Has your life been enriched by the Dominicans? Share your story!
As the Development Office of the Dominican Friars, we often hear encouraging stories of the ways that the Dominicans have enriched the lives of people that they serve – people like you!
This week is Catholic Legacy Week, and to celebrate this, we would really love to hear little stories of what the Dominicans mean to you, and how their ministry has helped you.
(You can be anonymous if you prefer.)
Some Stories from our Supporters
Does any of these stories sound familiar? Tell us your story!
Note: these stories are anonymised and stock photos have been used.
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- A young family found a beautiful Dominican church in London that welcomed them and strengthened their faith through preaching and the liturgy.
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- An elderly man far away in Arizona found spiritual sustenance during his last days by participating in the Mass livestreamed from Blackfriars in Oxford.
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- Two Catholic students found each other at the Dominican chaplaincy in Edinburgh and set out together on the adventure of married life.
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- A woman sought spiritual direction from the Dominicans and was delighted to find her vocation in life.
Add your Story below
Through preaching, teaching and personal care for individuals, the Dominicans have enriched countless lives.
Are you one of these people? If so, we would love to hear from you in the comments box below. Your comment can be as brief or as long as you like!
Note: it is optional to include your name, if you prefer to be anonymous. Comments will be moderated before being displayed. We may wish to quote your words without including your name in future online posts and in publicity materials as examples of things that our supporters say, as this encourages others to support too.
About Catholic Legacy Week
Catholic Legacy Week is a way to encourage Catholics to remember Catholic charities in their Will. Gifts in Wills are a vital support for Catholic charities, including the Dominicans. The friars rely on gifts in Wills for about one fifth of their annual income, and previous legacies have arrived at crucial moments, enabling the friars to complete building projects and other works.
To discover more about leaving a gift in your Will, click here.
Mary Green
The Dominican friars at Holy Cross (and elsewhere!) have greatly enriched my life through their preaching, pastoral care and friendship. I am a convert from Anglicanism and was made very welcome by the community and supported on my journey towards becoming a Catholic. I have learnt so much from the friars over the years and could not imagine worshipping anywhere else now.
Jane Caws
The livestreamed Friday Rosary from Our Lady of the Rosary and St Dominic became a very important part of my week.
Johana
Hello!
I grew up in a beachtown on the Belgian Coast, Knokke, where the Dominicans have/had a delightfull church & priory now abandoned because lack of vocations.
As from being 6 years old I became an altarboy & served almost daily as acolyte, lector & distributor of Holy Communion until my 29.
I have known many Dominican Friars which I met on an almost daily basis for evening mass
Johan
Evening mass & weekend-service, cleaning & helping the Friars in their daily routine. As a boy I remember the Vespers & blessing by the Holy Sacrament during week.
It was a wonderfull time which made flourish my vocation.
Thank you Saint Dominic & your Friars.
Bernard Looney. M/b
When I was young just after the war, when two sisters named Potter ran the repository in London, they lived in Upper Park Rd behind the church. They came to Fr Antininus McGuire and said they saw a Priest every night climbing their stairs then vanishing. Fr Antoninus went around and saw the Priest, he then said Masses for the Priest. After a few Masses the Priest stopped appearing. On investigation a small plague pit was found nearby. Fr believed he died of the plague with Mass intentions unsaid and the only way to get them said was to appear to a Catholic nearby. The Miss Potters had recently moved in. I was a server at the time. Bernard
Ralph
The Dominican Brothers of the English Province have very much enriched my life. It started very much in the midst of the beginning of the pandemic that overtook the world back in 2020.
In the midst of the heat of the pandemic, the English Dominican brothers started their livestream of Masses everyday and I attended their daily livestream Masses religiously everyday.
They were a balm during those three years of isolation and loneliness. And little by little they started expanding how they share their prayer life online with their Advent Compline and Lenten reflections.
For a time, it did feel like being part of the community and because of that as a side effect of religiously watching them, little by little I got to know their names, their style of preaching, how they share the fruits of their contemplation. They’re famous now, at least for me 😄.
Now that the pandemic is over, and the world has slowly moved on, and some brothers have moved, it’s still refreshing that they’re still online and I still watch them, not necessarily daily like before, since life here in the Philippines has returned since restrictions are gone, but I still watch them often, live, of possible.
In terms of my spiritual life, their online presence felt like it was a gift from Divine Providence, like Christ will not allow us empty handed of His presence even in the midst of the isolating pandemic.
I’ve learned much and have gotten closer to knowing and experiencing Christ’s providence in my life and in human life in general.
I do feel like the Dominicans, among all orders, shone best during these three years of the pandemic. It felt like they were bred for this, that they were made specifically in times of crisis and tribulations. 😁
I better stop here, The fruits of my contemplation will have no end if I don’t give limits to my words. All because of the brothers.
A shout out to the fathers, including Frs. Richard Conrad, Richard Finn and Timothy Radcliffe for his always piercing homilies and to the Student Brothers, they were, in a way, company during those difficult years of trial.
Trisha and Peter Tindall
We first met a few Dominican Sisters when we joined several Light of Truth Zoom meetings, having seen an advertisement for such through the Dicocesan website. The way these sessions were delivered prompted much reflection and continued prayer, even when the sessions were finished. We also took what we had learnt as a married couple into our many roles as a Catechist, and we both feel this has enhanced how we deliver our guidance and support in many ways. One specific example, is through the use of religious artwork, which we never thought we would incorporate. As a result of their excellent teaching we have now enrolled for the Accredited Certificate in Catechesis.
After much reflection and prayer, which includes joining the Sisters of St. Joseph on various zoom prayer services, we are currently exploring the Lay Dominican Fraternity in our own area. We both feel called to do this given the unique blend of study, prayer, community and preaching and are both looking forward to undertaking this journey with the Order.
Thank you for providing the opportunity to participate in these ways whether by zoom or through the diverse face to face encounters. Our personal Catholic journeys have been greatly enriched through our contact with the Order.
Chris Hughes
Supported by Fr John-Patrick Kenrick from Holy Cross in Leicester I was able to volunteer at the San Martin Centre in Fastiv Ukraine. The war had just started and we were looking after young children for part of the time, the remainder being spent helping to rebuild lives and houses north of Kiev. The experience changed my life completely. I can not thank everyone involved enough. At 60 years old you think life has taught you everything, then you discover you still have lots to learn.
Andy Betts
In 2007 I was a jaded Anglican
I was raised in that denomination and confirmed in 1970 at age 13
It seemed to me that the classical Anglicanism of progress and reason balanced with biblical teaching had become unsustainable to the extent that the church was betraying itself to fit what it deemed politically expedient
There was a Dominican priory church, Holy Cross in the centre of Leicester close to my workplace and I started attending the lunch time masses
I had attended Catholic school for a couple of years in the 1960s and so the mass was famillar but now its beauty and truth resonated so strongly
After some months of attending Holy Cross I took the step of enquiring about converting to the Catholic faith
The Dominican emphasis on preaching and living the gospel particularly to the poor and marrginalised and its loving welcome to all was a revelation
A wonderful priest Father Leon Pereira gave me instruction and explored my faith finally confirming me in October 2007
I love and continue to grow in the faith two high points were attending a mass in Birmingham with Pope Benedict and latterly being trained as a server at Holy Cross by Father Richard
I have much to learn and a lot of growing to do but with the kindness and support of the Dominicans I am ready to meet those challenges
Mathias
Very grateful for online mass from Blackfriars Oxford. Attended a national rosary prayer broadcasted via Radio Maria at the National Rosay Shrine. In Italy joined mass of the gathering of Dominicans of the Central provinces in Montepulciano blessed by Saint Agnese.
Matthew
Since my days as a student in Oxford in the early nineties Dominicans such Fathers Brian Davies, Simon Gaine and Herbert McCabe had a huge influence on my thinking about life as a Catholic in the world today. Thank you to everyone in the community.
Tim
I first had a connection with the Oxford DOminicans in the early 1980s when I would pop in for confession. After my Downs syndrome daughter, Claire appeared, she was baptised at the 9:30 family mass . We went to mass reguarly in nearby Bicester but the friars were supportive again when it was time for her first communion and when I realised I needed to be confirmed.
Michael Mowbray Silver (The Rev'd.)
I write as a (stubborn) dissident Anglican. Where do I begin? Fr. Lawrence’s sermons, Fr. Thomas’ wise and stoical guidance in Biblical studies, Fr. Andrew’s blessing of our flat, Fr. Dominic’s friendliness….the Dominican Use mass (a particularly admirable form of the Roman Rite). The greatest gift, invariably, must be Christ’s gift of the Eucharistic Sacrifice, but secondly… Martin’s Stacey’s playing (on a particularly worthwhile organ) and, thirdly, Rachel’s monthly polyphony. Sheepishly, I admit that, for me, faith and music have blurred edges!
Leo Gooch
Like your man in Arizona, I find your on-line liturgy of the greatest help here in Italy. At 86 I’m a little beyond learning enough Italian to follow the homilies, which are rather long anyway, so yours fill in for them admirably.
LG
Claire
I live in Italy so when I go to Mass it is in Italian. It is so nice to be able to listen to homilies in English and the approach to the Gospel is sometimes different and refreshing. My husband was ill for five years with Alzheimer’s . I looked after him . During the Covid months we were isolated and being able to follow Mass and enjoy everything you put on your website was a great comfort to me . It helped me a lot. Thank you very much for all your efforts and hard work.
GH
By far the best streamed Masses and Sermons ! Please keep these going ! (GH, 84 yrs)
Frances Flatman
I spent three really enriching years with the Studium in Oxford which encouraged and equipped me for teaching adults on the effect of Greco-Roman society and the NT. A really positive time which always inspired one to further studies. I now write weekly for an on line Lexio
massis301
Attending Mass online at Blackfriars during covid was an enormous help to me. And now when I really can’t get to Mass for whatever reason I know I can go to godzdogz live-streaming. A beautiful Mass.
Laura
I had my first encounter with the Dominicans in Leicester. They opened my eyes to the beauty of the liturgy, to authentically living the faith, to proper theology that was based on Gods love and mercy. I met my husband at CathSoc. They changed our lives forever! Fr. Peter is probably one of the most kind priests I know with the knack for preaching in a way that you still remember it over a decade later! We miss him and all the congregation very much!
Brian McGarty
The importance of The Dominicans in God’s Great Plan.
Many years ago I was asked to ” Get the music going ” at St Alberts in Edinburgh. There had been music/singing at 10.0 Sunday mass for many years, but it had become a bit unpredictable and had somewhat lost its way. At times the brave efforts of mass goers evoked sympathy for ‘lost sheep’.
I took up my ministry, if you could call music a ministry and organised and directed the congregation towards providing music and singing which would give Holy Mass the sense of occasion it deserves.
On looking back to my calling, it never was a ‘dreamy fantasy’, but I realised on waking, it was a clear instruction on what I was being asked to do, accompanied by the deepest, most profound feeling of peace, a peace the world could never give.
After all these years I ask myself – why particularly St Alberts ? why particularly The Dominicans ?
Could it be ‘The importance of The Dominicans in God’s Great Plan ‘
Mary McCarthy
Brian, I wholeheartedly feel the same! I well remember those wonderful Sundays, with your leadership, and those of us who could play an instrument, joining you in our ministry- all though, like you, I didn’t see it like that either.The feeling of Dominican Community-
and all that this means to so many of us-St Dominic living today 🙏
Tommy Carroll
The Dominicans helped our family without hesitation when asked. They carried us through a very sad and low time. The help, guidance and support given will never be forgotten by our family.
Thank you so much.
God bless you all.
Jane & Tommy Carroll.
Henrietta Leyser
I would like to thank the community at Oxford for the sacramental succour they gave a mutual friend in her dying days and at her funeral.
SGM
I have been moved by the time and devotion given by the Dominicans in Edinburgh to serve the community, especially during Easter and by the generosity of the friars in giving their time to speak with those grappling with questions of faith.
John Considine
During a period of personal loss and uncertainty, I was studying in Oxford, and started to go regularly to Mass at Blackfriars on weekday evenings. This was a great comfort to me: the Mass itself, and the quality of preaching, and the calmness and holiness of the space of the chapel. I remember well that I was looking up at the large window above the altar there, praying or thinking, when I realised that a particular source of unhappiness in my life really did not matter. That was quite a transformative moment.
In my subsequent professorial career, I was thought to be a good teacher, and I am sure that the preaching at Blackfriars made a difference there: regularly hearing such clear, intelligent, scrupulous exposition of the Faith was a formative experience for me, which I remember with love and gratitude.
DELIA
I met Fr.CF in the late 1990s when he waa assigned as the Asst.Parish Priest in my town.He was energetic,kind,a good listener and he introduced certain Dominican traditions to the Liturgies.His usual weekday Masses are no more than 25 minutes as he is sensitive to parishioners who may have had to rush back to work.Over the years,he became my friend,confidante,run to for “ole talk”,support when I had reflections to prepare or work-related to work out.
Some years ago I visted him in Rome and he showed me certain very historical parts of one particular church.What a memorable experience.
He was there for me at my mother’s funeral and a pillar of strength.
He is very bright.He has a delightful sense of humour and a melodious voice.His devotion to the ethos of St.Dominic is inspiring.He is away from our country but through technology, he is a call away.
Karol
What is preaching? Who are the Order of Preachers? When I first encountered them, I did not know them. ‘The words of the preacher’, the opening line of Ecclesiastes, are not their own, they do God’s work and ‘He has made everything beautiful in its time.’ Thanks for sharing light, truth and wisdom.
A Catholic Mother
I really don’t know what I would have done over the past few years without the Dominicans;
the deeply inspiring preaching, the beautiful, reverent liturgy, the warm-hearted fellowship after Mass, the safe place in which to find decent, wise, faithful and kindly Catholics to mentor our children. I do not think our daughter would still be attending Mass if we had not found the community.
Paulette Dumas
In 2006, a young Lithuanian Dominican advised me to read “what’s the point in being Christian ” It was a revelation for me, a window open on a new and lively way to live my faith. I wrote to Timothy to tell him my joy in reading him and since then I have felt so blessed with our friendship. It has become essential in my life, I don’t know where I would be without him.
I have met other wonderful Dominicans , they are making my life so much richer.
Bríd Hetherington
Yes, the livestream Mass is most helpful and the sermons enlightening. I can click on even in the middle of the night. Having been educated by Dominican nuns (I know they are separate as one of your priests was quick to inform me when he visited our parish many years ago) but in old age I greatly appreciate the education I received from them and wish my children had received an equally good education – not just faith related. Your livestream Mass has renewed my contact (in my mind of course) with those early days. The sermons are particularly important for me. Thank you.
Anna Rist
I merely wish to record that in 1959, being a newly graduated student at Newnham, I was sent by the then Catholic Chaplain at Cambridge, Mgr Gilbey, to Blackfriars (then merely the old Bullough house) for instruction from Fr Kenelm Foster O.P., Reader in Italian at the University.
Fr Kenelm gave me his time and much sage advice, but also got to know my fiancé, John, a long-lapsed Anglican, and debate ensued at an intellectual level I was scarcely equipped to follow, but John acquired an unstinting admiration for Fr Kenelm’s intellectual honesty – though it would take him some twenty years to declare himself a convinced Catholic.
Ramira Escobar
Después de haber leído los comentarios y vivencias de esos otros hermanos en el Señor, me siento privilegiada de haber vivido tan de cerca a los Padres Dominícos.
He nacido y vivo en Madrid(España, cuna de Santo Domingo) y, mi parroquia es La Real Basílica de de Nuestra Señora de Atocha. Allí se encuentran los Padres Dominícos custodiando a Nuestra Señora desde el año 1523.
Mi vida (de 81 años) ha transcurrido siempre cerca de los Dominícos. Se podría decir que son parte de mi ADN. Recibí las catequesis de mi primera Comunión, me casaron y he recibido una buena enseñanza religiosa y espiritual.
Mis hijos y parte de mis nietos han estudiado en un Colegio regido por los dominícos.
No quiero terminar sin decir que tenemos un regalo maravilloso que las Madres Dominícas han dejado en el Convento para su custodia: LA PILA BAUTISMAL DE SANTO DOMINGO.
Gracias por haber sido y seguír siendo parte de mi vida, mis oraciones para todos vosotros y que el carisma dominicano esté presente en todo el mundo.
Stephen Evans
I was a novice in 1986 in Oxford but discovered I was unsuited to the religious life. God dragged me in, and a year later dragged me out again! The love and friendship of the Dominican community through that difficult time, and for the last 40 years has been a source of joy and strength. Herbert McCabe, Timothy Radcliffe, St Thomas, Richard Conrad have been constant companions, sometimes in person, often through their writing. The streamed liturgy is a very beautiful and important part of our online world. In retirement I’m pulling together a philosophy course: Dominicans, and the writers and thinkers they attract, are a light in the darkness. Thank you for this opportunity to witness to this communion of saints.
Stephen
The Dominicans have been a thread running through my life. I was educated by Dominican Sisters and through them was able to meet Osmund Lewry at Spode House and later at Blackfriars. I met my wife in Edinburgh and we were married at St Albert’s by Aidan Nichols. We visit Edinburgh regularly and I particularly remember some great sermons from Dermot Morrin and John O’Connor. Finally I must mention Fergus Kerr whose writings and sermons have been of enormous help. He wrote – echoing Newman – that much of what passes for liturgy in the Church is close to idolatry, that Catholic pastoral care sometimes amounts to tyranny, and that the Church usually fiercely resists theological innovation. I have found all of this to be sadly true, most of the time, in the parishes I have lived in, and as a consequence my faith frequently hangs by a thread. That thread is the Dominicans. Thanks be to God!
Peter
Dominican writing, preaching and liturgy have been an essential sustenance to me since I first encountered them in Oxford 45 years ago. They remain as relevant as ever.
Mary McCarthy
My school days, at South Presentation Convent, Cork, introduced me to the deep place of Liturgical music and as I explored the different churches in Cork, I found my spiritual home in St.Mary’s,Pope’s Quay, where I was encouraged to develop my ‘vocation’, that was the word Fr Kiely used, about my love of music.
He,especially,helped me see that every one has a vocation, and as a teenager, I only associated,’vocations’, with becoming a religious.
His word lives in me, to this day.
In Dublin, our nearest church was St Saviour’s near Parnell Square, where I knew that Father Moeran now was based. The joy, for me, to move to a different city and to find a special friar whom I had known in Cork, plus, he introduced me to several lovely parishioners.
This time was very challenging for me, as a Catholic- I know that I would have left the Catholic Church at this time, if Father Moeran hadn’t given me his interpretation of many of the Dogmatic Rules imposed by Rome. He gave me St. Dominic and encouraged me to read much wider, to develop my own knowledge.
Edinburgh, in the 90’s and St Albert’s has been my spiritual home ever since and there are so many friars who have helped me in many ways, and continue to do so right here- every area of my life is enriched , daily, in some way by the Dominican Community.
Philip
I try to listen to either Lauds or Vespers every day from Cambridge Blackfriars on Radio Maria, and it is a real blessing.
Gregory Drozdz
In 1978 I left the then Dominican parish of Hinckley for Edinburgh University, not knowing or having been told that the chaplaincy was a Dominican house. As a late entrant I found myself in “digs” on the outskirts of the city. I had a dreadful Freshers’ week meeting no-one. At the end of a miserable week I received a letter out of the blue from the Chaplaincy inviting me to a social event for all students. I had not been near the Chaplaincy all week. How did they get my name and nee address? Inspired by their attempt to find me, I went along. The rest is history- I became a member of the Catholic Students’Union and never looked back. My best friendships emanated from within that community and some of the people I was there with, I am still in touch with. Hinckley ceased to be a Dominican house in 1986, but we still hold our Dominican heritage as sacred.
Summer camp
The summer camp run by Dominican sisters saved my life as a child/young adult. Seeing them once a year every year for five days changed the course of my faith. I felt overwhelmingly loved. The catechisis and preaching was deeply formative and created key pillars of understanding that remained into adult life. Singing the hours with them was a gift I could take home with me and so I started praying compline every night by myself as a teenager which brought me alot of peace.
Liz Scarborough
My husband and I have been attending Holy across Leicester for over 40 years and it means more to us than words can say.
My husband Tony was not a Catholic. We attended Holy Cross before we were married and he supported me in bringing our children up in the Catholic faith
It was the Dominican preaching and Holy Cross community that helped lead him to his conversion in 1995. It was a great occasion. In 2023 we celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary and renewed our vows at the 8am Mass another very special occasion.
We have experienced some very challenging life events and are very grateful for the prayers love and support we have had from the friars and community of Holy Cross.
Please God we will be blessed with more Priests and nuns joining the Dominican order 🙏.
JG, Lay Dominican
My very lapsed Catholic, 51-year-old brother (J) had terminal cancer. He was bedridden and had only a month or so to live. St Dominic’s (London) was just up the road. One of the friars (Fr TC) came to visit J and thereafter he came almost every day until J died. He often arrived bearing a six-pack of Guiness (J could only take a spoonful at a time) or fish and chips for all in the house – often a motley bunch of non-believing rock-and-rollers who all got to know and respect him. Talking quietly with J in the sick room, from which peals of laughter often broke through the walls, Fr T brought my brother back to the joy of closeness to Christ through the Church’s sacramental life after decades without it. He celebrated the marriage of J and his partner of almost 25 years, in their flat, just two weeks before seeing J out of this world with the last sacraments, and finally he presided at J’s Requiem. J had a joyful death, thanks be to God. Father T brought Christ into a very stressed and sorrowing little community. He gave everything he had to all there, with words and with friendship, compassion and a kind of serious cheerfulness. Dominican preaching, mission at the coal face, in every way. No-one who observed it all will ever forget it. Deo gratias.