Being a Dominican friar means that one does not live alone, but one lives with other brothers in a community.

For us Dominicans, community is where we feel ‘at home’. Like in every other home, we all contribute and each community is structured in such a way that everyone plays a vital part.

The quality of our community living depends on our being together to pray, celebrate the Eucharist, have meals and recreation together, and being responsible for each other.

Each community will have a prior or superior who, in most cases, is elected. The community also appoints brothers to be bursars, librarians, sacristans and lectors.

When you join a religious community, you begin to live with people not of your own choosing. While this may seem a difficult feature of community life, we should always realised that we did not choose our families either.

Each Dominican community makes decisions on how it lives its life together by regular meetings.

Every community too is responsible for building up that community so that it can be a place where each brother who lives there can flourish in an environment that is compatible with the mission of preaching the Gospel.

No form of community life is perfect, yet all who live in community are called to live our vowed life and Dominican calling in a spirit of prayerfulness and fraternal respect for each other.