Our Mission

St. Dominic supporting the Lateran Basilica. Window - St. Dominic's Church, Washington, DC. Photo by Fr. Lawrence Lew, O.P.

Supporting the Church

One night in a vision Pope Innocent III saw the Lateran Basilica about to fall when suddenly St. Dominic threw himself against the building to steady it. This vision persuaded the pontiff that St. Dominic’s Order was pleasing to Heaven and would become one of the most powerful supporters of the Catholic Church.

To this day, the Dominican Friars support the Catholic Church and uphold its doctrines with clear preaching and careful study. As the Dominican saying goes, “The Order for the Church, not the Church for the Order.”

Your support helps us uphold the Truth of Jesus Christ against a culture of relativism as pastors, professors, campus chaplains, hospital chaplains, itinerant preachers, and new media evangelists.

Fr. Thomas Petri, O.P., Academic Dean of the PFIC, on EWTN Radio's Morning Glory

Engaging the Culture

Before St. Dominic Founded the Order of Preachers, he was traveling through southern France and spent the night at an inn whose owner had become a member of a heretical sect. Tradition holds that St. Dominic spent the entire night conversing with the man and by morning had converted him back to the Catholic faith! The man was converted not simply by St. Dominic’s piety, but by his ability  to present the truths of the faith in a rational and compelling way. Preaching that is grounded in faith and reason was not only persuasive in St. Dominic’s time, it remains perennially so!

Here are some of the ways your support helps the Dominican Friars continue to engage those who may never have heard the faith presented in reasonable way:

CAMPUS MINISTRIES 

  • Brown University
  • Dartmouth College
  • Johns Hopkins University
  • New York University
  • Providence College
  • Quinnipiac University
  • University of Louisville
  • University of Virginia

HOSPITAL CHAPLAINCIES 

  • Hospital for Special Surgery
  • Johns Hopkins Medicine
  • Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
  • New York Presbyterian Hospital
  • The Rockefeller University Hospital
  • Weill Cornell Medical Center

NEW EVANGELIZATION 

PRAYER APOSTOLATES

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Higher Education and the Future of Our Nation

 

According to a recent Pew poll, one-in-ten adults in the United States is a former Catholic. In 1974, 46% of American Catholics called themselves “strong Catholics.” In 2012, this number fell to 27%. College students in particular are abandoning their faith labels in record numbers—over 27% say they do not affiliate with any religion.

And yet, record numbers of young men are laying down their lives to serve as Friars Preachers. They join our ranks from acclaimed institutions of higher learning such as Harvard, Princeton, Columbia, Boston College, Notre Dame, Georgetown, Fordham, College of the Holy Cross, and many others.

Formed in the tradition of our father St. Dominic and the theology of our brother St. Thomas Aquinas, these men will return as priests to reach our nation’s next generation of leaders through our campus ministries. To young minds hungry for Truth, they will bring reason illuminated by Faith. For Truth is to be found in a person: Jesus Christ.

“Students wander around in universities that provide them with a lot of information but no real wisdom for life except various conventions of political correctness. For this reason, the Gospel message of healing resonates deeply.”

– Fr. James Brent, O.P., campus missionary


“The conversations I had with Dominican Friars served to inform me of a new way of thinking. I began to wonder, ‘why am I not happy with my own philosophy? What’s missing?’ Ultimately, I decided the part of my model of the world that didn’t fit was my atheism. I signed up for RCIA and was received into the Catholic Church.”

– Leah Libresco, author of Arriving at Amen, Seven Catholic Prayers That Even I Can Offer


“After graduation, I served as a campus missionary for two years at NYU with the Dominican Friars. Working day in and day out with them, I realized this way of life really might be for me—I entered the novitiate of the Dominican Friars in Cincinnati and received the habit.”

– Fr. Edmund McCollough, O.P.

Defending Life

Every year, the friars from the Dominican House of Studies and St. Dominic’s Priory faithfully attend the March for Life in Washington, D.C. The March draws thousands of people together annually, united in proclaiming the sacredness of every human life and the dignity of the human person, especially those who are most vulnerable.

In addition, friars have frequently attested to the reasonableness of protecting human life before legislative bodies, on campuses, and in the public square. Your support helps us promote a culture of life among the younger generation. The Pro-Life movement is growing… not growing old!

The Most Holy Rosary

According to Tradition, St. Dominic received the Rosary from the Blessed Virgin Mary during his evangelization of the Albigensian heretics. Since then, the Dominicans have always been the most active promoters of the Rosary, with official recognition of the Holy See. The Dominican Bl. Alan de la Roche founded the Rosary Confraternity and received the 15 promises of the Rosary from Our Lady. Bl. Bartolo Longo, a 3rd Order Dominican, was called a “true apostle of the Rosary” by Pope St. John Paul II in his institution of the Luminous Mysteries.

Today, the Dominican friars promote the Rosary as a spiritual weapon to fight a cultural battle for life, family, and a just society. Dominicans know that “true devotion must come from true faith.” With their advanced theological training and fidelity to the Church, the Friars of the Province of St. Joseph promote the Rosary on college campuses and in parishes in a way that is most effective to combat the moral and spiritual evils of our day.

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