Getting Started: A Personal Message from the Director of Vocations

WELCOME! The Dominican Province of St. Joseph has appointed a new vocation director (effective July 2018). Here is how to get started and be in communication with him.

new vocation director, Fr. Jacob Bertrand Janzyck OP

ANNOUNCING the NEW DIRECTOR of VOCATIONS for the Eastern Province Dominicans:

Fr. Jacob Bertrand Janczyk, O.P.

A native of Connecticut, Fr. Jacob Bertrand entered the novitiate of the Dominican Province of St. Joseph in 2010 after completing his undergraduate studies at Marist College (Poughkeepsie, NY), where he competed in division 1 Cross Country. He made his simple profession in 2011 and was assigned to the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, DC where he earned his Licentiate in Sacred Theology in 2017. Fr. Jacob Bertrand made solemn profession in 2014 and was ordained a priest in May 2017 at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. For the last year he has served as the assistant chaplain at Aquinas House, our Catholic campus ministry center at Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH.

New York City Vocation Event at St. Vincent Ferrer

2018 Summer Vocation Events in Ohio (Dominican Rite Mass, Gathering with Novices, Mass of Simple Profession

With over 65 men in formation, the Province of St. Joseph is blessed with one of the largest vocation programs in the country. Please pray for him and plan to be in touch with him. Here below is info you should read carefully in order to get connected with our province and the charism of the Order of Preachers:

I, Fr. Jacob Bertrand OP would like to invite you to friend me on FB now. If you are interested in any kind of regular communication with me, I would require you to add your contact information HERE, and then confirm it via your email. +Check out the dates for the next vocation weekends in Washington DC. Check out also a recent video featuring last year’s novices who made their simple profession of vows in Ohio.

+JMJD

“Champions of the Faith and true lights of the world.” These were the words of Pope Honorius III describing a new religious order with their humble founder, Domingo de Guzmán. This band of preachers, under the special patronage of the Blessed Virgin Mary, was given a mandate by the Church to preach Jesus Christ and Him crucified. We have been preaching for over 800 years.

2 studentates of Eastern Province Dominicans — 2017-18 Official Photo of friars in formation in our 2 Studentates in Washington, DC for the Eastern Province Dominicans

In every age of challenge and crisis, the Lord has never abandoned His Church. St. Dominic’s mission, to preach the Gospel for the salvation of souls, is just as urgent today as it was eight centuries ago. We are the Order of Friars Preachers and we work to bring God to men and men to God – hardly a small task.

Why is a vocation in the Order of Preachers so attractive? Part of the answer can be found in the Church’s magisterial teaching on consecrated religious life: “The fraternal life is itself prophetic in a society which, sometimes without realizing it, has a profound yearning for a brotherhood which knows no borders” (Vita Consecrata § 85.1). 6,000+ friars from every corner of the world, are bound together in the way of St. Dominic. Won’t you join us?

In Washington, D.C. we have two houses of formation: the Dominican House of Studies (Priory of the Immaculate Conception which includes our Pontifical faculty) and St. Dominic’s Priory (connected with St. Dominic’s Parish). In Ohio we have our novitiate in St. Gertrude Priory in Cincinnati.

To subscribe to receive email updates from Dominicana (blog of our student friars) subscribe HERE.

To subscribe to receive email updates from our Province subscribe at the bottom of OPEast.org

Our Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception is located within the Dominican House of Studies in our nation’s capital. Our former Master of Students, Fr. Andrew Hofer OP, did an excellent interview outlining the particular strengths of our seminary with Regina Magazine.

You probably are looking for some practical advice of what you can do to prepare yourself to possibly enter the Order of Preachers. I would strongly suggest you check out this document. Our aspirancy guidelines will assist you regardless of where you end up.

Or perhaps you want to know how our formation process works or how you might go about visiting some of the houses of the Dominican Province of St. Joseph.

Within our Order there are cooperator brothers and priests. All Dominican friars, both ordained and non-ordained, are first and foremost consecrated religious men bound together as friars (meaning “brothers”) by our common religious profession.

FRIARS IN FORMATION for EASTERN PROVINCE, click 2x: view

You may have heard the Lord has been blessing our province with a “vocation boom” for a number of years now. We are very grateful to God for our many friars in formation (100+ are in formation for the 4 US provinces). This address by His Excellency, Archbishop J. Augustine DiNoia, O.P., is considered to be the best description of what is happening. Another perspective, found here, is from an interview one by our previous vocation director.

The best way to learn the most about the charism of the Order of Preachers would be to make a “Come & See” vocation weekend with us and meet the 100+ friars who live in our two formation houses in Washington, DC: the Dominican House of Studies (next to Catholic University of America) and St. Dominic Priory (downtown).

Know of our prayers for you as you take this important step in your life!

May our Lord draw you close to His heart as you consider your response to His generosity. We entrust you to the powerful prayers of Our Lady of the Rosary and our Holy Father, St. Dominic.

in Christ, Fr. Jacob Bertrand Janczyk OP (bio)

P.S. – Check out: our popular vocation video, Leaving All Things Behind and when a few of our friars were on EWTN’s Life on the Rock

The Dominican Province of St. Joseph (Eastern) has many different websites that will help you learn more about our way of life and the ministries and preaching with which we are involved.

Websites/Social Media:

Province – OPEast.org
- -official website for the Dominican Province of St. Joseph (Eastern)
Province Advancement – DominicanFriars.org
- -includes history and facts about our province; there is also a directory of our friars in formation in our two studentates in Washington DC
Student Friars: Dominicana
- -official blog (and journal) of our student friars in formation at the Dominican House of Studies, posts Monday – Friday
Angelic Warfare Confraternity of St. Thomas Aquinas
- -supernatural fellowship and an official confraternity of the Order of Preachers to grow in the virtues of chastity and purity
- –Android & iPhone apps
Dominican House of Studies (Pontifical Faculty)
- -official website of the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception within the Dominican House of Studies, grants degrees including the MA, the STB, STL and the STD in Theology
Thomistic Institute (at the Dominican House of Studies)
- -institute within our pontifical faculty founded to promote the teachings of St. Thomas Aquinas, also sponsors conferences and events throughout the year
- -many of the talks given on campuses are available on-line
- -TI student chapters are quickly growing across the country and now across the world, in a number of significant universities and cities
The Thomist
- -a speculative quarterly review of Philosophy and Theology, published out of the Dominican House of Studies
Thomistic Evolution
- -special project to provide a Catholic approach to understanding evolution in the light of faith
Providence College
- -only liberal arts college run by the Dominican Friars in the United States, about 40 friars teach and administrate in various capacities
Blackfriars Media
- -a media project of the Dominican Province of St. Joseph, a number of THESE VIDEOS have aired on Catholic TV networks including EWTN
Dominican House of Studies (priory)
- -official website of the Priory of the Immaculate Conception (aka: Dominican House of Studies) in our nation’s capital
Lay & Priestly Fraternities of St. Dominic – (Third Order)
Cantus OP – a liturgical project of the Dominican Province of St. Joseph
Blackfriars Newsletter of our Province (latest edition)