I hope that you and your loved ones are well during this holy season of Advent. We wait in joyful expectation for the coming of Christ, our newborn King, and we are invited to “prepare the way for the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God” (Isaiah 40:3).
This fall, Dominican Friars have been at work preparing the way for the Lord on campus and in media outreach to students and young adults. Between our official campus ministries, university parishes, spiritual confraternities, and Thomistic Institute chapters, the Dominican Friars are now preaching the Gospel on over 50 college campuses across the country.
Two of my Dominican brothers, Fr. Gregory Pine, O.P., and Fr. Jacob Bertrand Janczyk, O.P., have launched a new podcast through Ascension Press. “Catholic Classics” has quickly reached number one in Religion and Spirituality in the USA on Apple podcasts!
This issue of Blackfriars highlights some ways in which Dominican Friars are bringing Jesus to campus through their faithful preaching, teaching, and celebration of the sacraments. As the bishops of the United States have called for a 3-year Eucharistic Revival to renew the Church, Dominican Friars bring Jesus Christ in the Most Holy Eucharist to university students through the celebration of Mass and Eucharistic Adoration. This Eucharistic ministry forms and empowers students, even in the harshest of secular environments, to keep Jesus Christ at the center of their lives.
You make this kind of life-changing ministry possible. I am grateful to have you as a partner in this mission of bringing the saving Word and True Presence of Jesus Christ to university students. He alone enlightens and empowers them to walk in the true way of life and freedom found in Him, even amidst the darkness and confusion so prevalent on college campuses, and sustains their souls by His grace.
I thank you, our benefactors, who share in our zeal to win souls for Christ, for your support and partnership in our Dominican mission of preaching for the salvation of souls.
Please know of my prayers for you, that as a partner in mission you may be spiritually renewed during this Advent season and empowered to proclaim the amazing truth of Christmas, that God is with us. May the Lord bless you and your loved ones abundantly.
Fr. John Paul Kern, O.P.
Executive Director
Dominican Friars Foundation