The Dominican friars of Quebec City and the local faith community invite you to celebrate the Advent season with the traditional Dawn Masses.
📍 Location: Saint-Dominique Church – 175 Grande Allée O, Québec, QC
📅 Dates: December 2, 9, 16 and 23
⏰ Time: 6:30 a.m.
Schedule:
Take up this spiritual challenge and celebrate Advent with us!
The feast of All Saints’ Day (November 7) was particularly joyful for our community this year, as we witnessed the first profession of Sr Marie Angelica de l’Incarnation! The Eucharist was celebrated by fr. Pierre Leblond O.P., fr. Maxime Allard O.P. and Father Andrew L’Hereux. It was a beautiful and moving ceremony, with the surprise of a violin offertory played by one of our other young sisters. We thank God for Sr. Marie Angelica’s vocation, and wish her all the joy of the Lord as she continues to follow Jesus in consecrated life for the next three years.
“Should you trust your love life to algorithms and dating apps?” was the question posed by a group of students that evening at the Dominican Center in Montreal. The Dominican Student Center – Universtité de Montréal (CéDum), run by the friars under the direction of Gustavo Ortega, offers a wide range of activities. Since last year, the liturgies and traditional prayer and adoration groups have been joined by more surprising activities: encouraged by the prior of the Saint Albert convent and the Prior Provincial, the CéDum has become an OPTIC Lab. It has joined the network of places where students and young professionals reflect together on their relationship with technology, ethical issues and the impact on society.
The evenings they organize are part of an activity developed by the OPTIC network, which consists of debating around a film or an episode of a TV series. The project, entitled Bright Mirror, refers to the Netflix series Black Mirror, which is very popular with young people, and features universes that are both very realistic and highly dystopian. With the help of OPTIC, students themselves host debates for other young people.
And that evening, the conversation was animated around the subject of the dating apps that most students use. “Do they make it easier to find the one you’re looking for? Or, on the contrary, do they lock us into an endless quest for perfection, for a person who should meet a multitude of criteria, and whom we choose from an infinite network? How are these algorithms parameterized? Do they help you find the right person, or do they encourage you to remain a customer for as long as possible?” These were just some of the questions posed by Clément Augustin and Marc de Preaumont, the evening’s hosts. Both students at HEC Montréal, they are keen to stimulate reflection among their friends and chaplaincy members, so that technology is always used for the common good and with respect for human dignity.
Network OPTIC is offering an animation kit to help brothers and sisters or lay people leading groups of students or young professionals to raise their awareness of the challenges posed by these digital technologies, which have infiltrated every aspect of our lives: getting information, working, consuming, meeting people, exchanging news… The kit includes suggestions for videos to watch together and, for each one, questions to guide the debate.
Such an approach is extremely important to make young people aware of the benefits, but also the risks, of these technologies, to enable the new generation to be more mature and responsible in their choices. In this way, we can make full use of digital technology for our personal, human and spiritual development, but also to build a society in line with Gospel values.
Far from being pessimistic, the OPTIC network wants to ensure that technology brings the best to the greatest number. It’s a way of preaching to the frontiers, even if they’re not physical or social, but digital.
If you’d like to set up your own OPTIC Lab, ask for the OPTIC network’s animation kit and support at contact@optictechnology.org.
OPTIC is an international network initiated by the Order and at the service of the Dominican family. It is a project under the direct supervision of the Master of the Order. For further information, visit optictechnology.org.
Archbishop Jean-Paul Vesco, OP, of Algiers (Algeria), Archbishop Francis Leo of Toronto (Canada) and Brother Timothy Radcliffe, OP, are among the 21 new cardinals to be created by Pope Francis at the Consistory to be held on December 8, as he announced on Sunday, October 6, after praying the Angelus with the faithful and pilgrims present in St. Peter’s Square.
Mgr Jean-Paul Vesco, OP, was born in Lyon (France) in 1962. He joined the Order of Preachers in 1995, after studying law and working as a lawyer. He was ordained a priest in 2001. His first contact with Algeria came a year later, when he moved to the Dominican convent in Tlemcen, in the diocese of Oran. In 2005, he was appointed vicar general, then bursar in 2007. He returned to France at the end of 2010 when he was elected Prior Provincial of the Province of France. He held this position for a few months, before being appointed Bishop of Oran by Benedict XVI on December 1, 2012. On December 8, 2018, Bishop Vesco welcomed to his diocese the beatification of the 19 martyrs of Algeria, including Mgr Pierre Claverie, former bishop of Oran, killed in 1996, and the monks of Tibhirine. Mgr Vesco took part in the Synod on the Family held at the Vatican in 2015. On December 27, 2022, Pope Francis appointed him metropolitan archbishop of Algiers (Algeria). In 2023, by presidential decree, the President of the Republic, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, granted him Algerian nationality.
Mgr Francis Leo, a member of the Saint-Dominique priestly fraternities, was born in Montreal (Canada) in 1971. He was ordained a priest in 1996. He has held various positions in teaching and parish ministry, as a seminary formator, in judicial ministry, in the diplomatic service of the Holy See, as General Secretary of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops and as Vicar General and Moderator of the Curia of the Archdiocese of Montreal. He entered the Dominican Third Order on November 18, 2007 in the Basilica of Santa Maria sopra Minerva in Rome, while in formation at the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy. He then made his profession in the priestly fraternities of Saint Dominic on May 11, 2008 in the same Italian Dominican convent. In what might be a fitting tribute to his link with the Dominicans, he quotes the motto of the Order of Preachers as expressed in the work of St. Thomas Aquinas: “As it is better to illuminate than merely to shine, so it is better to share with others the truths contemplated than merely to contemplate them”. On July 16, 2022, he was named Auxiliary Bishop of Montreal by Pope Francis, who on February 11, 2023 appointed him Metropolitan Archbishop of Toronto.
Brother Timothy Radcliffe, OP, was born in London in 1945. He joined the Order of Preachers in 1965. He was ordained a priest in 1971. After studying at Oxford and Paris, he taught Scripture at Oxford University and at the Dominican center known as Blackfriars Hall. From 1982 to 1988, he was prior of the Oxford convent. He was elected Prior Provincial of the Province of England in 1987 and Master of the Order of Preachers from 1992 to 2001. An internationally renowned speaker, preacher, writer and theologian, he has received honorary degrees from Oxford University and other academic institutions in France, Italy and the United States. In 2007, he was awarded the Michael Ramsey Prize for his writings in theology. In 2023, Pope Francis commissioned him to preach the preparatory retreat for bishops from around the world taking part in the synod on synodality. This year, he was also asked to lead the preparatory retreat for the second session of the Synod. The meditations of fr. Timothy were published by the official Vatican media.
The Dominican family welcomes the consistory’s announcement of the appointment of the new cardinals, whose “origin expresses the universality of the Church, which continues to proclaim God’s merciful love to all the peoples of the earth”, and whose inclusion “in the diocese of Rome manifests, moreover, the indissoluble bond between the See of Peter and the particular Churches scattered throughout the world”, as Pope Francis emphasized when he asked for prayers for the new cardinals, so that, “confirming their attachment to Christ, the merciful and faithful High Priest”, they may assist him “in the ministry of Bishop of Rome for the good of all the holy people of God”. We join in the prayers for the new cardinals and commend the ministry and mission of our brothers to the intercession of Our Lady of the Rosary and our Father Saint Dominic.
On August 30, 2024, during the elective chapter of the Province of India, held in Satyagiri, at the Dominican Retreat Center, fr Peter Mendonsa, OP, then superior of the community of Saint Dominic in Delhi, was elected Prior Provincial. On the same day, he was confirmed by the Master of the Order, fr Gerard Francisco Timoner III, OP, with the signature of his vicar, fr Pablo Carlos Sicouly, OP, and accepted the office on the same day. Bro. Peter succeeds fr Prasad George, OP, who has served as provincial since 2020.
Born in 1967 in Shankerapura, Udupi district, Karnataka state, India, Brother Peter joined the postulancy of Saint Dominic, Mangalore, in 1983. He joined the novitiate of the Order of Preachers in Pachmarhi, Madya Pradesh, made his simple profession in 1987 and his solemn profession in Nagpur in 1993. Fr. Peter completed his first cycle of philosophical and theological studies in Nagpur, where he was ordained deacon. He was ordained priest on May 31, 1995. He holds a doctorate from the Faculty of Theology at Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich (2001-2006).
Brother Peter has had many assignments. In particular, he was parish priest of Saint Dominic Parish in Mangalore until 2000, first superior of the Immaculate Conception House in Bellore, Mangalore (2007-2010), novice master (2012-2015), rector of Saint Charles Seminary (2015-2021) and superior of Saint Dominic Delhi, also being parish priest of Saint Dominic Church, Delhi (2022-2024). Fr. Peter is a well-known preacher. He accompanies spiritual retreats and teaches pastoral theology, homiletics and interreligious dialogue at the seminary.
On August 31, 2024, Brother Simon Lessard made his first vows as a Dominican for the Province of St. Dominic in Canada. He is originally from Quebec City, and is currently “responsible for partnerships” at Magazine Le Verbe, a magazine that aims to ” to bear witness to Christian hope in the media by combining Catholic faith and contemporary culture. ” Congratulations to Brother Simon Lessard.
Homily given by the Prior Provincial on the occasion of the profession of Brother Simon Lessard, o.p.
Dear Simon, in choosing this Gospel, Jesus asks Peter: “Simon, son of John, do you love me? It’s clear to me that this is the heart of your profession of faith, and that you make Simon Peter’s heartfelt cry your own: “You know, Lord, that I love you”. And that you are ready to go wherever he leads you, following in the footsteps of Saint Dominic, whom you have chosen as your road companion.
To fully understand what lies at the heart of Dominican life, we need to contemplate both the Order’s mission and its history, never losing sight of St. Dominic’s apostolic action in the light of his life as recounted by his brothers and sisters. The study of our history and our missions is essential, for Dominic left us no writings other than the first Constitutions of the Order, which he profoundly influenced, and which thus help us to better grasp the zeal that animated him. It was Father Vicaire, a great historian of the Order in the 20th century, who said:
“There are saints, such as Francis of Assisi, whose faces are accessible to all because they appear in so many stories that are as clear and colorful as illuminations. There are others, like Dominic, who are somehow hidden in… the light of his work, which in a way acts as a screen. [1]This is the first time that we have ever heard of a ” missionary intuition” from our founder, but which nevertheless speaks to us of his great missionary intuition, which is boundless, outside the narrow confines of the territory of an abbey church, a canon’s priory or even a diocese.
St Dominic was above all a man of the Church, and a rereading of his missionary action only makes sense from this perspective, where Dominic wants to save the Church of Christ from the schisms and heresies that threaten all around her. For Dominic, the world to be saved and the future of the Church are one and the same. This was to profoundly mark the identity of the Order and of all those who would follow in Dominic’s footsteps.
We of the family of Saint Dominic are of the Church, a Church that must constantly convert itself while making itself the servant of all, and this breath that animates our being together is above all apostolic. Dominican life is lived first and foremost in a mission that is defined and recognized by the Church as an extension of that of the Apostles and, by the same token, of Christ. It’s a life that plunges us into the heart of the Church’s mission, because that was the place of Dominic’s passion. Our Dominican life is shaped and forever marked by the compassion that dwelt in Dominic, and that made him moan and weep at night as he prayed: “My God, what will become of sinners?
Our Dominican life is therefore one of urgency for the world, because the good news of Jesus Christ is misunderstood and God’s love is often scorned. This is what makes Dominic’s steps so lively and cheerful, as well as those of all those who live the Gospel in his own way.
That’s why our Dominican life is one in which God must be our all, and concern for our neighbor the heart of all our commitments. This is why we are called to walk with Dominic on the road of itinerancy, “speaking of God or with God”, accepting to go wherever the mission leads us in discernment with our brothers. Our Dominican life does not turn us into monks, but at the same time it is nourished by study, prayer, silence and contemplation, while being supported by a community of brothers that assumes and carries the preaching and mission of each of its members. Dominican life gives us great freedom of action, while at the same time calling us to a profound life of interiority and fraternal relationships.
This life appeals to our freedom in Christ. It doesn’t lock us into narrow frames. It opens us up to creativity, responsibility and the open sea for the good of the mission. The Benedictine Mathieu de Paris, in the 13th century, was indignant when he saw the first Dominicans leaving their convents to go and preach the Gospel on the roads, something quite unheard of in their day. Mathieu de Paris said of the Dominican friars: “They have the universe for a cloister and the ocean for a fence!” And that’s our pride!
That’s why this freedom of ours also implies great trust in others, in the brothers and sisters with whom we journey. “What do you ask for?” asks the Prior Provincial when a brother makes his profession: “God’s mercy and yours,” replies the professed brother. Think of Dominic, who agreed to give pocket money to a brother who refused to leave without money, as he had asked him to do. There’s no authoritarianism here, despite the shifts of certain eras. Trust and fraternal mercy prevail over the law.
And this is a dimension of our Order that has always struck me. Many times I have heard Christians tell me that they have always loved going to confession with the Dominicans because of the fraternal, non-judgmental welcome they found there.
This attitude is very revealing of the fruitful ministry of many of our brothers, for Dominican life implies a positive vision of man and the world, a vision open to God’s grace and mercy, an unfeigned love for every man and woman encountered on the path of mission. Think of Dominique spending the night talking with a Cathar innkeeper. There is certainly no contempt or rejection of the other in Dominic’s attitude when he finds himself with a heretic. Quite the contrary, in fact. His only concern is to save his brother, and in this sense our mission is one of dialogue with the other and with the world.
Simon, eight hundred years ago, Dominic de Guzman, contemplating the distant horizons of Osma and Caleruega where he lived in Spain as a canon, heard the Lord’s call to the distant steppes where those who knew nothing of the good news of Jesus Christ lived, and who were called Cumans. It is this same call that still resonates today for you and for all those who take inspiration from this young Castilian canon, called with him to stand on the frontiers of the great challenges of our world. And if we Dominicans have pitched our tent in Dominic’s garden, it’s because we share a spiritual filiation with his charism as herald of the Good News of Jesus Christ, as well as his ardent compassion for the world. May your commitment to the Order of Preachers through the promise of your vows, dear Simon, give you the grace to continue deepening your call to follow Christ in the manner of Saint Dominic. If you give yourself entirely to it, you’ll find the greatest happiness of all. Jesus Christ’s promise!
Fr. Yves Bériault, o.p. Prior Provincial
[1] Preface to Guy Bedouelle’s book Dominique ou la grâce de la parole. Fayard-Mame, 1982. p.7.
On February 3, 2024, the friars of the Province of Switzerland and delegates from the Province of France gathered in Fribourg around the Master of the Order, fr Gerard Francisco Timoner III, OP, to proceed with the suppression of the Province of Switzerland and the erection of the Vicariate of Switzerland of the Province of France.
Following the reading of the decree abolishing the Province of Switzerland and erecting the vicariate, the Provincial of France, Brother Nicolas Tixier, OP, instituted Brother Didier Boillat, OP, as the first Vicar Provincial of the Vicariate of Switzerland. In his bilingual address, Brother Nicolas warmly thanked Brother Benoît-Dominique de la Soujeolle, OP, who had accompanied the Swiss Province in preparing this institutional change, made necessary by the needs of the Order’s mission in Switzerland.
The Master of the Order gave thanks for the hundreds of brothers, sisters and lay members of the Order who for centuries have served the Gospel message in Switzerland by their word and their presence. He stressed that this change in status does not mean the end of the Order’s mission in Switzerland. On the contrary, the international experience of the Province of France will breathe new life into Dominican preaching in the confederation.
Nicholas Paul Crowe, OP, is the new Prior Provincial.
Meeting in Chapter, the friars of the Province of England have elected Brother Nicholas Paul Crowe, OP as their new Prior Provincial. His election was confirmed by the Master of the Order, Brother Gerard Francisco Timoner III, OP, on April 9, 2024.
“Deo gratias! It is with joy that the friars announce the election of a new Prior Provincial, Brother Nicholas Paul Crowe, OP, who has been elected and confirmed by the Master of the Order today, April 9, 2024″, write the friars of the Province of England. In the afternoon, after Vespers, the letter of confirmation from the Master of the Order was read and Brother Nicholas made his profession of faith and took the oath of fidelity, thus taking up his duties and succeeding Brother Martin Ganeri, OP.
Brother Nicholas grew up in Stevenage, near London. After studying geography at Cambridge University and spending a year working with Dominican Volunteers International in the Philippines, he entered the novitiate in 2008. After ordination, he was appointed vocation promoter and director for the English province, a position he held for several years before studying moral theology at the University of Fribourg. Following these studies, he was elected Prior of Cambridge in 2022, Prior of Oxford in 2023 and now Prior Provincial of the English Province.
The chapter now continues in Oxford under his presidency, as the capitulars discuss the needs of the Dominican mission in England, Scotland and Jamaica, work to implement plans and appoint brothers to further the Order’s mission for the salvation of souls. “Please continue to pray for us, and in particular for Brother Nicholas, who has been entrusted with this responsibility for the next four years. May God, who began this good work, bring it to perfection in Christ. May the Blessed Virgin Mary, Queen of the Holy Rosary and Patroness of the Order of Preachers, pray for us”, ask the brothers of the English province.
Let’s Commit to Peace and Human Dignity” Haiti 2024
Every year, from the first Sunday of Advent to the Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord, the Dominican Month of Peace is celebrated, during which the Dominican Family programs pastoral activities and proposes prayer intentions for a specific country, which this year will be Haiti, under the motto “Let’s commit ourselves to peace and human dignity”.
On the occasion of the Dominican Month of Peace, the Master of the Order writes a letter in which he gives indications on how to live it.
In addition, the Order’s official website, www.op.org, shares material related to pastoral activities and prayer intentions prepared by the Dominican family.
In recent years, Dominican Months for Peace have been dedicated to the Amazon in 2023, Myanmar in 2022, Ukraine in 2020, the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2018 and Colombia in 2017.
Magister in Sacra Theologia
“Today’s world is once again suffering from a great deal of violence, not only on the battlefields but also in language, politics, human relations, even within couples and families. There is also a great lack of hope.
Jean-Michel Poffet, OP, who received the Master of Sacred Theology diploma1 of the Order of Preachers in 2023, in an interview with Ordo Praedicatorum media :
I was obviously very honoured that my Province had chosen to propose me for the MST and that the Master of the Order had granted it to me. The laudatio underlined the link I had always tried to forge between the study of Sacred Scripture and preaching in the broadest sense. Anything that could shed light not only on the past of the texts studied, but also on their future for the people of God. I can only be encouraged to continue in this direction.
Today’s world is once again suffering from a great deal of violence, not only on the battlefields, but also in language, politics and human relations, right down to the couple, the family and so on. There is also a great lack of hope. It therefore seems urgent to me to seek to bring to light the Revelation of a God who is a “friend of mankind”, a God of liberation, who showed this with Moses and above all with Jesus. And Jesus, himself wounded, shows his wounds to his disciples after his resurrection, while entrusting them with peace and forgiveness. A real humanization program…
The tools at our disposal facilitate Bible study, offering historical, archaeological and linguistic documentation. But nothing will ever replace hermeneutics: the interpretation of biblical texts in the light of faith. Not just the search for what an ancient author meant, but what an inspired text can still say for today and tomorrow. The Holy Spirit accompanies this search and this service to the Church.
For many years, I myself chaired and animated a Bible Association in French-speaking Switzerland, organizing annual sessions and supporting work in small groups throughout the year. Two poles need to be held together: fidelity to the Word of God, with exacting standards for the content transmitted, and a pedagogy that enables people with no university training and sometimes even very little study to understand the Word of God and benefit from its light. We’ve always been careful to include non-academics, women and not just men or clerics, and younger people too.
I can’t answer that question because I don’t know enough about Latin America and Africa. The only thing that strikes me is that, in all these groups, there’s a desire for fervor and fraternity, whereas our celebrations or our proposal of faith seem too disembodied or abstract.
Brother Jean-Michel Poffet was born in 1944 in Fribourg, Switzerland. He joined the Order in 1964. He did his novitiate and two years of philosophy in Belgium. He then studied theology at the University of Fribourg. He was ordained a priest in 1970. After two years of pastoral ministry in the Dominican parish of Saint-Paul in Geneva, he studied at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome, obtaining a licentiate in biblical studies in 1975. After three years of ministry in Geneva, he returned to Fribourg and obtained a doctorate in theology in 1984. He was appointed Associate Professor at the Faculty of Theology of the University of Fribourg. He is co-founder and president of the Association Biblique de Suisse Romande. In 1999, he was elected Director of the École Biblique et Archéologique Française de Jérusalem, and re-elected twice until 2008. In 2007, he was appointed Commander of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem. On January 1, 2009, he was awarded the Légion d’honneur by the French government. On September 15, 2023, he was awarded the degree of Master of Sacred Theology by the Master of the Order. He was elected prior several times and regent of studies for his province. He continues to give courses, retreats and lectures, notably in monasteries and for religious communities, as well as in the media. He is the author of numerous articles and books on exegesis, with a particular emphasis on biblical theology and the spiritual importance of studying Scripture. Several of his works on biblical theology have been translated into various languages.
