“Welcome
Home!” This is the greeting that we have
been receiving from visitors, the movers, the food service, the construction
workers, and from everyone involved with the move in any way. Our first night at St. Dominic Priory was
December 15th. About a week
before we began the packing and cleaning process. We packed and cleaned our own rooms, but also
the common rooms, the chapels, the laundry room, and the hallways. On the 13th and 14th
the movers made continuous runs from Jesuit Hall to St. Dominic Priory from
early in the morning until late at night.
Our final Conventual Mass at Jesuit Hall was on the morning of the 14th
and concluded with the chanting of the Salva Regina, marking an end to our 30
years at Jesuit Hall.
On the evening
of the 15th was the first Conventual Mass at St. Dominic Priory in
the temporary chapel. Although the
cloister and common areas of the priory are completed, the chapel will be under
construction and renovation until the end of January and choir stalls should be
in place by August 2012.
Life at
St. Dominic Priory is great! There is a
true cloister where silence can be observed, there is an actual chapel, a
spacious library with workspaces, a private outdoor space, and most importantly
an authentic Dominican atmosphere that will allow us to truly make St. Dominic
Priory a Holy Preaching.
The
unpacking and settling in continues, but St. Dominic Priory already feels like
home. On a walk through the priory we
see boxes in the hallways and the common spaces, pictures leaning against the
wall. We hear the sounds of construction
coming from the chapel. We smell those
scents of new carpet and new furniture.
And we all have the feeling that we are blessed to be the group of
friars that made the transition from Jesuit Hall to St. Dominic Priory. We are the first group of friars that gets to
tell others; Welcome to our home!
Br. Francis Orozo, OP
Student brother of the Southern Province of St. Martin de Porres
To see more photos of the nearly completed new St. Dominic Priory Click HERE. There's also a link on that website to learn more about how to donate to the priory project. Please consider giving a donation to the priory project. You money goes to support the education of future Dominican preachers.
To see more photos of the nearly completed new St. Dominic Priory Click HERE. There's also a link on that website to learn more about how to donate to the priory project. Please consider giving a donation to the priory project. You money goes to support the education of future Dominican preachers.
