Fr. John Paul Kern, O.P. and Fr. Isaiah Beiter, O.P., on retreat with students from NYU last Fall. Photo by Chris Mathews.

Dear Friends in Christ,

Fall is now upon us, which means back-to-school for many, including both our young friars in formation and all of the Dominicans who serve on university campuses.

Campus ministry is such a critically important element to the life of college students, especially today. Sometimes, it’s the pivotal element in the life of a student. In my own experience, it was at college that I discovered the richness and beauty of the Catholic faith and the gift of the Eucharist. Entering the Catholic Church and growing in a vibrant Catholic campus ministry eventually led me to become a Dominican Friar and a priest. God is so good!

Dominican Friars are doing this same thing for many college students today—sharing the fullness of truth in Jesus Christ, building up strong faith communities, and providing spiritual nourishment through the sacraments. In this issue of Blackfriars, you can read about what God is doing through the ministry of the Dominican Friars on the campuses of Brown University and Johns Hopkins.

Fr. Josemaría Guzmán-Domínguez, O.P., chaplain at Johns Hopkins University, with some members of his student flock.

In addition to our work in Catholic campus ministries, our Thomistic Institute continues to grow through an increasing number of student chapters on college campuses throughout the US and abroad and is opening up the intellectual horizons of college students to the timeless wisdom of St. Thomas Aquinas. The Thomistic Institute started out on four campuses in 2015—Harvard, Duke, Yale, and Brown—and has grown to nearly 100 campuses today. So, the work of the Province of St. Joseph is having a real impact on the lives of college students in places we couldn’t imagine reaching even 10 years ago.

Your support for the formation of our friars is what enables us to send out well-trained, zealous priests to serve on college campuses and many other apostolates. Every Dominican Friar is formed in a life of liturgical prayer and rigorous study of the Catholic faith, aided by the thought of St. Thomas Aquinas and this equips us to hand on the fruits of our contemplation and study through our preaching and teaching, bringing the full truth of the Catholic faith to nourish hungry souls in a way that they may not have heard before.

Thank you for your partnership in our Dominican mission. Please continue to keep us in your prayers and know of our prayers for you and your loved ones.

In Christ and St. Dominic,

Fr. John Paul Kern, O.P.
Executive Director
Dominican Friars Foundation