Vocation Discernment
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Vocation Office
Western Dominican Province
5890 Birch Court
Oakland, CA 94618-1626
(510)-596-1821
Our Vocations require a great deal of support, from the first moment they begin their novitiate until the last moments of their retirement. Please do conside visiting our donation page and helping form and sustain the priests and brothers who will serve you in the future, serve you now and have served you in the past.
Saints and Blesseds
The Order of Friars Preachers,
The Dominican Order,
has a beautiful history of learning, service and holiness manifested in its saints and blesseds of every age since its foundation by St. Dominic de Guzman. Do enjoy the periodic postings of such stories as are available from various sources, especially our own archives.
Religious Retirement
Our elderly and infirm friars receive the best care we have available to us, as in any family. We rely heavily on the donations of others for our own existence and thus when one of our own becomes incapable of further ministry due to age or infirmity, those same donations help us support the sometimes necessary special care required by such members of our communities.
We prefer to care for our elderly and infirm in our own houses so that the life of a religious community can be a part of a friars life as long as possible. This is also the most economical in many ways. We strive to use donations wisely. But sometimes a care facility is essential. As we, as a Province, do not benefit from the national collection for retired religious, we ask that you assist us in caring for these friars who have prayed, taught, served and ministered for so many years amomg the people of the Western United States and beyond.
Please, in your kindness, consider assisting us in this work of brotherly love.
Many thanks in advance.
Catholicism
It's just the right thing
Br. Michael James Rivera, OP
Our Blessed Mother has always been a part of my life. Even when my faith wasn’t that important to me, she was there, praying that I would come to know her son.
I grew up in Union City, California (about 45 minutes from San Francisco), and I guess the only time the Church hasn’t been a part of my life was during high school. I went to Mass, but only on holidays and Sunday mornings when my dad forced me to get up. I didn’t care that I was Catholic; it was just how I had been raised.
That all changed when I went to Saint Mary’s College of California. Towards the end of my freshman year I went on a retreat called “Encountering the Risen Christ.” After one of the sessions I was thinking about my own encounters with the Lord, and I realized that although I had been taught a lot about God, I didn’t truly know him. In was in this moment in which I finally began to look up to God, that he gave me the gift of faith. It was the beginning of a real relationship with Christ. This relationship is why I am here today. It’s why I started going to Mass every Sunday, celebrated the Sacrament of Confirmation, and changed my major from Communication to Religious Studies.
During my senior year I began to hear a calling to the priesthood, but I didn’t think I was ready to discern what that meant, so after graduating I decided to move away from the Bay Area to get a new perspective on life. The Lasallian Volunteer program sent me to DeLaSalle High School in Minneapolis. It was there that I began to realize how much I loved teaching others about our faith.
After 10 months in Minnesota it was time to come home. When I returned I was hired on as the Youth Minister at Holy Rosary, our parish in Antioch, CA. During my second year there, with the help of Fr. James Moore, OP—who was then a student brother on residency—I began to discern my vocation. Eventually he talked me into attending a “Come and See” weekend with the Dominicans. Visiting St. Albert’s, experiencing the common life of prayer and study, the Brothers’ sense of humor, and their zeal for preaching was like coming home after a long trip and being welcomed by your family.
Still I was unsure if I was called to life as a Dominican or the diocesan priesthood, so I decided to attend a discernment retreat with my local diocese. To start off the weekend we were taken through a guided meditation on John 1:35-42. We were invited to reflect on the same question Jesus asks of the disciples, “What are you looking for?” My response was mercy. It was only later that I remembered this is what the Dominicans ask for when we receive our habit and profess our vows. By the end of the weekend I knew where I would be applying.
In 2005 my friend invited me to join her on pilgrimage to Germany for World Youth Day. It was an amazing experience and I will never forget the words of Pope Benedict XVI at the closing Mass. He said, “Anyone who has discovered Christ must lead others to him. A great joy cannot be kept to oneself. It has to be passed on.” His words remind me of one of the Dominican mottos: Contemplare, et contemplata aliis tradere. Contemplate and pass on the fruits of that contemplation to others.
Although I do not know exactly what God has in store for me, I trust that as I continue to contemplate his will, he will show me his purpose for my life. And if ever I begin to stray, I know the Blessed Virgin Mary will be there, interceding for me, and leading me back to her son. [updated: October 2008]
