The Moral Minute #2

From Owensboro Catholic Radio, The Moral Minute features Fr. Thomas Petri, OP, a priest of the Dominican Order of the Province of St Joseph. This clip is a part of a series of short lessons on Moral Theology produced by Owensboro Catholic Radio that aired daily on the radio channel. Fr. Thomas Petri grew up in the diocese of Owensboro, KY. Fr. Petri entered the Dominican Order in the Province of St Joseph on August 8, 2003. He made his solemn profession of vows in November of 2007, was ordained a priest in May of 2009. Fr. Petri has a Licentiate in Sacred Theology from the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C. as well as a Doctorate in Sacred Theology from The Catholic University of America. His area of expertise is moral theology and ethics with special interests in St. Thomas Aquinass moral theory, the thought of Pope John Paul II, and the Theology of the Body. Currently, Fr. Petri is an assistant professor of theology at Providence College in Rhode Island. Providence College is the only college in the United States staffed by Dominican friars.

Relics of St. Mary Magdalene at the Dominican House of Studies

The relics of St. Mary Magdalene, on tour in the United States for the first time, came through Washington, DC.

Sermon of Br. Jordan Joseph Schmidt, O.P.

This is the sermon preached by Br. Jordan Joseph Schmidt, O.P. for the Vigil of All Saints, 2009.

All Saints Vigil 2009

Feast of Saint Dominic

Saint Dominic is the patron saint of the small town of Vittoriosa in Malta. Since 1876 the town has celebrated with great enthusiasm and passion the feast of Saint Dominic. The Statue of Saint Dominic is carried through the town and then placed back in the piazza.

Blessed St. Dominic’s Day

Today is the day on which the universal Church celebrates the feast of Our Holy Father, St. Dominic. St. Dominic was born around the year 1171. He died on the Feast of the Transfiguration, August 6, 1221. Until the liturgical reforms of the Second Vatican Council, his feast day was celebrated on August 4th. The Order now celebrates with the whole Church on this day, August 8th.

In honor of the feast, we have uploaded a PDF file with a few short excerpts from some of the Popes of the 20th century on the Dominican Order.

In addition, below are the verse lines in honor of St. Dominic from Dante’s Paradiso. In this great epic poem, these lines are spoken by St. Bonaventure in honor of the virtues of St. Dominic.

From The Comedy of Dante Alighieri the Florentine
Cantica III: Paradise (Il Paradiso)
(Canto XII, Lines 37 – 105)
Translated into English by Dorothy L. Sayers

Following its banner with uncertain stride,
Christ’s army, once rearmed at such dear cost,
Was straggling on, thin-ranked and terrified,

So that the eternal Emperor was disposed -
Not by their merit, but by His sole grace -
To reinforce His gravely threatened host,

And for His Bride’s relief was pleased to raise
Two champions, fit (as has been shown to us)
By word and deed to rally those poor strays.

Within that province where sweet Zephyrus
Swells till the springtide foliage is unfurled,
Wherewith all Europe is made beauteous,

Nor distant from that coastline where the hurled
Waves beat on which, his longest course pursued,
The sun at times hides him from all the world,

Long time hath happy Calahorra stood,
Protected by the mighty shield which shows
The lion by turns subduing and subdued;

And in that town was born the amorous
Sweet leman of the Faith, the wrestler-saint,
Kind to his friends and ruthless to his foes;

A soul created so pre-eminent
In living might, that a prophetic power
From her womb’s burden through his mother went.

And when the sacred font in nuptial hour
Had wed the Faith to him and him to her,
With their salvation for their mutual dower,

The lady who stood sponsor for him there
Dreamed of the wondrous fruit that afterward
He and his heirs should foster by their care;

And there, that name and nature might accord,
Seeing Whose he was, the Spirit going forth
Named him by the possessive of the Lord.

Dominic was his name, whose work and worth
I publish, as the husbandman whom Christ
Called to His garden to help till the earth.

New Website: St. Vincent Ferrer Church, New York City

On August 8, 2007, the Solemnity of our Holy Father St. Dominic, St. Vincent Ferrer Church unveiled its new website. St. Vincent’s has been operated by the Dominican Friars since it was established as a parish in 1867. It is located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan on Lexington Avenue between 65th & 66th Streets. The current church was designed by Mr. Bertram Goodhue, one of the premier ecclesiastical architects of the early 20th century. The church building was completed in 1918, and the furnishings and accoutrements were added in the years following. The website contains a great deal of information about the the life of St. Vincent Ferrer, the history of the church, and a glimpse into its spectacular architecture.
St. Vincent Ferrer Church is located at 869 Lexington Ave., New York, NY 10065. They can be reached by phone at (212) 744-2080. The website is http://www.csvf.org

The Analogy of Being: Invention of the Anti-Christ, or the Wisdom of God?

From the Dominican House of Studies Website:

The Analogy of Being: Invention of the Anti-Christ, or the Wisdom of God?

A Theological Symposium

Date: April 4—6, 2008

Place: The John Paul II Cultural Center, Washington , D.C.

Is there any ‘natural’ knowledge of God available to the human person, apart from Christian revelation, or is all knowledge of God given to human beings uniquely in Christ? Is Christianity irrevocably wed to the classical metaphysical tradition, or can God’s nature and character be rethought in distinctly modern ways, based upon a renewed reading of Scripture? What relationship or likeness, if any, exists between created nature and the grace of God? Does Christian theology presuppose a natural philosophical ‘capacity’ for knowledge of God in the human person?

All of these fundamental theological questions are situated at the heart of the famous 20th century debate between Erich Przywara S.J. and Karl Barth, and were treated in Przywara’s famous work Analogia Entis. These topics were also revisited by Hans Urs von Balthasar in his ecumenical landmark, The Theology of Karl Barth. On the occasion of a forthcoming English translation of Analogia Entis by John Betz and David Bentley Hart, this symposium will invite contemporary theologians indebted to Aquinas, Przywara, Barth and Balthasar to discuss these issues. Is the theological concept of the ‘analogy of being’ in fact an ‘invention of the anti-Christ’ as Karl Barth suggested, or is it a truth about creation revelatory of the wisdom of God?

Featured Speakers:

John Betz
Martin Bieler
Peter Casarella
Michael Hanby
David Bentley Hart
Reinhard Hütter
Bruce McCormack
Bruce Marshall
Richard Schenk O.P.
John Webster
Thomas Joseph White O.P.

Sponsored by:

The Dominican House of Studies
The John Paul II Cultural Center
Eerdmans Press

(Flyer Illustration by fr. Antoninus Niemiec, O.P., after Giusto, Creation of the World; © 2007.)

Ignite Your Torch 2007

This past weekend, July 26-29, our friars participated in the 3rd annual Ignite Your Torch Youth Conference held in Louisville, KY. Our Dominican brothers John Martin Ruiz Mayorga, OP, James Brent, OP, and John Chrysostom Kozlowski, OP. In addition, several Dominican priests also assisted at the conference. You can click here for a video put together by the conference organizers. Click on the picture below to see a slideshow of pictures from the conference:

(Thanks to Mr. Albert Cesare, who took the photos)

Nashville Dominicans

Our Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia are being blessed with many vocations.

This video was originally shared on blip.tv by op with a Creative Commons Attribution license.

General Chapter in Bogotá, Columbia

In July, the Order of Preachers began its General Chapter. The Chapter has the highest authority in the Order. There are three types of General Chapters: elective, a chapter of diffinitors, and a chapter of priors provincial. According to the Constitutions of the Order of Friars Preachers, a General Chapter is held every three years, rotating through the various types of chapters. Thus, the Order held its General Elective Chapter in Providence, RI in 2001. At that General Chapter, the current Master of the Order, Very Rev. Carlos Aspiroz Costa, OP, was elected as the 85th successor to St. Dominic. The General Chapter of Diffinitors was held in Krakow, Poland in 2004. This current chapter is a Chapter of Priors Provinicial and is being held in Bogotá, Columbia. The next chapter–in 2010–will be another Elective Chapter, in which a Master of the Order will be elected. The location of that General Chapter will be determined by the current General Chapter in Bogotá.

Under our laws, in order for a piece of legislation to become a constitution, it must be approved by three successive general chapters. Thus, three different sets of representatives of the Order must approve the legislation. This is to help ensure that any legislation that is approved has the widest possible support. This Chapter of Provincials will thus pass on changes to our law offered by the General Elective Chapter and the Chapter of Diffinitors.

The picture shown above is of the participants of the current General Chapter of Priors Provincial. In addition to the Provincials, other guests are also invited to the Chapter. Thus, you can see a number of Dominican Sisters as guests of the Chapter. The Master of the Order is in the center, wearing the full Dominican habit (i.e., with the black cappa).

Dominican Sisters

News coverage on the Dominican Sisters. Mother Mary of the Eucharist

This video was originally shared on blip.tv by op with a Creative Commons Attribution license.

New WebCam

We have a new webcam for the construction site of the Academic Center & Theological Library. Click on the picture above and enter the user name: dhs2007 and password: 2007dhs

Don’t tell anyone it’s top secret!

Simple Profession

One year ago, eight men received the habit of St. Dominic and entered the Novitiate for the Province of St. Joseph in the Priory of St. Gertrude in Cincinnati, OH.  Those same eight men are now preparing to take their first vows as religious, promising obedience to the Master of the Order according to the Constitutions of the Order of Friars Preachers.  The men will make their simple profession of vows at the Parish Church of St. Gertrude on the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, August 15, 2007 at 11:30am.  The men making vows are: Fr. Guy Albert Trudel, Br. Andrew Jordan Joseph Schmidt, Br. Matthew Augustine Marie Reisenauer, Br. Kevin Michael Dominic O’Connor, Br. Edward Bernard Marie Timothy, Br. Joseph Peter Totleben, Br. Matthew Carroll, and Br. Christopher Justin Marie Brophy.  After making profession, they will come to the Priory of the Immaculate Conception (Dominican House of Studies) to continue their formation in the Order of Preachers and begin their studies for the priesthood. 

Please pray for them as they prepare to make their first vows as Dominican friars.

 

 

Deacon Ordinations

On Saturday, Setpember 15, 2007, our brothers Hugh Vincent Dyer, O.P., and Thomas Joseph White, O.P., will be ordained to the order of Deacons.  The ordination will occur at our Priory of the Immaculate Conception (Dominican House of Studies) in Washington, DC.  The Mass of Ordination will begin at 11:00am in the Priory chapel.

The ordaining prelate will be Most Rev. Edwin F. O’Brien, Archbishop-designate of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, formerly Archbishop of the Archdiocese of the Military Services of the United States of America. 

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

 

 

 

Saint Martin de Porres-pray for us!

Fr Vincent DeLucia with the 15 postulants in front of the Saint Martin de Porres statue at Providence College. These men will receive their habits at the beginning of their novitiate on August 8, the Solemnity of St. Dominic.

Construction Update

You can see the latest updates by clicking the flickr badge at the bottom of the sidebar. For the Slide show click on the photo.

Ignite Your Torch 2007

This year, our friars will once again participate in the Ignite Your Torch Catholic Youth Conference in Louisville, KY. The conference will be held July 26 – 29, 2007 at Bellarmine University in Louisville.

Here is a schedule of the talks that the Student Brothers will be giving at the conference:

Thursday July 26th
6:15pm: Br. James Brent, O.P., will give a General Assembly talk entitled: Prayer: How to Meet Jesus Christ for Yourself.

Friday July 27th
9:30am & 10:30am Workshop: Br. John Chrysostom Kozlowski, O.P., on: The Parts of the Eucharistic Prayer and How to Pray During It.
9:30am & 10:30am Workshop: Br. James Brent, O.P., on: The Mass and the Meaning of Life.
2:00pm Workshop: Rev. Br. John Martin Ruiz-Mayorga, O.P., on: Examination of Conscience: An Effective Means to Advance in Virtue.
2:00pm Workshop: Br. John Chrysostom Kozlowski, O.P., on: Making An Examination of Conscience As Part of One’s Daily Life.

Saturday July 28th:
2:45 pm Apologetics Workshop: Br. James Brent, O.P., on: Sola Scriptura

To learn more about the conference, and obtain a full list of speakers, visit the website at: http://www.igniteyourtorch.org/.

Click on the photo below to see a slideshow of pictures from Ignite Your Torch 2006.

Theology & Donuts in Charlottesville, VA

Br. Thomas Joseph White, OP, is spending this summer assisting at the parish of St. Thomas Aquinas in Charlottesville, VA. St. Thomas serves as the University Parish for the University of Virginia. As part of his apostolate there, Br. Thomas Joseph will be hosting two series of talks as a part of the parish ‘Theology and Donuts’ series. The talks will be held on Sundays throughout the summer from 10:20am to 11:10am in the church hall. The schedule of talks for the summer is listed below:

Series I: Jesus in His Historical Context

June 17 Can We Know Anything Historically about Jesus?
June 24 Did Jesus Know He Was God? (In the Community Room)
July 1 How Did Jesus Understand and Prophecy His Own Crucifixion?
July 8 Did Christ Truly Rise Physically from the Dead?
July 15 Did the Earliest Christians Really Believe that Jesus is God?

Series II: The Beginning and the Ending of the Life of the Virgin Mary

July 22 The Hierarchy of the Human: The Sinlessness of the Virgin Mary
July 29 The Death of the Virgin Mary

The parish of St. Thomas Aquinas is located at 401 Alderman Rd., Charlottesville, VA 22903. The phone number for the parish is (434) 293-8081.

Angelicum

The Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas, also known as Pontificia Università San Tommaso d’Aquino or the Angelicum, is one of the major pontifical universities of Rome.

This video was originally shared on blip.tv by op with a No license (All rights reserved) license.

Scripture Series at St. Dominic’s Church, Youngstown, OH

On Mondays and Thursdays in the month of July, Br. Anthony Giambrone, OP, is offering a series of lectures at St. Dominic’s Summer School of Theology at St. Dominic’s Parish in Youngstown, OH.  On Mondays he will speak about first century history as a background for understanding the Gospels; and on Thursdays he will comment on the Gospel of Matthew.  Br. Anthony is currently working on his License in Sacred Scripture at Catholic University.  St. Dominic’s is located at 77 E Lucius Ave., Youngstown, OH 44507.  The parish office can be reached at (330) 783-1900.

Devotion to the Precious Blood

“You are ransomed . . .  not with perishable things like silver or gold but with the precious blood of Christ” (1 Peter 1:8-9)

Traditionally, the month of July is dedicated to the Precious Blood of Jesus.  In the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, Jesus offers himself for the life of the world, so that we may all enjoy a share in the divine life, here, and unto eternity.  Sharing in the life of Jesus means that we also share in his mission.  In the Holy Eucharist, Jesus feeds us so that we can share his mission.  We are called to offer ourselves for the life of the world in union with Him.

St. Catherine’s, New York:  God in his providential love has located the parish of St. Catherine’s in proximiy to many hospitals on New York’s Upper East Side.  Members of the parish practice daily the corporal work of mercy: care for the sick.  We do this in diverse ways: prayer, fidelity to vocation as health care professionsls and support staff, health care ethics, hospital chaplaincy, attentiveness to study as medical students, visits, and bringing of Holy Eucharist to the sick.  In this month of the Precious Blood, the parish of St. Catherine’s is highlighting Blood Donation as a way for to share in the mission of Christ, of self-giving for the lives of others.  The parish is asking the people in the area to call the New York Blood Center (1-800-933-BLOOD) to schedule a time for donation.  Liturgically, St. Catherine’s will celebrate in a special way with votive masses in honor of the Precious Blood of Jesus at the Noon Mass on all the Mondays of July.  St. Catherine’s is located at 411 East 68th Street (on 68th Street between 1st Ave. & York) in New York City.

St. Dominic’s, Youngstown, OH:  On Wednesdays in the month of July, the student brothers at St. Dominic’s Parish in Youngstown will be preaching in honor of the Precious Blood during Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament.  The student brothers in Youngstown, OH this summer are: Brs. Anthony Giambrone, OP, Dominic Bump, OP, and Jerome Zeiler, OP.  St. Dominic Church is located at 77 E Lucius Ave., Youngstown, OH 44507.

“The infinite love of the Savior is announced in His Name, is symbolized in His heart, and is made eloquent in His Blood.” –Bl. Pope John XXIII.

St. Catherine’s Priory Blessing

On Thursday, June 21, 2007, Edward Cardinal Egan, Archbishop of New York, came to our church of St. Catherine to bless our new priory there. St. Catherine’s is located on east 68th street in New York’s Upper East Side. In addition to the parish, the friars of St. Catherine minister to three hospitals located in the area: Memorial Sloane-Kettering Cancer Center, Hospital for Special Surgery, and New York Presbyterian.

The new priory is located in the new research facility of Memorial Sloane-Kettering. Formerly the site of an dold priory and elementary school, these were sold to Memorial Sloane-Kettering for their new cancer research building. As part of the sale, space was reserved in the building for a new priory for the Dominican friars. In addition, the lower floors will provide much needed meeting and classroom space for the parish of St. Catherine.

 

Preaching on Humanae Vitae

Fr. John Baptist Ku, O.P., a Dominican friar of the Eastern Province, speaks about Humanae Vitae and parish preaching. (Video 19 min.) of a talk given at the Dominican House of Studies, Washington, D.C. on June 18, 2007.

St. Vincent Ferrer Church

Rev. Carleton Jones, OP, leads the the Corpus Christi procession at the Church of St. Vincent Ferrer, in New York City. Fr. Jones is assisted by Rev. Br. Pius Pietrzyk, OP, serving as deacon. The Eucharistic procession makes is way through the church under the traditional canopy, this one adorned with the shield of the Dominican Order.

Construction Photo Album

Click on the photo to see the album which follows the construction of the new Dominican Academic Center & Theological Library.

Angelicum Student Martyred

Father Robert Christian O.P. a professor at the Angelicum speaks about a former classmate of mine Father Ragheed Ganni.

Corpus Christi

On Sunday 10 June, the Feast of Corpus Christi, Catholics of Oxford took part in a Eucharistic Procession from the Oxford Oratory to the Catholic Chaplaincy, pausing at Blackfriars Priory for a sermon given by Bishop William Kenney CP, auxiliary of Birmingham.

Uploaded by Lawrence OP on 10 Jun 07, 3.28PM PDT.

Photo Album of Ordination

Click on the photo to view the album from the Ordination.

Dominican Review, vol. 2, no. 4

 

The latest issue of the Dominican Review, the Journal of the Student Brothers of the Eastern Province, is now available.  This issue includes a reflection by the editor on the relationship between the theological virtue of hope and the Blessed Sacrament.  Also, Br. Ignatius Schweitzer, O.P., writes on “The Holy Name of Jesus and Blessed Henry Suso, O.P.”  In an article entitled “Our God is Not Like Other Gods”, Br. Austin Litke, O.P., constasts God’s revelation of himself to Israel and in Christ to the understanding of gods in the ancient pagan religions.  Finally, Rev. James Cuddy, O.P., who was just ordained to the priesthood this past May, reflects on the nature of the Holy Eucharist and the feast of Corpus Christi.

The latest issue of the Dominican Review can be read as a .PDF file here.

Exploring Catholicism: Rediscovering the Splendor of Catholic Life

Brs. Francis de Sales Johnston, OP, and Ignatius Schweitzer, OP, will be co-hosting a summer lecture series at our parish of St. Patrick in downtown Columbus, OH. The series will be on Thursday nights from June 7 to July 26 at 7:00pm in the parish hall. The title of the Series is “Exploring Catholicism: Rediscovering the Splendor of a Catholic Life” and will include topics on faith & reason, biblical interpretation, and the uniqueness of Christ.

St. Patrick church is located at 280 N. Grant Street, Columbus, OH 43215.

They can be found on the Web at http://home.catholicweb.com/stpatrickcolumbus/index.cfm

A Summer of Adoration in The City

“In life today, which is often noisy and scattered, it is more important than ever to recover the capacity for interior silence and recollection: Eucharistic adoration permits one to do this…”

- Pope Benedict XVI, Angelus Message, June 10, 2007 

Rev. Br. Pius Pietrzyk, OP, who was ordained a transitional deacon this past January, has been assigned to our parish of St. Vincent Ferrer on New York’s Upper East Side. As a part of his ministry, Br. Pius will offer adoration and benediction of the Blessed Sacrament each Friday throughout the summer. Exposition will being shortly following the 12:10pm parish Mass and end with benediction at 1:30pm. Within the context of adoration, Br. Pius will also offer a preaching series entitled: Eucharistic Adoration & Virtue”. This series will focus on the relationship between the spiritual life (adoration) and the moral life (virtue).

When: Every Friday During Summer (June 15 to August 10, 2007)
Exposition following the 12:10 Mass, Benediction at 1:30
Beginning on the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Where: St. Vincent Ferrer Catholic Church
869 Lexington Ave. (Lexington at East 66th Street)
New York, NY 10065

For information, call the parish at (212) 744-2080.

 

Ordination to Priesthood

(10 min video) Fathers James Cuddy, O.P., Dominic Legge, O.P. and Allen Moran, O.P. were ordained to the priesthood by Archbishop Donald Wuerl at St. Dominic Church, Washington, D.C.