The Dominicans

This weekend, we welcome three Dominican priests to lead our parish mission as the start of our anniversary celebrations. As a way of introduction, I wanted to devote this bulletin reflection to talking about the Dominican order a bit.

The Dominican Order is a religious order named, as you may expect, after its founder St. Dominic. St. Dominic was actually a contemporary of St. Francis of Assisi, and they founded their respective orders around the same time and for much the same purpose. Both orders are known as “mendicant orders,” meaning they take a vow of poverty wherein neither they nor their order can own property. This was done as a way of trying to return to ancient Christian practice of absolute detachment from worldly things. 

Where the two differ, however, is their charisms. While the Franciscans are well known for being devoted to service to the poor, the Dominicans are devoted instead to preaching and teaching the Faith. St. Dominic himself traveled all over Europe preaching the Gospel, combating heresies and leading the people back to authentic practice of the Faith. The Dominicans today continue this mission by teaching in schools and, as you can see this week, leading parish missions and other missionary activity.

Thank you to Fr. Croell and his brother priests for being here to lead our parish mission, and please keep them and the mission in your prayer that it may bear much fruit for our parish and our community!