Charlottesville Priory: Campaign Completed

The Dominican community in Charlottesville, Virginia, announced yesterday that the capital campaign for the newly completed St. Thomas Aquinas Priory has reached its goal; once the campaign pledges have been collected, the priory will be completely paid off, less than one year after the friars took up residence in the building. The Charlottesville priory is the fruit of much labor, prayer, and planning, as can be seen from the remarkable speed in which the project transformed from vision to reality. The campaign to raise funds for the priory began in 2010; after a mere three years, the priory building and the capital campaign are both complete. St. Thomas Aquinas Priory is more than a physical building. It is a sign of the Dominicans’ commitment to the people of Charlottesville, and the people’s commitment to the Dominicans. A priory is not just a place to live—it entails a way of life, built into the very architecture of the structure. The priory in Charlottesville, then, is a symbol of the friars’ dedication to living the evangelical life of St. Dominic to the full in the local community. By the grace of God, the people of St. Thomas Aquinas University Parish in Charlottesville and many other donors responded enthusiastically to the Dominicans’ proposal, and gave generously of their resources, both financial and technical, to ensure the success of the new priory. The entire project cost $6 million, all of which has been covered by cash gifts and pledges, especially due to the generosity of an anonymous donor’s million-dollar matching gift campaign. The priory campaign has also marked some key milestones in the history of St. Thomas Aquinas parish. The initial campaign was rolled out on the fiftieth anniversary of the friars’ arrival in Charlottesville, and the completion of the campaign coincided with the fiftieth anniversary of the creation of the university parish. Just as the establishment of the parish marked a turning point in the ministry at the University of Virginia, so too the establishment of the priory in its golden jubilee marks a turning point in the Dominicans’ presence in this vital ministry. The Dominicans of the Province of St. Joseph give thanks to the many donors who made the Charlottesville priory a reality. All are invited to offer thanks with us to St. Joseph, the patron of our Dominican Province and the patron of the priory campaign. To learn more about the priory, please see the campaign website here. To learn more about St. Thomas Aquinas University Parish, see their website. Editor’s note: A previous version of this article noted that the priory had been completely paid off. The capital campaign has been completed and all of the costs of the priory have been accounted for by actual gifts and pledges, but the priory will not be completely paid off until the pledges have been collected.