Saturday, March 09
6:30pm
Dominican Film Club
Upcoming Events
Saturday, April 13
6:30pm
Dominican Film Club
Saturday, July 13
6:30pm
Dominican Film Club
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Welcome
Jesus wants to share His life with you so you can experience the fullness of life. He is inviting each one of us into a relationship with Him, and that makes you someone of untold value to Him, and to us.
Please explore our website, call, or visit us.
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Our Parish
Nuestra Parroquia BECOMe A CATHOLIC Christian
Mass times
Sunday Liturgies
7:30 a.m., 9:00 a.m., 10:30 a.m.
12:00 p.m.
1:30 p.m. (Español)
5:00 p.m.
7:00 p.m. Occidental College Herrick Chapel
Saturdays
8:00 a.m.
5:00 p.m. (Sunday Vigil)
Weekdays
8:00 a.m. & 6:00 p.m.
Seasons of Hope Bereavement Group
If you're in need of consolation after the losing a loved one, this Christ-centered faith sharing group is for you. Two groups will meet for six consecutive weeks for Scripture reading, prayer, faith sharing and fellowship.
- One group will meet on Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., beginning January 10.
- Another group will meet on Saturdays at 9:30 a.m., beginning January 12.
For more information, please contact the parish office at (323) 254-2519.
Quote of the Week
February 17, 2019
Indeed, pastors know how much the lay faithful contribute to the welfare of the entire Church. They also know that they themselves were not established by Christ to undertake alone the entire saving mission of the Church towards the world, but they understand that it is their exalted office to be shepherds of the lay faithful and also to recognize the latter’s services and charisms that all according to their proper roles may cooperate in this common undertaking with one heart.” (Christifideles Laici,32)
Pastor's Corner
February 10, 2019
I will be leaving for Oakland on Tuesday, February 12. It has been a very busy week. In addition to trying to pack, I’ve been working on the legislation produced by the Dominican Provincial chapter putting together resources and information that will be helpful to our new pastor. The friars caucused on Wednesday and then elected a new prior on Friday.
I know some of you wanted to have lunch or coffee together, and I could not do that, as much as I would have liked to do so. I wish it were otherwise.
I want to thank the many, many people who left me cards with good wishes and promises of prayers, and especially the many people who contributed to the Fr. Paul Scanlon Community Center capital campaign. Together, we raised $8,988.00 for the project! Every contribution helps us get that much closer to our goal.
I have learned a lot these past four years about ministry, evangelization, leadership, the wonderful Filipino and Latino cultures - and myself. I have much more to reflect upon and to learn from the experiences we’ve shared.
St. Paul reminds us of the Good News: Jesus died for our sins, was raised, was seen by hundreds of people after his resurrection and not just by the disciples. I pray the grace of God that was at work through him continues to be at work in you, drawing you more closely into the intimate love of Jesus for each of you. Please know you will remain in my prayers; I have a long list of intentions you’ve given me! I ask you keep me and the new pastor in your prayers.
My address and email will be:
5890 Birch Court, Oakland, CA 94618; fones@opwest.org.
WHAT IS DISCIPLESHIP?
A CONSCIOUS, INTENTIONAL RESPONSE TO AN INVITATION TO RELATIONSHIP
The Catechism of the Catholic Church (paragraph #546) says that through his parables Jesus invites people to the feast of the kingdom, but he also asks for a radical choice: to gain the kingdom, one must give everything. (Mt. 22:1-14) Words are not enough, deeds are required! (Mt. 21:28-32) Believing is possible only by grace and the help of the Holy Spirit. But this free choice is also an authentically human act. that is not contrary to our freedom or to human reason (Catechism, #154). After all, we choose to trust some people and what they reveal to us about themselves in order to enter a relationship with them.
AN EXPERIENCE OF NEW LIFE
Christ's disciples have "put on the new the new self, created in God’s way in righteousness and holiness of truth." By "putting away falsehood," they are to "put away all malice and all guile and insincerity and envy and all slander." (Ephesians 4:24-25) This new life is made possible by Christ who unites himself to us. He says, "I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing." (John 14:5) St. Paul could claim, "I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me; insofar as I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who has loved me and given himself up for me." (Galatians 2:20) An essential aspect of this new life is prayer. In the Holy Spirit, Christian prayer is a communion of 
love with the Father, not only through Christ but also in him. (Catechism, #2615)
A LIFE DIRECTED TOWARDS OTHERS
By loving us even to his death on the cross, Jesus manifests the Father's love which he receives. By loving one another, the disciples imitate the love of Jesus which they themselves receive. He gives his disciples a new commandment: "love one another as I have loved you." (John 13:34) Through baptism, the disciple receives graces of the Holy Spirit called charisms which help to build up the Church, the secular order, and meet the needs of the world. (Catechism, #799)
A LIFE OF WITNESS
The experience of a new life leads the disciple to speak to others about the treasure they have discovered in Jesus Christ (Matthew 13:44). This has been commanded by Jesus, who his disciples, "Go, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you." (Matthew 28:19-20) Witnessing to Jesus is necessary for salvation: "everyone who acknowledges me before others the Son of Man will acknowledge before the angels of God. But whoever denies me before others will be denied before the angels of God." (Luke 12:8-9)
A LIFE IN COMMUNION
Jesus formed a community of disciples around himself during his life. He proclaimed a mysterious and real communion between his own body and ours: "He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him." (John 6:56) This community continues in the Church. In the Mass, the communion of Christ's disciples, born from Jesus' total self-gift for our salvation on the cross (Catechism, #766) is expressed and deepened. Moreover, St. Paul told the Church in Corinth, "you are Christ’s body, and individually parts of it." (1 Corinthians 12:27)
Becoming a Disciple of Jesus
Just as any human relationship takes time to develop, so too our relationship with Jesus. And like our other relationships, there are distinct stages that mark its growth. The descriptions below are from the book Forming Intentional Disciples by Sherry Weddell.
Initial trust: Do you have a positive association with Jesus Christ, the Church, a Christian believer, or something identifiably Christian? Without some kind of bridge of trust in place, we cannot move closer to God.
Spiritual curiosity: Are you intrigued by or desire to know more about Jesus, his life, and his teachings or some aspect of the Christian faith? This curiosity can range from mere awareness of a new possibility to something quite intense.
Spiritual openness: Are you open to the possibility of personal and spiritual change? Is there a pattern of behavior you want to change, or do you have a hope that there's more to life than you are experiencing?
Spiritual seeking: Are you actively seeking to know the God who is calling you? Do you seek the company of Christians? Have you been asking a Catholic friend about Mass, the Bible, or how to pray? Seekers are asking of God, “Are you the one to whom I will give myself?” Are you wondering if you can commit to Christ in his Church.
Intentional discipleship: This is the decision to “drop one’s nets,” like Simon Peter, the fisherman at the Sea of Galilee did. It is to make a conscious commitment to follow Jesus in the midst of his Church as an obedient disciple and to reorder one’s life accordingly. It's not the end of the journey at all - but a definitive new direction of one's life!
Where are you on this journey?
Prayers for Evangelization
Please pray that many parishioners respond to Jesus' invitation to send them to those who do not know Him. Pray that those who will hear the Gospel will respond! You can:
- Ask God to open their spiritual eyes (2 Cor. 4:4).
- Ask God to give them ears to hear (Matt. 13:15),
- Ask God to give them faith to believe (Acts 20:21).
- Ask God to give them the will to respond (Rom. 10:9).
- Ask God to send Catholic Christians into their lives to witness to them (Matt. 9:38).
- Ask God for an opportunity to invite them (Luke 14:23).
- Ask God to set them free from spiritual captivity (2 Tim. 2:25-26).
St. John Paul II's Prayer
to Our Lady of Evangelization
O Mary, Mother of Jesus and Mother of his Church, we are mindful of the role you play in the evangelization of souls who do not yet know Him. We are mindful of how missionaries came with the power of Christ’s Gospel and committed the success of their work to you.
As the Mother of Divine Grace you were with the missionaries in all their efforts.
And as Mother of the Church you presided over all the activities of evangelization and over the implantation of the Gospel in the hearts of the faithful. You sustained the missionaries in hope and you gave joy to every new community that was born of the Church’s evangelizing activity.
You were there with your intercession and your prayers, as the first grace of baptism developed, and as those who had new life in Christ your Son came to a full appreciation of their Christian calling.
We ask you, Mary, to help us to fulfill this mission of evangelization which your Son has given to his Church and which falls to us. Mindful of your role as Help of Christians, we entrust ourselves to you in the work of carrying the Gospel ever deeper into the hearts and lives of all the people. We entrust to you our missionary mandate and commit our cause totally to your prayers.
To Jesus Christ your Son, with the Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit be praise and thanksgiving forever and ever. Amen!
Sacraments
Related Ministry
Religious Life
For information concerning a religious vocation with the Western Dominican friars, click here.
For information concerning a vocation to the diocesan priesthood, contact the Archdiocesan vocation director through LAvocations.org
Links to some Dominican Women's congregations and monasteries
- Dominican Sisters of San Rafael
- Dominican Sisters of Mission San Jose
- Dominican Sisters of Oakford
- Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia (Nashville, TN)
- Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist (Ann Arbor, MI)
- Corpus Christi Monastery (Menlo Park, CA)
- Monastery of the Angels (Hollywood, CA)
Sisters of Notre Dame - minister at St. Dominic's Parish & Grade School
For help with general discernment of a vocation to priesthood, marriage or religious life, click here.
Our Patron, St. DOminic
If he hadn't taken a trip with his bishop, Dominic might have remained within the structure of contemplative life as a canon regular - a priest living with other priests serving at the cathedral of his diocese in Spain in the late 12th century. They were attempting a reform by reviving the apostolic common life as described in the Acts of the Apostles. On a journey through southern France with his bishop, he was confronted with the Albigensian heresy, which held that two opposite principles - one good, one evil - were the source of the spiritual and physical realms, respectively. They denied the goodness of creation, the Incarnation and the sacraments. The "perfect" among them abstained from sex to avoid bringing more children into the world, and took as little food and drink as possible.
Dominic saw that ordinary people admired the extreme asceticism of the heresy's leaders, and saw that the clergy sent to preach to them would be ineffective unless they took seriously Jesus' command to share the good news with "no money bag, no sack, no sandals" (Luke 10:4) He began a mission of itinerant preaching. His initial success was with some women, who, upon their conversion, formed a monastic community to support Dominic's mission with their prayers.
Dominic’s vision was universal; he saw a need in the Church which extended beyond France. Gradually, a number of men began to join him, and the Order of Friars Preachers was founded in 1216. As the Order spread through Europe and through time, the Order came to include active sisters and a host of lay Dominicans. His ideal, and the life of the Order, is a linking of a life with God through study and prayer - especially the liturgy of the hours - with a ministry of salvation to people through the preaching of the Word of God. To this day the Dominican strives to "contemplate and share with others the fruits of contemplation."
This life has aspects that any Christian should imitate: the combination of prayer, study and activity in service of others is, ideally, the life of a Christian accountant, carpenter, mother, engineer or nurse.
"In the long run, is there any other way of handing on the Gospel than by transmitting to another person one's personal experience of faith?"
Pope Paul VI, Evangelization in the Modern World, 46