It is also the ordination day for four young Dominican friars of the Western province, two of whom have been my students. Dismas Sayre and Dominic DeMaio have been my students; the other two I know as well: James Moor and Augustine Hilander. They were ordained at St Dominic Church on Bush Street in the City by the bishop of Oakland, Allen Vigneron. Thien Nguyen attended the ordination and represented our community at the mass.Since the Dominicans spend between 6 and 8 years at DSPT, and since now I am teaching core subjects in theology each semester, I am getting to know more and more of them. Dominic I have known for a few years, because I had dealings with him as he planned his pastoral formation itinerary. Last Fall he enrolled in my Church History course. He did a brilliant job of it, really. His pastoral sense has increased after spending one year in Mexico. Besides learning Spanish, he began to see other aspects of Church, or culture, of justice issues. His growth has been something wonderful to see.
Dismas too I have seen over the years, as he has taken several courses from me. While Dominic was born in an Italian-Catholic (Brooklyn) family, Dismas was not raised Catholic. He discovered Catholicism while a University student. He participated in some religious activities then and then went through the RCIA process. He knows the Church from his own experience and doctrinally, but he is not familiar with all the customs and the unspoken aspects of the Catholic culture. His time at DSPT has opened some of these aspects to him. He has had to decide what he would embrace and what he would let slide. Again, the process has been both interesting and growthful for me to witness.
James Junipero Moore is from California's central valley. His mother's family is Portuguese, and his parents grew up in Artesia. He has an aunt at Dominic Savio Parish, and his grandfather is a past pupil of the Salesians in Portugal. He tells me that his grandfather and the whole family have been staunchly anticlerical and that they did not approve of his entering the Dominicans. On the other hand, they love Don Bosco and the Salesians. I have met his mother, an educator, and have had a wonderful conversation with her about learning skills, adolescents, and all that school talk. She also told me that the family loves the Salesians, and that they were happy to hear that the Dominicans in Berkeley have made opportunities for us to participate in GTU. Sadly, James and his father were in a car accident last summer; his father died, but James walked away. It was a terrible shock to him, naturally. The support of the Dominicans and of the school community was a great consolation to him.
Augustine Hilander is a philosophy student, and quite brilliant. I have never taught him, but we have had numerous conversations over the years. He seems to be one of those who will go on for higher studies to teach at the university or graduate level… perhaps even at DSPT.
So, on this their ordination day, I have sentiments of joy and wishes for many blessings for these young Dominicans -- for their province, their order and for their families too.
The student members of our community are preparing to leave for their holidays or for the return to their provinces. Things will become busy for the summer seminars very soon. So we prepare for a change of occupation.
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