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hello, on behalf of the archdiocese, welcome to mosaic. have you heard of the order of preachers? their official name translates to the order of preachers and each member wears that the initials op. membership in the order includes friars, nuns, active sisters and lay dominicans. in its 800 years of existence they have produced many theologians and philosophers and includes about 1500 dominican friars and 4300 priests. they have an intimate

relationship with the archdiocese of san francisco. dominicans were here before the archdiocese and our original archbishop was a dominican priest. our guests today are two dominican priests serving in the bay area. we will hear from them after this brief break. please join us to meet them.

hello, and welcome to mosaic. our guests today are two dominican priests. on the far end is father michael, the pastor of st. dominic's parish. and next to him, father james moore and op after each name. and you are called the vicar for advancement for the western province. and both local guys from coalinga in the san joaquin valley and pacifica on the beautiful western coast. growing up in the bay area you joined the dominicans in the western province. as i mentioned, the history of the dominicans is intimately involved with the

archdiocese. tell me about that. >> when dominicans came to california they wanted to come where the action was. the pope sent to dominicans from the eastern province that were working together. he sent bishop ella may need to start the diocese here and also sent the first two dominican. so while he created the diocese of san francisco, ella maney said he wanted to go over the action is. the capital was in a place called phoenicia and there was the government and there was also the portal to the gold rush. lots ofcoming in and it is a natural bay and so all of the shipping was coming in here. there was tons of gold and you also had guns because the

armory which exists today, most of the munitions made for the first world war were made there in phoenicia. so the dominicans said, you've got the government, you've got gold, you've got guns, let's bring god. the original 4g network. bringing god to a place where you had all this interaction. >> and the seat of the archdiocese was san francisco. >> it moved from monterey to san francisco in 1953. >> the original dominican, joseph alemany who had been in the states for 10 or 12 s, we are talking about mission territory. here we are and all of a sudden there are thousands of this new population. >> dominicans were founded 800 years ago and we were just

continuing our mission by coming here. founded to combat error, heresy and alive in the faith, especially in the gospels, that were not preach well or not preached at all. >> it is interesting to talk about. and on the website there is a nice big red button that says request a preacher. i almost pushed it but was not sure exactly what would happen. i understand from my experience that they are persuasive apologists for the faith. persuasive condensers about the importance of truth in god's presence. >> absolutely. one of the things st. dominic did was when he founded the order he set up that not only we would be active preachers but contemplative's. we would live in small

monasteries and pray together and contemplate beauty and truth and give to others the fruit of our contemplation which was so desperately needed during these crazy times. >> you've been in the archdiocese for about 150 years. there is one parishes of dominicans and what u.s. vicar of advancement for the western province, how big is the western province? >> it is basically all the west coast of california and goes as far east as utah and as far south as tucson and right across the border in mexico and as far north as alaska where we have a new house in alaska in anchorage and serve the cathedral parish there in anchorage and also go out and act as missionaries throughout alaska. >> one of the parties was in san

francisco, right? >> it is not just the priests or priors preaching, st. dominic new that in order to radically change culture or bring god to culture you needed a strong component of women, contemplative nuns. so even before he formally founds the order of preachers, he founds the nuns first. this is st. dominic 800 years ago. i had the privilege of visiting the monastery. you have contemplative nuns living there from all over the world. it wasn't simply a group of guys getting together to preach, it was, together we are going to preach but behind us and supporting us is groups of contemplative nuns, active sisters which come a little bit

later. they are very much known within this diocese for education. >> the contemplative nuns offered prayer and the active sisters offered education and healthcare. helping families in need. there was a lot of disease during those days and they answered this call. >> some that came along with archbishop ella maney, she was the founder of the san rafael dominican sisters and there are still contemplative nuns and active dominican sisters today. in corpus christi. >> father michael has one of the most unique combinations of the dominican order throughout the

world. >> went the master came to visit he mentioned to me, when i mentioned my sister was a contemplative none, he mentioned that we were only the only brother and sister that were spiritually connected through the orders. >> let's take a brief break and we will talk more about the dominicans and all of what their mission and history are.

welcome back to our discussion. my guests, father james moore, vicar of advancement for the western province and mother michael hurley, and i wanted to get to this point. the dominicans mission order of preaching the gospel, i grew up in the east

bay at the tail end of the missionary era from the irish priests and nuns. it seems to me that we are living in a post-christian society, are we in a new mission territory and is this what you are addressing in your work? >> absolutely. when you're looking at our culture there are lots of things that the culture proposes in happiness and possessions we can get. real estate in san francisco is outrageous. >> friends and family cannot live here. >> exactly. there is a sense of pleasure and power in silicon valley. we are living in times which are technologically and perhaps in business and economic we are booming. but it does not have a real response to how is

it that, as st. augustine said, our hearts so restless. preachers preaching the truth and contemplating, we feel like we've been given a great gift of the gospel truth and want to share it with others, god's love, that absence we are all searching for. >> the challenge that we face, we have been priests for almost 12 years now and 10 years ago i found the big challenge with the young ones who would say i'm spiritual but not religious. 10 years later we are finding that young generation, i'm neither spiritual or religious. there is this great kind of angst and philosophically there is a huge hole. saying, maybe god exists but he has no relevance on my day today life and that is a

real melee, a big problem to have. we need to know that is the territory we are going into. >> do you think there was an era like this before? >> if you look at your student history you know that these things happen in cycles, and cultures tend to diminish when they are cut off from their spiritual roots. with st. dominic, his age and our age have sort of parallel and kind of connections in that people will say they have spiritual tendencies or want to be good people or can recognize virtue but would reject the institutional church. as dominicans we see that god's love in the gospel is always incarnational. he creates not

just a spiritual relationship but works through the body. he came as man and then sets up a church with disciples and followers. we see ourselves very much continuing that apostolic demand. the last thing he said was, go preach. we take that to heart and we are the only religious group named not for who founded us, the only order named for what we do, we preach order as you said in your beginning. you got your latin down. >> i tried. it seems to me that the culture living today has weakened families and community and yet everyone is alone with his own preferences and his ipad. i am saying, where do we find community and family?

>> you cannot have a real relationship with an instagram account. it cannot love you back. >> have you tried? >> we have been friends for too long. >> you mention with young people, you don't run schools for the most part but you do college chaplaincy? >> correct. we set up centers next to second universities. for two years i was the chaplain at the university of arizona. we rent the newman center and have a number of these throughout the west coast. one in standford, one at the university of utah, oregon and washington. we do a lot of this, especially with college aged students. i've been blessed throughout my priesthood to work with a lot of

people. >> my wife is a college professor and deals with 18-year-old and 19-year-old mind and it keeps her very young. >> at st. dominic's we have a very strong young adult presence. our mailing list is thousands every week and so the consistency of those who were catholic to know that you are not alone, most folks feel like they are cut off. not just from others but cut off from others who really believe. so the ministry is gathering together, allowing people who are young to give the permission to each other that i can live my faith boldly. in a time when there are so many ways that divide us, they pray together, they gathered together to have fun together and also be formed

together. this particular past of things they have done is a host of that and they seek to bring the parish together. they are very eager to live their faith and almost need permission for that solidarity. >> it goes back to what you were talking about with people feeling disconnected. people come they are lonely, they are new to the city and sometimes they are more robust catholics or less, but they know that there is a group of people at st. dominic's, the word is out. they show up there and all of a sudden they are formed together. >> let's take a brief break. we will come back and talk more with our dominican fathers.

>> welcome back. we are talking about the dominican order and their local activities. i want to run two slides on the screen. slide number one, this is the website of the western dominican province. this is the province for which father james is the vicar for advancement. if you take a look at this you will find every kind of resource about the dominicans and what they do and some pictures of two men that look very much like our guests. slide number two is the

church of san francisco, the parish of which father michael is the pastor and it looks like the guys from abby road are crossing. this is the most beautiful catholic website you will ever see and the most beautiful church in san francisco. >> amen. >> let's talk about this now. i have, and i think any catholic that lives around here is that kind of impression that st. dominic's is doing really well. and then you get the newsletter, and the dominicans seem to be doing something right. >> we are flourishing in places where conventional wisdom says we've got this city with this fantastic church. same thing in portland and seattle and los

angeles. then again at our university centers. our ministries are flourishing. it is also reflective of the fact that these days we do the priesthood shortage and there is a lot of good news here. and a lot of them doubling and going up this way. >> it is a long course of discernment and vocation training . >> our retention rate is a lot higher than it has been since i think 1989. our rates are the highest now. not only are men joining but they are staying. >> and part of the procedure is to live in community. it is not

about someone managing six parishes on his own but you have a community and a support system. >> we are both from very strong families. one of the big reasons i wanted to join in order that had a community was because i wanted to have a family. father michael and i have been buddies for a while, very much like brothers. >> you are running a big city parish and you are saying, we have a thriving youth. >> it comes from the pillars of the dominican order and there are four pillars and right now counting our novices there are 20 men living and we gather to pray. you can come and pray in

the very early morning and in the evening. so when people see these people gathered in prayer, people say, things are happening. we study together. all the preachers gathered together and the fact that we talk about the gospel and reflect on the gospel and to do this very ancient practice and one of us preaches the gospel, and it is as if the whole community as thought reflected and we are preaching together, prepare meals together and we are living together. one of the most attractive aspects of our parish is not just that the sacraments are going on but the quality of the sacraments, availability of the sacraments and the joy of the sacraments that radiates from that dominican community in san

francisco. what a pleasure to be there. >> and there is beautiful music. the best in san francisco. and your communications which is an important part of modern preaching is wonderful. we have about a minute and a half left. what message do you want to leave the viewers with? >> leave your faith boldly but with joy. we need to be bold about our faith but also people should see that we are different. we are happy because we have the gospel. >> jesus says, i have come that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete, may be full. our vision at st. dominic's is to radiate the joy of the gospel in the heart of the city and when we are joyful, one of the nicknames was the joyful fryer. it is contagious

and it spreads without being diminished. we make the boldest witness we can when we are joyful in living as catholics. >> if a catholic wants to have a great homily at mass or intellectual experience, seek out a dominican church. there will be something great happening, good music and all that kind of stuff. no question that your people are making a great impression. st. dominic is also famous for the rosary. >> yes, we wear the rosary and prayed every day. >> thank you very much for being here. thank you for telling us all about the dominicans in the archdiocese of san francisco. see you next time.

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