Fr. Cole’s book is meant to help priests and seminarians reckon with the seven deadly sins in a healthy and faith-filled way so that they will not be taken aback by the trials these hidden enemies bring about.
The first paragraph of Dr. Mirus’s article is below, and the remainder of the article can be read here: What Makes a Good Priest?
What makes a good priest? I’ve found the answer in fine book by Dominican Father Basil Cole entitled The Hidden Enemies of the Priesthood. From the title, you might think the book is about a conspiracy against priests. But that’s only true if you regard the work of the Devil and the temptations of human vice a conspiracy. Rather, Fr. Cole is concerned to explain the vices to which priests are often prone, and which vitiate their ministries. Clearly this also implies a standard of goodness, but let’s take the bad news first.
At the end of his article, Dr. Mirus praises Fr. Cole’s book and strongly recommends it:
The Hidden Enemies of the Priesthood provides both a lucid explanation of what it takes to become a good priest and a practical reflection on the vices which too often ruin the work. For priests and seminarians, this is essential reading.
For the upcoming Year of St. Paul, Fr. Peter John Cameron, O.P. has edited a volume: Praying with St. Paul. Among the contributors to the book are two Professors at the Dominican House of Studies: Fr. John Corbett, O.P. and Fr. Francis Martin.
The Editor’s description of the book: “Praying with Saint Paul is a handbook of daily reflections that leads the reader into the richness of the writings of the great Apostle. The words of Saint Paul are very familiar to us from the readings of the eucharistic Liturgy. Yet, we rarely get a chance to reflect on Paul’s wisdom. Praying with Saint Paul offers a kind of lectio divina–a “spiritual reading”–of Paul’s letters by which one can go deeply into the mind and heart of this great saint in a very practical, convenient, and “user-friendly” way day-by-day. You will find an entry for each day of the year that starts with a short quotation from one of Paul’s letters. It is followed by an original reflection by one of the book’s thirty-two gifted spiritual authors. Each entry concludes with a thought-provoking prayer. Praying with Saint Paul will guide you through the spiritual treasury of Saint Paul’s thought–from the Letter to the Romans to the Letter to Philemon. This volume will help you to meditate, giving deeper illumination and deepening your familiarity with one of the spiritual giants of the Church. “
Eleven men will begin their postulancy this July at Providence College in Providence, R.I.. The Postulancy has a new director, Fr. Stephen Alcott, O.P., whose current full-time position is that of associate pastor and campus minister of the St. Thomas Moore Oratory at the University of Delaware. Read the brief biographies of these 11 men to find out what sort of men God is drawing to the Province of St. Joseph these days.
Fr. Christopher M. Saliga, OP, RN will be one among the poster presenters at this year’s Annual Meeting of the Society for Spirituality, Theology, and Health to take place at Duke University under the sponsorship of the Duke University School of Medicine from June 25-27, 2008. Fr. Saliga’s presentation is entitled Promotion of Holistic Health via Excellent Family Planning: A Catholic Perspective. It is designed to help participants better understand why the Roman Catholic Church absolutely opposes contraceptive practices, even when difficult circumstances and/or apparently good intentions seem to justify such practices. Simply put, contraceptive practices, by their very nature, damage family, spousal, and individual holistic health.
The New Evangelization: Overcoming the Obstacles is a new book co-edited by Fr. Steven Boguslawski, OP, and Mr. Ralph Martin which will be available in July 2008. This book identifies and addresses the most important obstacles to the success of the new evangelization doctrinally, spiritually and pastorally, by leading experts in the field. The book is being published by Paulist Press.
Fr. Steven Boguslawski is the President of the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception at the Dominican House of Studies. In addition to his new duties for the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception, Fr. Boguslawksi is currently the executive director of the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center. He is the author of several books focusing upon Jewish-Catholic relations in the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas.
Mr. Ralph Martin is the President of Renewal Ministries and the host of the weekly television program The Choices We Face. He is the author of several books on the Catholic Church and spirituality and audio albums on the teaching of the saints. He is the Director of Graduate Programs in The New Evangelization at Sacred Heart Seminary in Detroit. Ralph is also Assistant Professor of Theology at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in the Archdiocese of Detroit as well as Visiting Professor of Theology at Franciscan University of Steubenville.
This summer, Rev. Br. Thomas Petri, O.P., will offer a summer lecture series on “Faith in the Public Square” at the Dominican Church of St. Pius V in Providence, RI. In his first lecture on Wednesday, June 25th, entitled “Evangelizing Culture, Renewing Society,” Br. Thomas will explain the nature of the Church’s social doctrine as a means of evangelizing and renewing society. The session is to cover the fundamental concepts that are necessary both to understand Church social teaching and to bring that teaching to the world. The lectures will continue throughout the summer. Click on the image above for a full-sized image (JPG) of the flyer.
On Friday, May 16, 2008 the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception at the Dominican House of Studies held its annual commencement. The Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus, Carl Anderson spoke to the graduates about secularism and the challenge to build a civilization of Love.
Every summer, the student brothers are sent out to the various priories and hoses of the province to perform a summer apostolate. Br. Bruno Shah, Br. Austin Litke, and Br. Peter Totleben are spending the summer at St. Dominic’s Priory in Youngstown, Ohio. They have been getting an experience of the international fraternity of the Dominican Order.
This summer, Fr. Zafar Iqbal, O.P. has been visiting from Pakistan. Fr. Zafar was in formation in Pakistan when friars from our province had a mission there. Everyone has enjoyed hearing about the music, culture, opportunities and challenges that the Order and the Church face in Pakistan.
Recently, the brothers also enjoyed a visit from one of the brothers of the English province. Br. Bruno Clifton, O.P. is a deacon who is expected to be ordained to the priesthood in September. He is involved with the student chaplaincy at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. The brothers got to get together and talk about what formation and the Order were like in England and the U.S.
Vatican City, Jun 13, 2008 / 09:23 am (CNA). The Vatican announced that the relics of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, a student and member of the Dominican Third Order, will be taken to Sydney, Australia, for World Youth Day next month.
Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, who was beatified by John Paul II in 1990, will be one of the 10 official patrons of World Youth Day (WYD). A release from the Pontifical Council from the Laity noted that the blessed is widely venerated in Australia and that the presence of his relic will be one of the central features of WYD.
Pier Giorgio Frassati was born in Turin, Italy, on April 6, 1901 and was raised in a very rich Catholic family. During his adolescence he cultivated a profound spiritual life and became an active member of Catholic Action, the apostolate of prayer, the Eucharistic League and the Association of University Student Adorers.
He lived an austere live and gave a large portion of his money to the poor. He was an intrepid athlete, skier and mountain climber.
When he turned 24, he was diagnosed with a terminal illness which claimed his life in only one week. He died on July 4, 1925 and was buried at the cathedral of Turin.
His relic will be transported to Sydney on June 19 and will be placed in the church of St. Benedict.
From July 11-22, the casket of the blessed will be on display in Sydney cathedral where participants in WYD will be able to come and pay homage. Hanging near his casket will be ten panels illustrating Pier Giorgio Frassati’s life and thought.
In addition, an exhibition dedicated to Pier Giorgio Frassati’s life will be held in Sydney Exhibition Hall July 15-18.
Blackfriars Repertory Theatre presents a new play by Harry Cornelius Cronin, an adaptation of a medieval miracle story transposed to the present day in which the Blessed Virgin Mary (Our Lady of Guadalupe) contends with the devil (a mariachi band member) for the soul of a dead Mexican gang leader in present-day Los Angeles.
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The Dominican Friars and the Blackfriars Repertory Theatre held a Eucharistic Prayer Service with drama and music presented in the style of the Stations of the Cross at St. Vincent Ferrer Church in New York City on the Feast of Corpus Christi Sunday 2008.
Marcus Grodi host of EWTN’s The Journey Home speaks with guest Chris Osgood, a former Baptist Youth Minister, about his journey to the Catholic Church. Chris speaks about how Br. Ignatius Schweitzer, O.P. explained certain teachings of Catholicism to him in a way that made sense and how their friendship led him into becoming a Catholic. Listen around 29:36 for this part of the show and click below for more information on the conference which changed Chris’s life: Ignite Your Torch 2008
Vocations & Formation by Brother Ignatius Perkins, O.P.
A Cooperator Brother is a friar who is called to live a life of prayer and service in the Order of Preachers. Referred to by the title of “Brother,” he relates to the people he ministers to in a direct and fraternal way. He lives a full religious life, as an equal with his brother priests. Together they share in the preaching mission of the Order, but unlike his ordained brothers is freed from the demands of a sacramental ministry. While a Dominican priest preaches primarily through his sacramental ministry, the Cooperator Brother uses a variety of other opportunities, using his particular set of gifts, to preach Christ’s love in ministering to the needs of those around him. Regardless of his ministry – whether leading the community in prayer, teaching a theology course at a University, or in meeting the homeless on the street – the Cooperator Brother is first and foremost a preacher. For more information on the vocation of Cooperator Brother, visit the section above marked “Brother”.
Brother Damian McCarthy, O.P. and the ‘Dominican Moment’
In today’s culture, life-long commitments for many are often considered an experience found in the dustbins of antiquity. The Golden Jubilee of Religious Profession of Brother Damian McCarthy, O.P., celebrated on Sunday, June 1 at St. Vincent Ferrer Church in New York, portrayed a dramatic counter-cultural witness to the world that a life-long commitment as a Dominican Friar works!
Brother Damian’s call to Dominican life as a cooperator brother in 1957 was not of his own doing. God determined his life as a Dominican Friar before time began. Through Baptism, Confirmation and the consecration of his life through the profession of Solemn Vows, Brother Damian was given the freedom, the joy and indeed the responsibility to help others come to understand and to cooperate with God’s Word through his life in community and in the many ministries entrusted to him. Brother Damian responded to God’s call by saying “yes” and the lived expression of this “yes” continues with vibrancy and confidence. For him this continues to be the Dominican Moment!
O.P. Formation Program Sees a Certain Kind of Priest
BY STEPHEN MIRARCHI
REGISTER CORRESPONDENT
June 8-14, 2008 Issue | Posted 6/3/08 at 10:18 AM
WASHINGTON — When five Dominicans were ordained on May 23 at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C., it was the fruit of a long process.
The Order of Preachers, whose religious and priests are commonly called Dominicans after their founder St. Dominic, took a high profile role in Pope Benedict XVI’s U.S. visit. And their profile is only getting higher.
The Dominican House of Studies — the order’s prominent seminary in Washington, D.C. — recently announced plans to build a new academic center and theological library, confirming an increase in vocations and a broad expansion of the order.
The Dominicans’ long-standing reputation for forming highly educated religious and priests appeals to many called to vocations these days, but study alone is not the draw, said Father John Langlois, master of students at the Dominican House of Studies.
“We see study as a contemplative activity,” he said. “We seek to integrate it into our prayer life. It’s pushing lectio divina [prayerful reading of Scripture] to a new level: This is a meditative study of theology, nourishing our life of prayer.”
To that end, the study of St. Thomas Aquinas — one of the Church’s master theologians and a Dominican himself — is an important emphasis for those in formation.
At the Noon Mass on Sunday, June 1, the Church of St. Vincent Ferrer celebrated the Golden Jubilee of Br. Damian McCarthy, OP. A native of the Bronx, Br. Damian has spent more than half of his religious life living and working at St. Vincent’s. Click below to hear the homily delivered by Fr. William Holt, OP, prior of the community.
A few months ago, I had the pleasure of leading a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. This is the first in an occasional series of posts reporting the highlights from that trip.
After a (very) long day of travel nearly halfway around the globe, we arrived in Tel Aviv and drove by bus to our hotel on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. What beauty! This photo, taken just after dawn, only begins to capture the serenity of that place. Still largely undeveloped, this view looking across the Sea of Galilee must be largely the same as that seen so often by our Lord.
While sitting on the shore, reading the Gospels, and looking at this peaceful view, I was overwhelmed with a simple but profound realization. The Gospels do not tell a fairy tale. They do not just contain “stories.” No, they narrate a real history: Jesus of Nazareth was a real man; he lived at a definite point in history; he lived and taught and sailed and ate HERE.
This was the place he chose to live as an adult, and he must have been quite fond of its beauty. How often did he pause, perhaps with Peter, James, and John, to gaze at the rising sun across this very Sea? What were his thoughts when he looked at this scene for the last time, knowing that he was headed to Jerusalem to suffer and die? It is not ours to know such things. But we do know that he was here, and for a Christian, who measures all time from the central pole of history — the moment when God became man — this makes all the difference in the world.
On May 2, 2008, Br. Thomas Joseph White, O.P., spoke at Theology on Tap in the Diocese of Arlingtion. He examined the question “Did Jesus Know He was God?”
The latest issue of the Dominican Review, a journal of the student brothers is online. This Pentecost issue features Fr. Albert Trudel, O.P. reflecting on the sequence Veni Sancte Spiritus; Br. Hugh Vincent Dyer, O.P reflecting on signs of the Holy Spirit in his ministry; and Br. Jerome Zeiler, O.P. reflecting on the virtue of fortitude.
Listen to Br. Hugh Vincent Dyer, O.P. preaching at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in preparation for the Pope’s visit last month:
As we have previously mentioned, a number of our brothers were involved in preaching at the Basilica of the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception to a crowd awaiting Pope Benedict’s arrival there last month. Here is the talk preached by Br. James Brent, O.P.
From the May 10, 2008 edition of The Canton Repository, a newspaper in Canton, OH, reporting a story on the appointment of Fr. Chris Saliga, O.P., a Dominican of St. Joseph’s Province, as the new full-time chaplain of Walsh University.
Walsh University was founded as a Catholic college by the Brothers of Christian Instruction in Canton, OH in 1960. Fr. Saliga is assigned to St. Dominic’s Priory in Youngstown, OH.
Fr. William Bonniwell, O.P., one of our deceased brothers (1886-1984), was not only a famous historian of the liturgy, but also served as a military chaplain in World War I. Watch this fascinating interview of Fr. Bonniwell about his service (conducted by Fr. Antoninus Wall, O.P. of the Western Province), filmed in 1982 at our priory of St. Vincent Ferrer in New York City. Fr. Bonniwell was 96 at the time.
The Dominicans will be out in full force again at this year’s Ignite Your Torch 2008 youth conference in Louisville, KY. Click on the picture above to see a short slide show of pictures from last year.
Ignite Your Torch 2008
Youth Conference
July 24 - 27, 2008
at Bellarmine University
Louisville, Kentucky
This year Dominican friars from around our Province will be participating, including:
The Very Rev. Dominic Izzo, O.P., Prior Provincial
Fr. Giles Dimock, O.P., St. Dominic’s Church in Youngstown, OH
Fr. Stephen Dominic Hayes, O.P., St. Rose Church in Springfield, KY
Fr. James Cuddy, O.P., St. Louis Bertrand Church in Louisville, KY
Fr. Aquinas Guilbeau, O.P., St. Vincent Ferrer Church in New York City
and in Louisville, KY for the summer, from the House of Studies in Washington:
Rev. Br. Jonah Pollock, O.P.
Br. Bernard Marie Timothy, O.P.
Br. Justin Marie Brophy, O.P.
The conference will be organized by members of the Lay Dominican Fraternities (the Third Order) from New Hope, KY with help from the members of the St. Louis Bertrand Lay Dominican Fraternity.
IGNITE YOUR TORCH is a Catholic Youth conference in the spirit of World Youth Days, providing an opportunity for young people to discover how they can follow Jesus by deepening their faith. It is an opportunity to make new friendships in Christ, to receive the sacraments, to meet and talk to young priests and religious, and to worship, pray, learn, and recreate together. IGNITE YOUR TORCH is Eucharistically-centered, devoted to our Blessed Mother, and catechetical in nature, and teaches youth practical ways to build up the culture of life.
The French city of Toulouse is the cradle of the Dominican Order. It was in Toulouse and its surrounding towns that St. Dominic and the first friars began to live their new evangelical life as mendicant preachers. Their importance for the city of Toulouse can be measured by looking at the magnificent medieval Dominican church — sadly, confiscated by the French state and now run as a state-owned museum — known as the Jacobin. One of the greatest treasures of that great church was (and still is) the relics of St. Thomas Aquinas.
Every year on January 28, the Feast of St. Thomas Aquinas, the Dominicans of the Toulouse Province of France are permitted by the French Government to celebrate a solemn Mass at the (modern) altar over the relics of the Angelic Doctor in the Jacobin church. After the Mass, the friars carry the great reliquary in a procession through the ancient cloister, once inhabited by so many generations of friars preachers.
EWTN: The World Over - 5/2/2008
An episode from EWTN - Hosted by Raymond Arroyo with guest Fr. Joseph Fox, OP Professor of Canon Law at the Dominican House of Studies: Controversy over Communion in wake of recent Papal visit, begin listening at 8:53 for the context of the interview.
Friday, May 2 was the Feast of St. Athanasius, the fourth century bishop of Alexandria and doctor of the Church who defended the Nicene faith in the divinity of Christ. In a homily preached at the conventual Mass at the Dominican House of Studies, Rev. Br. Thomas Joseph White, O.P. preached on the saint’s significance for today.
A young lady with olive skin, black hair, and black eyes approached us. Her accented voice trembled as she asked us to pray with her there on the street. She explained that her brother had been killed in Baghdad and her father had been kidnapped a year ago. We all closed our eyes and bowed our heads as Monsignor prayed. He prayed for the comfort of this woman’s family, for mercy, and healing. He ended the prayer with a Hail Mary. . . .
As one of the Dominican friars assigned to the Priory of Saint Catherine of Siena, I have had the honor of celebrating Mass for and administering the anointing of the sick to the children of Ronald McDonald House in NYC. The video and article below tells of a surprise visit we had with the Pope. Continue Reading »
I Have Had the Joy of Announcing ‘Christ Our Hope’”
Here is a translation of the address Benedict XVI gave today at the general audience in St. Peter’s Square.
* * *
Even if a few days have already passed since my return, I would like to dedicate the catechesis of today, as I normally do, to the apostolic trip that I made to the United Nations and the United States of America this past April 15 to 21. Before all, I renew my most cordial appreciation to the U.S. episcopal conference, as well as President Bush, for having invited me and for the warm welcome they have given me. And I would like to extend my thanks to all those in Washington and New York who came to greet me and manifest their love for the Pope, or who have accompanied and supported me with prayer and with the offering of their sacrifices.
April 16th is a day I will not soon forget. It’s not often that you are with Popes and Presidents all in one day. The day began for well before my usual rising time, we had to get an early start if we were to be on time. Fr. James Cuddy, OP, celebrated the Mass Pro Pontifice in honor of the Holy Father’s presence in our city. I was his deacon and Br. Anthony Giambrone, OP, was our congregation, cantor, and lector. The three of us then made our way – Br. Anthony and I by train, Fr. James by carpool – on a cool but unusually beautiful day in the city of Washington. The train was moderately filled with groggy commuters, most of whom took little notice of the two black-cloaked friars who ventured into their morning routine. Continue Reading »
One of the benefits of a world interconnected through the Internet, with websites like blogs, is that you are able to read comments and even compliments that you might not otherwise hear. In a recent blog interview, Architect Adam Hermanson in describing some of the influences on his own appreciation of sacred architecture mentions our own Dominican House chapel:
Q: What church building has made the biggest impression
This summer, Rev. Br. Thomas Petri, O.P., will offer a summer lecture series on “Faith in the Public Square” at the 
