Saint Albert Priory

Dominican Friars
5890 Birch Court
Oakland, CA 94618
(510) 596-1800

November 2003

Welcome to Saint Albert’s

Many friends, benefactors, colleagues and numer­ous family members of our brothers visit Saint Albert Priory during the course of each month. 

Some friends join us for our early morning Office on weekdays; others are very fond of our evening Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and Night Prayer. Our beautiful Sunday night Adoration, Benediction and Compline with its candlelight Salve Procession attracts a modest but very faithful group. Most of all, our Sunday morning Mass brings a large number of guests into our conventual home.

We’re grateful for all of our guests, and as a sign of our gratitude, we felt that from time to time it would be helpful to dis­tribute an informational bulletin describing those priory activities in which they might be interested. We are not a parish, and so we always encourage our visitors frequently to attend Sunday Mass at their own parishes, but we are very pleased when our friends are able to join us for Sunday Mass or any of our other public priory events throughout the week.

In an attempt to accomplish this, we will distribute this bulletin from time to time. Do join us for any event or project you read about in these pages that appeals to you.

Father Michael, O.P.
Prior

Thank You to our Sunday Mass Group!

Our hearts are filled with gratitude for the generosity of those friends and neighbors who join us for Mass on Sunday mornings. Since we are not a parish and therefore have neither the personnel nor the mission to provide regular pastoral care to the public, we don’t take up a weekly collection the way a parish does. Our custom is to place an alms box near the chapel entrance. We are grateful for whatever gifts are placed therein. There are, however, three exceptions to this that are extremely important to our financial stability. On the two great feasts of Christmas and Easter we take up a collection at Mass, and once a year on Rosary Sunday in October, we beg for money at Mass! This begging is to help us finance the education and living ex­penses of our young friars in formation. We have been blessed with a large number of very fine student brothers (seminarians and brothers-in-training), but as our Prior explained at Mass on Rosary Sunday, the expenses attached to their formation are enor­mous. Those who were with us on Rosary Sunday responded most generously to our plea. Please know that we are deeply grateful and be assured that the best way we know how to show our gratitude is to remember you over and over again in our prayers. May God reward your goodness to us!

Liturgy Schedule

The Public is Welcome!

Focus on our Brothers: Meet the Two Deacons

One needn’t spend much time at Saint Albert Priory to come to the realization that we Dominicans are immensely proud of the numerous young men God has called to our way of life. This year at Saint Albert’s, twenty-five friars are studying for the priesthood, and another five are preparing to serve the Order and the Church as cooperator brothers. Another eleven of our own student brothers are participat­ing in that aspect of the formation program that sends them away from Saint Albert’s for two years. One of those years is devoted to study at a different one of the Order’s houses of studies and five of our brothers are currently participating in that program; three are in Washington, D.C. , and one each is in Peru and East Africa. The second year of this program takes the student brother to an active ministry and community of the Province for an internship in pastoral ministry and apostolic community life; six brothers are participating in that program at locations in Seattle, Washington; Anchorage, Alaska; and Benicia, Antioch and Riverside, all in California. During this time, we miss them at Saint Albert’s, but we are pleased they are engaged in these important aspects of the program that is preparing them for ministry in the Church. Another two of our Brothers in formation are already deacons who are looking forward to their priestly ordination in 2004. We thought we would introduce them to our readers. 

	Brother John Evans, the son of Millie and Al Evans, of Utah, entered the novitiate in 1996 and made first vows one year later. He entered the order with a B.S. in Economics and has earned a B.A. in Philosophy since entering the Order. He is currently working on his Master of Divinity degree as well as an M.A. in Theology at our Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology. In 2000 he spent a very successful pastoral year at the Arizona State University Newman Center, Tempe. He was ordained to the diaconate on May 1, 2003. During this year he travels to Saint Dominic Parish, Benicia, to exercise his diaconal ministry.
	Brother Francis-Hung Le is a native of Hue, Vietnam. He and his sister, Tawny, are among those heroic people who escaped the Communist regime by boat in 1977. Six months later they settled in Santa Barbara. Entering the Dominican novitiate in 1996, Brother Francis arrived with a B.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from UC Santa Barbara and an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from Santa Clara University. As a friar he has earned his B.A. in Philosophy and is now working on his MA. in Theology and his Master of Divinity degree. In 1999 he served a pastoral year internship at Most Holy Trinity Parish in Phoenix, Arizona, and he spent the last academic year studying theology in Spanish at the Convento de Santo Tomas in Mexico City. This year he exercises his diaconal ministry at Saint Dominic Parish, San Francisco.
Brother John and Brother Francis both look forward to their ordination to the priesthood in the Spring. These two wonderful young friars fill our Dominican hearts with pride!  You can visit their vocation page at http://www.opwest.org/ordination.htm

Christmas Concerts at the Priory

The series “Concerts at St. Albert Priory” will continue this year. A Candlelight Concert by the San Francisco State University Chamber Singers, under the direction of Joshua Habermann, will take place Saturday, December 6th, at 8:00 p.m. “II est né,” performed by the Schola Cantorum of the Priory and the Women’s Antique Vocal Ensemble will be in the Priory Chapel on Saturday December 20th at 8:00 p.m. Tickets for both concerts are available through the Priory office (510) 596- 1800. A donation of $20.00 is appreciated.

Priory Projects:
Thanks for Asking How You Can Help!

Sometimes our friends ask us how they can help us with our various projects at the Priory, A benefactor recently said to one our priests, “Father, tell me what you’re doing around here and maybe one of your projects will appeal to me. I’d be more motivated to help you if I knew about something specific you were trying to accomplish that appealed to me.” We don’t need to hear that twice! There are, in fact, several projects we’re undertaking, all of which threaten to be somewhat costly. First, our institutional kitchen needs renovating. It’s been many years since anything substantial was done to the kitchen and the needs are extensive. It is starting to sound as if this job will cost about $100,000. We are also in need of a new sound system for our chapel and the latest estimates we’ve received place that project in the $8,000 range. Finally, as we contemplate the holiday season in two months, we are beginning to strategize for the home visits of the student brothers. Although we stay together as a community at the Priory for the great Holy Day itself, the days after Christmas are usually the one time of the year that our young brothers go home for a few days to be with their families. The travel expenses in getting thirty men to and from their family homes are great. if a friend of the Priory were willing to help cover the expenses of just one brother’s trip home or to help with any other one of these projects, it would be a great gift to all of us!

Our Province participates in eScrip. The group name is “Western Dominican Province” and the group ID number is I 54804935. Can you support this endeavor? It’s free!

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