More young men commit to Dominicans

Three brothers have made their first profession and another has commenced his novitiate.

There were great celebrations on the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul this year at the Dominican headquarters of St Dominic’s Priory in Camberwell, Melbourne.

Three novices, Brs Jordan Fernandez, Robert Krishna, and Francis Fam, made their first profession of vows for three years, having returned from their novitiate in Hong Kong. All three new friars come from Sydney.

They will remain in Melbourne to commence their studies for the priesthood within the order. In the same ceremony, Brs Karl Emerick and Thomas Azzi renewed their vows for a further year.

Earlier that day, Br Ambrose (formerly Thomas) Scott was clothed in the Dominican habit. Br Ambrose, also from Sydney, has now commenced his novitiate in Hong Kong.

The professions bring the number of students at St Dominic’s to 11. These students will be joined by another student later in the year from the province’s vicariate in Papua New Guinea. The vocations director for the Dominicans, Fr Dom Murphy OP, said the Order was happy with the growth in the number of students. “It’s great to have so many students here at St Dominic’s.

“We haven’t had this many since before I joined the order. We had a big downturn in vocations but now they are picking up again.”

Fr Dom, who is also the prior of St Dominic’s, commented that the inflow of students had caused substantial household rearrangements at the priory.

“We now have the problem of finding space for all our friars in Melbourne, which is an excellent problem to have”.

“The new students all show a great love for the Catholic faith and a desire to grow in their knowledge of the faith and hand that on to others. That’s what the Order of Preachers is all about,” Fr Dom commented.

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