The Abundant Vocations of St Joseph Province, NY

The Province of St Joseph NY Receives 18 into their Novitiate

At a time when the Church and indeed the Order is
 experiencing drought in vocations, at a time when
 some provinces in the Order do not have a total 
number of 18 brothers in formation, the Province
 of St Joseph, New York is receiving 18 men into
 their novitiate for the 2013/2014 novitiate year.

They will start their novitiate year on July 25.
 Two of them are candidates for co-operator
 brother while the rest are clerical brothers.
 They will receive the Dominican habit on August 8, 
2013, the feast day of our Father St Dominic. We 
thank God for this oasis of vocations.

According to the Director of Vocations, fr Benedict 
Croell, all thanks goes to God, the Blessed Virgin,
 St Joseph, Patron of the Province and St Dominic
 for sending them vocations to preach the Gospel for
 the salvation of souls. Apart from the obvious 
divine assistance, the Province and the Director of Vocations must be doing something right. This is why we
 have decided to take as sneak peak at the vocations programme of the province.

The province has 4 main vocation weekends in February, April, September and November and they are 
always fully booked. These vocation weekends are golden opportunities for aspirants and anyone with an
 element of interest in the Dominican life to have a practical knowledge and experience of it.

The aspirants are welcomed to the Dominican Formation House at Washington DC for the weekend. They join the brothers at prayers, meals and recreation and they interact with them – both students and formators. It is also hoped that during this period, the aspirants will open their hearts at prayers and contemplation to the voice of Jesus who continually calls men to become preachers for the salvation of souls.

Between these formal vocation weekends, aspirants are also welcomed to visit the formation house informally with advance notice. They are always warmly welcomed during such informal visits.

In addition to the vocation weekends, there are also several vocation events throughout the year at different
parts of the province, mostly in school and university campuses and chaplaincies. These events are
 widely publicized and the responses have been encouraging. The reception of 18 men into the 2013 novitiate 
class is the fruit of all these efforts. This is indeed a very active, rich and effective vocations programme

According to fr Benedict, the person behind all these, there are already 5 men who are interested in the
 2014 novitiate class. Apart from the formal visit to the formation house, he encourages the aspirants to visit
 at least two other Dominican houses before they take their final decision. This is obviously working.

We rejoice with our brothers in the Province of St Joseph, NY and we pray God to sustain these vocations 
to the end. May He continue to bless the entire Order with vocations.