Christ,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, forever and ever. Amen.

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This photograph was taken last week at the House of Studies in Washington.  The novices from Cincinnati were there for a few days to visit with the student brothers.  Therefore, all of the men currently in formation for the Province of St. Joseph are depicted above.  As you can see, God has been very good to the province.  Please keep all of our student brothers in your prayers.

And here’s another prayer intention . . . this weekend 35 men from around the country are gathered at the House of Studies for a “vocation weekend.”  They sense a call to priesthood and the religious life, and in response they are looking closely at the Order of Preachers.  I’m told that this is the largest group for the February weekend in many years.  Because of a lack of room, half of the men are bunking in sleeping bags on the floor.  Now that’s dedication!  Let us assist their prayers with our own.

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In 1963, Mr. Michael Kalush wrote and filmed a televised documentary on our province’s mission to Pakistan. The documentary was made for WJRT-12 TV in Flint, Michigan. The mission to Pakistan was begun in the mid-1950s, following the expulsion of our missionaries from China. In 1970, the Pakistani government ceased granting new visas to our missionaries.  Since then, however, the mission has flourished, and Pakistan now has its own Dominican province.

Click below for the documentary.

For more information on our Pakistani mission, click here for a news article published in 2006 that covered the 50th anniversary celebration of the mission.

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Last Saturday, January 10, in Washington DC, four Dominican student brothers were ordained to the transitional diaconate in the Crypt Church of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.  They were: Br. James Dominic Brent, OP, and Br. John Chrysostom Kozlowski, OP, both of the St. Joseph Province; Br. Isaiah Molano, OP, of the Holy Name Province; and Br. John Baptist Nguyen, OP, of the Vietnamese Vicariate.  The Most Reverend Martin Holley, auxiliary bishop of Washington, was the ordaining prelate.

Please pray for these four new deacons as they enter their final preparations for priestly ordination.

Click below for video of the Ordination Mass.

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On Saturday, November 8, four of the province’s student brothers professed their solemn vows, making permanent their consecration to God in the Order of Preachers.  The four brothers were: Br. James Brent, OP; Br. Hyacinth Cordell, OP; Br. John Chrysostom Kozlowski, OP; and Br. Ignatius Schweitzer, OP.  All four will be ordained to the diaconate and priesthood in the near future.  Please continue to keep them and their studies in your prayers.

Click below to view the Profession Mass, which took place at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, DC.

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In this Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus turns his face toward Jerusalem-a place hostile to prophets-and announces his immanent suffering and death.  When studied with the weekend’s other readings, this passage turns our attention to the price that must often be paid for witnessing to truth and justice.  Christ calls it “the cross.”  

My guest on today’s show hit upon this theme in light of this week’s controversy surrounding Speaker Pelosi.  Fr. Dominic Legge, OP, professor of theology at Providence College, helps us to make a clear distinction between Christian discipleship and political expediency.

Listen and enjoy!

Word to Life - August 29, 2008 Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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Fr. John Farren, OP, the Director of Advancement for the Province, discusses the readings for the Solemnity of the Assumption and the Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time with Angelo Matera, the editor of Godspy.com.

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On August 8, the Feast of St. Dominic, the Province’s eleven postulants began their yearlong novitiate.  

During a sacred ceremony held at St. Gertrude’s Priory in Cincinnati, the postulants presented themselves to the prior, who asked them, “What do you seek?”  They responded, “God’s mercy and yours.”  Thereupon, the prior received each postulant into the novitiate by vesting him in the habit of St. Dominic.

Click here for pictures and biographies of the new novices.  Please keep them, by name, in your daily prayers.

Br. Thomas More Garrett

Br. John Devaney

Br. Maximilian Yergeau

Br. Boniface Endorf

Br. Joseph Fussner

Br. Benedict Joseph Freeman

Br. Sebastian White

Br. Gabriel Torretta

Br. Frederick Erdman

Br. Paul Marich

Br. Innocent Smith

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On this Feast of Our Holy Father Dominic, we sing praise to God for our redemption in Christ and for the wondrous pathway to Christ’s kingship and priesthood he has revealed to us through his Preacher of Grace.

With devotion to our illustrious founder we sing today the responsory sung by generations of his sons and daughters–the O spem miram.  This ancient chant recalls the paternal charity St. Dominic promised to show his followers after his death.

O spem miram, quam dedisti mortis hora te flentibus, dum post mortem promisisti te profuturum fratribus! Imple, Pater, quod dixisti nos tuis juvans precibus.

V.  Qui tot signis claruisti in aegrorum corporibus, nobis opem ferens Christi, aegris medere moribus.  Imple, Pater, quod dixisti, nos tuis juvans precibus.

Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto.  Imple, Pater, quod dixisti, nos tuis juvans precibus.

(O wonderful hope, which you gave to those who wept for you at the hour of your death, promising that after your death you would be helpful to your brethren! Fulfill, Father, what you have said, and help us by your prayers.

V.  You shone on the bodies of the sick by so many miracles: bring us the help of Christ to heal our sick souls.  Fulfill, Father, what you have said, and help us by your prayers.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.  Fulfill, Father, what you have said, and help us by your prayers.)

In your prayers today please remember especially our Province’s eleven postulants.  They begin their novitiate today by receiving the habit of St. Dominic and their new names in religion.  Through the intercession of our Holy Father Dominic, may God prosper their religious vocations!

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Tomorrow we celebrate the feast of St. Dominic, our founder, which we will observe with particular solemnity at the 5:30 evening Mass.  We will be joined by Dominicans and Franciscans from around the city.  All are welcome to attend.

Tradition has it that St. Dominic and St. Francis of Assisi met each other in Rome in 1215 while observing the deliberations of the Fourth Lateran Council.  Because the Council Fathers were creating legislation governing new religious orders, the two founders were particularly interested in the outcome.  According to one legend, Dominic and Francis met and fell immediately into mutual esteem for each other’s grace and charism.  As a sign of their friendship in the Lord, they exchanged belts.  Francis took Dominic’s leather belt, characteristic of a preaching canon, while Dominic took Francis’s rope cincture, the symbol of his poverty.  

In honor of the friendship between Dominic and Francis, a noble tradition has developed among their disciples.  Dominicans and Franciscans celebrate the feasts of their founders together.  Franciscans join Dominicans on August 8, and Dominicans join Franciscans on October 4.  At the Mass of St. Dominic, a Franciscan preaches, and at the Mass of St. Francis a Dominican delivers the homily.  In keeping with this ancient tradition, Fr. Dominic Monti, OFM, the Vicar Provincial of the Holy Name Province, will preach at tomorrow’s Mass.

Lord, let the holiness and teaching of St. Dominic come to the aid of your Church. May he help us now with his prayers as he once inspired people by his preaching.

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.  Amen.

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A priest, Buzz Aldrin, and the members of Black Sabbath (sans Ozzie) walk into a studio . . .

Sounds like the beginning of a bad joke, right?  Well, sometimes reality is stranger than fiction.  This very scenario unfolded earlier today at the studio as I arrived for this afternoon’s show.  Walking through the Sirius lobby, you can run into just about anyone.  It’s the new areopagus.  And in the middle of it all is The Catholic Channel.  

On this afternoon’s show Br. Jerome Zeiler, OP, joined me to discuss the readings for the Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary time: Isaiah 55:1-3; Romans 8:35, 37-39; and Matthew 14:13-21.  We examined the theme of divine providence that emerges from all three readings, and we tried to understand this mystery in light of the evil we sometimes suffer.  Tune in . . . I think we may have given Christopher Hitchens a run for his money.

In the show’s last segment I spoke with Fr. Chad Partain, the pastor of St. Paul the Apostle Church in Mansura, Louisiana.  Fr. Partain gave us an update on his parish’s new shrine to St. Philomena, and he also shared with us some thoughts for this Sunday’s homily.

Word to Life - August 1, 2008 Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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The Province of St. Joseph recently launched a new version of its website. Bookmark it and check it often for news, announcements, and media presentations from friars assigned all over the eastern US.  Of particular interest to us, the new design contains images of all of our parishes, including several of the Church of St. Vincent Ferrer posted throughout the site.

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One of the Province’s new postulants, Jack Devaney, who entered the Order through St. Vincent’s, was interviewed recently on Sirius Radio’s The Catholic Channel.  Jack discusses with Fr. Dave Dwyer his gradual movement to the Order, including all of the sights and sounds (and silences) he enjoyed along the way.  Jack’s vocation story gives all of us a glimpse into the wonderful workings of divine providence.

Click below to listen to Jack’s interview, and remember to keep him and the other ten postulants in your prayers.  They will begin their yearlong novitiate next month.

Jack Devaney on The Catholic Channel Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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Today’s Metro Section of The New York Times carried an article on The Catholic Channel, one of just three religious stations broadcast on the Sirius Satellite Radio network. The article details how the communications office of the Archdiocese of New York teamed up with Sirius to expand the Church’s presence in the media. Still in its early stages of development, The Catholic Channel offers a wide range of Catholic content in a form resembling more your edgy drive home show than, say, “Life is Worth Living” by Bishop Sheen.  And that’s exactly the point.  The article quotes Joseph Zwilling, communications director for the Archdiocese, as he explains the concept behind The Catholic Channel:

“If someone who listens to Howard Stern happens to turn to the Catholic Channel one day and doesn’t realize for a couple of minutes that what he’s listening to is the Catholic Channel, well, I’m not going to be upset about that,” Mr. Zwilling said. “We recognize that Catholics are listening to Howard Stern. What we want people to know is that they can talk about all the same things he does, but in a Catholic context.”

At the channel’s inception, the Archdiocese of New York approached the Province of St. Joseph to produce and host a weekly show.  It’s called “Word to Life,” and its purpose is to prepare listeners for Sunday Mass by examining the weekend’s Scripture readings.  After being hosted initially by Fr. Peter John Cameron, OP, and other friars of the Province, I was asked last May to become the show’s producer and host.

“Word to Life” airs live every Friday at 1:00 PM Eastern on The Catholic Channel, Sirius 159.  If you don’t have Sirius radio and are interested in listening to the show, check back here each week for a posting of the show’s audio.

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Eleven candidates for the Province of St. Joseph will arrive today at Providence College to begin their postulancy, a three-week initiation into the essential features of Dominican religious life. At the end of the month, they will travel together to Cincinnati, where at St. Gertrude’s Priory they will spend one year in the novitiate preparing for simple vows. The novitiate year will officially begin on August 8, the Feast of St. Dominic, when the prior of the community will clothe the postulants in the habit, give them a copy of the Order’s constitutions, and bestow upon them a new religious name.

One of the new postulants, Jack Devaney, met the Order and began discerning his Dominican vocation here at St. Vincent’s.

Please pray fervently for these eleven men, asking God to preserve and prosper them in religious life.

William “Bill” M. Garrett

John “Jack” J. Devaney

Thomas “Tom” J. Yergeau

Robert “Bob” Endorf

Joseph “Joe” Fussner

Erik Freeman

Adam R. White

Zane P. Toretta

Frederick “Fred” D. Erdman

Paul Marich

Philip C. Smith

For pictures and short biographies of our new postulants, please visit our Vocations Blog.

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