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>> hello and on behalf of the archdiocese of san francisco welcome to mosaic. have you heard of the order of the preachers? they are also called the dominican order as they were founded by saint dominic. each member wears the latin initials "o.p." membership includes fryers, nuns and affiliated lay dominicans. the order is famed for its progress and its 800 years of existence has produced many theologians and scholars. current membership includes about 5800 dominican fryers including 4300 priests. the dominican order has an intimate and enduring relationship with the archdiocese of san francisco. the dominicans were here before

the archdiocese. our original archbishop was a dominican priest. our guest today are two dominican priests serving in the bay area. we will learn about that dominican history, the mission of the dominicans in the west and much more. after this brief break please rejoin us to meet the dominicans. [ music ]

>> hello and welcome to mosaic. our guest today are two dominican priests. on the far end a large, redheaded man is father michael hurley. you are the pastor of saint dominic's parish in san francisco. next to him father james moore. "o.p" after each name and you are the vigor of advancement for the western providence. both local guys from a farming family. >> and from pacifica. he make the beautiful western coast. growing up in the bay area you grown to join the dominicans and the western province. the history is intimately involved with the archdiocese, right? tell me about that. >> when the dominicans came to california they wanted to come kind of where the action was.

the pope sent two dominicans who had known each other on the eastern providence. they were working together. he sent one to start the diocese here, but also sent father villarosa . he said i want to go to the capital. i want to go where the action is. at that time in california have a capital in a place called venetia. there was the government. it was also the portal to the gold rush. this was in the 1850s. >> 1853 . >> yes. the car kima straight is a better natural bay than our own bay here. all the shipping and everything was coming. so you have tons of gold. also, you had guns because the armory which exists today, most of the munitions that were made for the first

world war, others were made from the west coast and were made there in venetia. the dominicans that you have a government, you've got gold. you have guns, let's bring god. it is the original 4g network, i guess. you got that sense of bringing god to a place where you had all this interaction. >> the seed of the archdiocese is in san francisco. >> that is right. it moved in 1853. >> the original dominican who became the arch bishop joseph allen many who have been in the states as a missionary for 10 or 12 years. what we are talking is mission territory. here we are and finally there are hundreds of thousands of new populations in the san francisco bay area. >> exactly. the dominicans were found in 800 years ago. we were just continuing our mission. founded as an order of preachers to combat heresy, but

also to enlighten the faith and to bring the faith to people, especially where the gospels were either not preach well or not at all. >> it is an interesting name. on the website which we will show later there is a nice red button that says request a preacher. i went to the website and i almost pushed it. i was not sure exactly what would happen. i understand that from my experience with dominicans they are persuasive apologist for the faith or persuasive convinces about the importance of truth and god's presence. >> absolutely. one of the things saint dominic did is when he founded the order he set up that we would not only be active preachers, but also contempt letters. we would live in small monasteries and we would pray together and we would also contemplate truth

and give to others the fruits of our contemplation. so desperately needed in these busy, kind of crazy times. >> you have been in the archdiocese for 150-60 years, from the beginning. there is one parish of dominicans, saint dominic's church. u.s. vicar for advancement for the western province, how big is the western province? >> the western dominican province is basically all the west coast of california. it goes as far east as utah, as far south as tucson. right across the border in mexico and as far north as alaska. we have a new house in anchorage and we serve the cathedral parish and also go out and act as missionaries throughout the great state of alaska. >> one of the originals was a dominican sister, right? >> yeah. the wonderful thing about the dominican order if it

is not just about the priest or the fryers preaching. saint dominic's new in order to radically change culture or bring god to culture and enlighten it, you needed a strong component of women, contemplative nuns. even before he formally found the order of preachers he found the nuns first. this is a dominic's 800 years ago. i have the privilege of building -- visiting the little -- what was attractive for me if it wasn't simply a group of guys getting together to preach. it was together we are going to preach and behind us and supporting us is groups of contemplative nuns of active sisters was calm and little later, but began to teach and very much known in this diocese for education. >> very much. the contemplative

nuns offer prayer and the active sisters offer education or healthcare. helping families in need. there were a lot of disease in san francisco in the rough early days. they answered those calls. >> mother mary who came along with father villarosa who are the founders, she was the founders of the san rafael dominican sisters who still exist and the dominican college up in san rafael is from them. there are still contemplative nuns and active dominican sisters today. >> the monastery of, i'm not sure what the name is. corpus christi. >> interesting fact about father michael, he has one of the most unique combinations in the entire dominican order throughout the world which is when the master of the order came to visit he noticed or mentioned to me when i mentioned my sister is a

contemplative dominican nun in virginia that we were the only brother and sister that were both biologically connected but also spiritually through the water. >> very nice to know. let's take a brief break and we will come back and talk more about the dominicans finally all about with their mission and history czar.

>> welcome back to our discussion of the dominican history, mission and projects in san francisco. my guess father james moore. father michael hurley pastor of saint dominic's church. i wanted to get to this point, the dominicans are a mission order preaching and persuading, preaching the gospel. i grew up at the tail end of the

missionary era of the irish priest and nuns they came over and christianized us. it seems to me we are living in a post-christian society, a secularizing world. are we in a new mission territory and is this what you are addressing in your work? >> absolutely. when you look at our culture there are lots of things that the culture proposes. we see happiness, if you will. real estate in san francisco is outrageous. >> friends and family cannot live here. >> exactly. or a sense of pleasure or a sense of power in silicon valley and all of this technology. we are living in times which technologically and perhaps in terms of business and economics is booming. yet there is a deep spiritual absence. the culture does not have a real response. the response to how is it asked st. augustine said our hearts are restless. how do we address

that and giving the fruits of that contemplation. we feel like we have been given a great gift of the gospel truth and want to share it with others to fill god's love and absence that we are all searching for. >> the challenge, we have been priest, you have been priest almost 12 years. me almost 11 years. 10 years ago i found a big challenge especially with the young if they would say i am spiritual but not religious. >> 10 years later we are finding the next generation is often called igen they are saying i am neither spiritual or religious. there is this great angst. there is nothing there. philosophically there is this huge hole, saying that maybe god exists, but he definitely has no relevance in my day-to-day life. it is a big problem to have. we have to know that this is the territory

we are going into. >> do you think there has ever been an error like this where god sort of did not matter to the prevailing culture? >> if you are a student of history you know that these things happen in cycles for sure. cultures tend to diminish when they are cut off from their spiritual roots so does he. saint dominic in fact i think his age and our age has several parallel kind of connections in that you have people that would say they have spiritual tendencies or at least they want to be good people and can recognize virtue, yet they would reject the institutional church and see the church as somehow a barrier to god. as dominicans we see that god's love and the gospel is always incarnational. god created everything, creates not just a kind of spiritual relationship but works through the body. i came of man. he then sets up a church. he sets

up disciples, followers. we see ourselves very much continuing that apostolic command to go and preach the gospel. the last thing jesus ever said was go preach. we take that very seriously. we take that to heart. we are the only religious group named not for who founded us. we are not saint dominic, the only order name for what we do, "o.p.". order of preachers. as you said in the beginning. >> it seems to me that the culture we are living today have weakened families, weekend communities. the most networked cultures yet everyone is alone with his own preferences. i am not dissing technology, i am saying where do we find community? >> absolutely. you cannot have a real relationship with an instagram account. they cannot

love you back. >> have you tried? [ laughter ] >> father michael and i have been friends for too long. >> you mentioned with young people you don't run schools for the most part, you do college chaplain -- chaplaincy and things like that? >> yes. for 2 years i was a chaplain at the university of arizona down in tucson. we run the newlands center chaplaincy. we have a number of these throughout the west coast. we have one at stanford, one at the university of utah, the university of oregon, the university of washington. we do a lot of this especially with college age students. i have been blessed for most of my priesthood to work with younger people. >> that is interesting. my wife is a college teacher dealing with 18-year-old-19-year-old minds. she regaled me with

stories. how are the kids doing? >> at saint dominic's one of our wonderful ministries is we have a young adult, a very strong young adult presence. >> i have heard this. >> our mailing list is hundreds of thousands every week. we gather once a week. the consistency of young adults who are catholics to know you are not alone. most folks were catholics feel they are cut off not just from others, but others who really believe. the ministry is really gathering together and allowing people who are young to give permission to each other. i can live my faith openly at almond time where politically and religiously there are so many ways to divide us. they pray together. they gather to have fun together. they play together if you will. but also to be formed together. we have lots of talks. this past thing they've done, a play that we

had for the parish. they seek to bring the parish together as well. they are very eager to live their faith. >> there has to be social life. >> this goes back to what you were talking about with people feeling disconnected. you cannot have a relationship with a instagram account. people come they are lonely, they are new to the city. they might know that they are catholic, sometimes more robust, sometimes less. they know there is a group of people at saint dominic's. they grew up there and all of a sudden they are formed together and it's pretty incredible. >> we will come back and talk more with our dominican fathers.

>> hello and welcome back. we are talking about the dominican order and their local activities. i want to run two slides if i can. first, slide number one 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 you will see every kind of resource for finding out about the dominicans and what they do. a picture of gentlemen that look very much like our guest today. flight number two is from the church in san

francisco that is the parish in which father michael is the pastor. it looks like the guy from abbey road or crossing the street. this is the most beautiful catholic website you will ever see. by the way, it is the most beautiful church in san francisco. take a look. gentlemen, let's talk about this. i think any catholic who lives around here has a kind of impression bake or not they saint dominic's is doing really well. you get the newsletter from dominicans, oh, we have 20 new vocations this year. i'm thinking the dominicans seem to be doing something right. tell me what's going on? >> we are flourishing in places that conventional wisdom says maybe we shouldn't. san francisco is a pretty secular city. we have this spectacular church. the same thing in portland, seattle, anchorage,

los angeles. then again at our university centers our ministries are flourishing. it is also reflected in the fact that men are showing up and we are growing, which is incredible. these days we talk about the priesthood shortage and all of the, you know, bad news in the catholic church surrounded priesthood. there is a lot of good news here. vocational numbers doubling and going up in this way. >> i have had that impression. it is a long course of discernment. they are thinking it out. >> they are. our retention rate is much higher than it has been since certainly and even before that. i think our rates now are the highest now . thanks be to god not only are men joining but they are staying. >> i have this impression, correct me if i am wrong, part of your procedure is to live in

community. you have a community of men and you have, i don't know, a support system. i think that is attractive. >> both father michael and i are from very strong families. for me it these -- at least i wanted a family. it certainly has worked well with us. father michael and i have been buddies for a long time. >> you are like brothers? >> exactly. >> father michael i am saying the younger generation cannot afford to live here. you are saying we have a thriving youth population . >> we do and part of it comes from the pillars of the dominican order. there are four. the first is that we pray together. right now counting our novices there are almost 20 men living together, doing various ministries, we gather to pray. that is open to the

public. so people, when they see this group gathered in prayer they say prayer is happening. how do i be a part of that? something is happening and i want to connect. we study together. there is a sense of there is one person who will preach on the weekend. we gather together and we talk about the gospel. we do this ancient practice to dig into it. one of us then preaches the gospel, but it is as if the whole community has sought reflective and now we are preaching together. we lived together. we prepare meals together. we eat together. i was in one of the most attractive assets is not simply there are sacraments going on, but that the quality of the sacraments, the availability of the sacraments, and if you will the joy of the sacraments radiate from that living

dominican community that is there in san francisco. what a pleasure to be there. >> and there is beautiful music, the best in san francisco. your communications, an important part of your modern preaching is wonderful. we have about a minute and a half left. take some time each of you, what message do you want to leave the viewers with? >> i would say live 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. >> indeed. jesus said i have come that my joy might be in you and that your joy might be complete, might be full. our vision for our whole provenance is to radiate the joy of the gospel in san francisco here in the heart of the city. and we are joyful at saint dominic's one of his nicknames was the joyful fryer. that joy is like a light. the fire spread without being diminished. we

make the boldest witness that we can we are simply joyful and living as catholics. >> if a catholic wants to have a great homily or intellectual experience he will seek out a dominican church. the preaching will be good, there will be something good happening in the basement. there will be good art, good music. there is no question people are making a really great impression. by the way, saint dominic is famous for the rosary. >> yep. we wear the rosary. we pray it every day. the gospel on a string. thank you very much for being here. thank you for telling us all about the dominicans and the archdiocese of san francisco. we will see you next time.

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