Greetings…….     this week close to 80 friars from the Southern province gathered in St. Louis for our yearly Assembly.  We usually hold this event somewhere within the province boundaries, but because many of the brothers have not seen our new House of Studies in St. Louis we thought this would be a great time to do so.  On Wednesday of the Assembly, three of our student brothers who are currently in studies at Aquinas Institute in St. Louis professed their solemn vows in the Order of Preachers.  It was a beautiful ceremony as these young friars committed their lives to preaching the Gospel.  That is all for now……..   and don’t forget to pray for vocations!!!  Peace.  Fr. John

Greetings……..    some of you might have noticed that we had a bit of a hiatus with our vocation blog.   Does not mean things were not occurring in the Vocation world, it simply means the Vocation Director found himself a little too busy and for that I apologize.   We are preparing for one more admission board weekend in late May to complete our novice class for the upcoming year, while finalizing the plans for the pre-novitiate to be held in late July and early August.   This will be the first time in over ten years that we collaborate with the Central Province on our pre-noviate which will be held in Memphis, TN.  That’s all for now and don’t forget to pray for vocations!!!   Peace.   Fr. John

Greetings……    very recently a group of young men gathered at our Priory and Novitiate outside Dallas for our Spring 2013 Dominican Experience Weekend (DEW). After a couple of last minute conflicts, cancellations and weather related problems, we ended up having a great group for the weekend. Our novices and two students brothers from our House of Studies in St. Louis helped with the weekend which was a chance for these young men to learn more about Dominican life.  This particular group hailed mostly from Texas, but we also had someone from Atlanta who joined us.Our next DEW will be in the Fall of 2013.  That’s all for now and don’t forget to pray for vocations!   Peace.  Fr. John

Greetings……..  after a successful DEW this past fall in New Orleans, it is once again time to host young men who are interested in learning more about Dominican life.  Our spring DEW will be held at St. Albert the Great Priory and Novitiate in Irving just outside Dallas on February 22nd, 23rd and 24th.  This is a great opportunity to get more information about our life…….  prayer, community, study and preaching.  If you are interested in possibly attending or perhaps have some questions about the weekend please email me at john.pitzer@gmail.com   That’s all for now and don’t forget to pray for vocations!  Peace.  Fr. John

  I just returned from Orlando and the FOCUS convention.  Over 6,000 college age young adults from all across the country were in attendance, and all four Dominican Provinces were represented as were many other religious orders.   I’m pretty sure that the Dominicans had the largest presence there, and it was pretty cool to see an army of white habits walking around the convention.  It was also exciting to see so many young men and women embrace their faith and have the desire to share that faith with others.   This weekend I will be in Texas for the Archdiocese of San Antonio’s Vocation Awareness Weekend.   Once again, a great opportunity to visit with young men who are actively discerning a vocation to religious life and the priesthood.  That’s all for now……   and don’t forget to pray for vocations!   Peace.  Fr. John