Today, in the Catholic Church, we remember one of the great saints, the founder of an order that bears his own name – Saint Dominic. Formally known as Saint Dominic de Guzman, the Spanish born saint is known for uprooting the Albigensian heresy, his passion for learning, and his love for the poor. Considered a motley crew at their founding, which included St. Albert the Great and St. Thomas Aquinas, the Dominicans have become one of the great orders of the Church. These fine men and women that are part of the Dominican Order today provide for us the legacy of Saint Dominic.
I could spend countless words and pages on this order, however, since I don’t have that much time and most people don’t read more than 1000 words these days in one sitting, I am going to provide for you articles that I have written in the last few years as well as explain to you briefly my interactions with the Dominican order in recent memory.
If you want to learn more about Saint Dominic, I would encourage you to read my articles – Saint Dominic – The Hound of the Hounds and The Blessed Virgin Mary, the Holy Rosary, and St. Dominic. If you have been reading my articles for some time, you know I have written many articles on the Dominican Sisters of Ann Arbor – I will get them to shortly.
Back in 2015, I was in the City by the Bay for my friend’s ordination to the Priesthood for the Archdiocese of San Francisco. During that weekend, some friends and I ended up going to St. Dominic’s Catholic Church. Located between Pacific Heights and the Fillmore in Lower Pacific Heights, St. Dominic’s is a great example of Gothic architecture. It is stunning and reminds me of the churches in Italy.
After Mass ended, we ran into a Dominic priest that my friends all knew well and one that I had heard of from them. His name is Fr. Brian Mullady, O.P. Fr. Brian has a traveling Dominican ministry called, Have Summa, Will Travel based out of Portland, Oregon.
After conversing with him briefly and realizing that we had numerous friends in common in Arizona, I took his card and eventually booked him to lead our Pre-Lenten Parish Mission in 2017. He also returned in the same year for our Advent Parish Mission.
He is a fantastic Dominican priest that loves Our Lord, His Mother, and the Church with great passion. He truly hails from the Order of Preachers. Below are the links to all his talks and homilies from the parish missions –
Homily – 8th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Fr. Brian Mullady, Sisters of Mary (Ann Arbor), and me – Advent Parish Mission 2017.
As I said above, if you have been reading my articles for some time you know that I am a big promoter of the Dominican Sisters of Ann Arbor, formally known as the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist. They are a rapidly growing order here in the United States. I taught with them at Saint Mary’s Catholic High School in Phoenix and at Saint Dominic Savio Catholic High School in Austin. To read more about them, here is my collection of articles from this website.
Another interaction and one that is more recent would be with the Dominican Sisters of Saint Cecilia, most commonly known to many as the Nashville Dominicans. Although some of them were in my summer graduate classes at Franciscan years ago, it wasn’t until they came to Phoenix in recent years to start the new Catholic high school that I became more familiar with them. Another solid young and growing order, the Nashville Dominicans, like the Ann Arbor Dominicans are educators, a common apostolate for the Dominican Order. In October of 2017, Sr. Mary Brigid Burnham, O.P. spoke at the parish for our Saturday Morning Speaker Series. Her talk was titled, Spiritual Consolation and Spiritual Desolation. You can listen to that talk here.
As you can see from just some of my interactions and connections with the Dominicans, the legacy of Saint Dominic is still strong – 800 years after the founding of this order. On this day in which we remember Saint Dominic, let us give praise and thanksgiving to Jesus Christ and the Catholic Church for giving us such a great man and holy priest.
Saint Dominic…Pray for Us
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Categories: Saints & Angels
TOM PERNA 
Thank you!
Sr. John Paul, O.P.
“Freedom has to continually to be won, it cannot merely be possessed. It comes as a gift but can only be kept with a struggle.” – Karol Wojtyla, “Thinking My Country” (1974).
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I have met a couple of the Sisters from Ann Arbor on a few occasions and they are fabulous. The growth of their Order is encouraging and a testimony to all that the True Church is alive.
I have listened to many speakers through the years and Fr. Mullady is by far the best I have ever heard. His delivery is faultless and you can just tell he is a Dominican. This Order just always amazes me and never disappoints. Thank you, Tom, for sharing with us these two lectures.