Simple Professions 2020

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Yesterday we received four brothers into our noviciate when they received the Dominican habit. Today the brothers who spend a year in our Noviciate have made their First Profession to continue to the next step in their lives as as Dominicans.

They will now go to Dublin to start their studies in our Studium, which is in St. Saviour’s priory. They will study philosophy and theology for the next few years and, with the help of God, and subsequently to be ordained priests.

Please keep our brothers who have joined the Order yesterday and the three brothers who have now made profession into the Order in your prayers.

Habit Receptions 2020

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The Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross is the traditional day that the new noviciate starts and the new novices receive their Dominican habit. This year four men joined the noviciate and received the habit during the 11 o’clock Mass.

Please keep our novices (and those discerning a vocation) in your prayers, that the Lord might continue to bless them and give them the graces that they require to perceive His call and to keep following it!

Reception of the Habits

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The Feast Day of the Irish Province is the Exaltation of the Cross, celebrated on September the 14th. This is the traditional day that the new noviciate starts and the new Novices receive their habit, as they start their journey as a Dominican. This year four men joined the noviciate and received the habit during the 11 o’clock Mass.

From left to right: Br. Bruno Mary Kelleher; Br. Nathan Peer; Fr. Gregory Carroll OP,  Prior Provincial; Br. Mark Murphy; Br. Laurence Augustine Rigney & Fr. Philip Mulryne OP, Master of Novices.

Please keep our novices (and those discerning a vocation) in your prayers, that the Lord might continue to bless them and give them the graces that they require to keep following His call!

Please find some photos of the event below.

Aquinas week

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The eighth annual St Thomas Aquinas Summer School, run by the Aquinas Institute of Ireland (aquinasinstitute.ie), took place from August 4-10 at the Emmaus Centre, Swords. This session, the biggest yet, with some 50 participants from a dozen different countries, focussed on the teachings of St Thomas on the nature of virtue and vice in general, as well as specific virtues and vices.

Among the students taking part were doctoral students in philosophy and theology, as well as complete beginners, including two who recently completed their Leaving Certificate exams! As well as intensive seminars, participants heard a lecture on ‘The Virtues of Courtesy’ by Fr Alan O’Sullivan OP, and took part in a field trip to Mellifont Abbey and Drogheda, including a visit to the Dominican nuns in Siena Monastery.

Ordination of Fr. Matthew Farrell OP

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Matthew Farrell, a native of Daingean, Co. Offaly, was ordained priest on Saturday, 6 July, in St Saviour’s church, Dublin, by Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, of Dublin. Present at the ceremony were his three sisters, Lorraine, Michelle and Natalie, with their families, and his brother David and his family.

Father Matthew, aged 44, had a varied career before joining the Dominican Order in 2012. Immediately after secondary school he worked in the bar trade in Tullamore and in his native Daingean. Attending Athlone Institute of Technology as a mature student, he gained a degree in applied chemistry, working for seven years as a laboratory analyst. After the death of his father, he returned to Daingean to work in the family business with his brother. As a Dominican he spent a year in the noviciate in Cork before moving to the house of studies at St Saviour’s, Dublin, to study philosophy, Scripture and theology, in preparation for ministry as a priest. He made solemn vows (lifelong commitment) as a Dominican in September 2017.

Later this summer, he will move to Co. Kerry, to join the Dominican community at Holy Cross church, Tralee, and to begin his ministry as a priest there.

Father Matthew explains that by the end of secondary school he had ceased going to Mass and practising the faith in which he had been brought up. He continues: ‘When I was 24, my auntie brought me to a retreat which was ran by a lay association called Youth 2000. This sparked within me an interest in religion in general, but it was not until I was 28 that I made a decision to re-commit myself to the practice of the Catholic faith. I started to go to Mass every Sunday, went to regular monthly confessions and got involved with a Youth 2000 prayer meeting which had started in Tullamore in the parochial house.’ The outcome was, he explains: ‘I started to grow in my faith in the love and mercy of Jesus Christ and faith in the power of prayer and the sacraments to help me grow closer to God.’

At the age of 37, after considering the possibility that he was being called to religious life, he entered the Order of Preachers (Dominicans), founded 803 years ago.

Dominican Pilgrimage to Knock

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This year the National Dominican Pilgrimage to Knock took place last Sunday the 14th of October. Each year on the second Sunday of October all branches of the Dominican Family travel to the Knock Shrine and lead the liturgical celebrations. As always pilgrims travelled from all the various Dominicans foundations throughout the island of Ireland. This year Fr. Ben Moran OP was the principle celebrant and Fr. Joe Dineen OP the preacher.

The official program began at 14:30 with the Anointing of the Sick, followed by Mass at 15:00. After the Mass there was Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament and the blessing of the sick followed by the Rosary. Knock is the National Marian Shrine of Ireland. On the 21st August, 1879, fifteen people from the village of Knock witnessed an Apparition of Our Lady, St. Joseph, St. John the Evangelist, a Lamb and cross on an altar at the gable wall of the Parish Church. The witnesses while reciting the Rosary, watched the Apparition in the pouring rain for two hours. Although they themselves were saturated not a single drop of rain fell on the gable or the apparition.

Please find below a few pictures.

Simple Professions

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Today our three novices made their First Profession into the Dominican Order. The Novices who have spend the last year in our Noviciate in Cork have now made their First Profession to continue with the next step in their life as a Dominican. In our Studium, which is St. Saviour’s priory in Dublin, they will study philosophy and theology in the coming years to, with the help of God, be ordained priest in years to come.

We congratulate brothers Benedict M.D. McGlinchey O.P., Christopher Vincent D. Gault O.P. and Blazej Martin J. Bialek O.P. on their commitment as they continue their formation within the Dominican Order in the coming years.

Please continue to keep all our brothers in your prayers as well as those who God calls to respond to His call.

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Diaconate Ordinations 2018

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Brother Matthew Farrell and Br Jesse Maingot, members of the Irish Dominican Province, were ordained deacons in St Saviour’s church, Dublin, yesterday, 2 April, by Bishop Denis Nulty.

Matthew Farrell is a native of Daingean, Co. Offaly. Jesse Maingot is a native of Trinidad and Tobago, West Indies. Bro. Jesse does his formation as a Dominican in Ireland as the Dominican Priories in Trinidad and Tobago are part of the Irish Province.

Both men joined the Order in 2012, making profession of solemn vows (lifelong commitment) in 2017. Brother Matthew and Brother Jesse will continue their studies in theology as part of the journey towards being ordained priests in the summer of 2019.

Solemn Profession of Sr Cathy O.P.

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Below are some photos of the Solemn Profession of sister Cathy, which took place on the 2nd of February 2018, the Feast of the Presentation. Sister Cathy made her Solemn vows as a Dominican Contemplative Nun in the Siena Monestry in Drogheda.

Sligo Orpheus Choir sang in Holy Cross Friary, Sligo

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The Sligo Orpheus Choir performed last Sunday the 10th of December in Holy Cross Friary in Sligo. The choir sang in support of the Simon Community Sligo Branch.

Please find some photos of the event below: