Dominican novices visit St. Catherine Newman Center

Intermountain Catholic

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Dominican Father Peter Rogers (left) welcomes visiting Dominican novices during a visit to the Diocese of Salt Lake City and St. Catherine of Siena Newman Center Parish. Novices include (from Fr. Peter's left) Brother Corwin Low, Brother Joseph Mary Do, Brother Peter Junipero Hannah, and Brother Justin Gable. At right is Novice Master Father Anthony Rosevear. Fr. Peter said the Dominican Order is drawing more mature men who are more highly educated to religious life. IC photo by Barbara S. Lee

SALT LAKE CITY — If the four Dominican novices visiting St. Catherine of Siena Newman Center parish Feb. 3-5 are any indication, Dominican Father Peter Rogers, pastor of the Newman Center, said, the Dominicans are attracting more mature men who already have experience in business, and who are highly educated.

The visiting novices, Brothers Justin Gable, Joseph Mary Do, Peter Junipero Hannah, and Corwin Low, represent a cross-section of men from the United States and abroad. Brother Justin, from Fountain Valley, Calif., has earned a Ph.D. in Philosophy from Fordham University. Brother Joseph Mary, from Vietnam via Canada, has a bachelor’s degree in philosophy. Brother Peter Junipero, from Monterrey, Calif., has a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts and the classics. He trained to be a professional golfer, and has taught Latin. Brother Corwin, from Mercer Island, Washington, is a convert to Catholicism. He’s owned his own Internet security consulting business, and was drawn to the Catholic Church when, on a sabbatical in Rome, he found himself going again and again to the Church of Santa Sabina, the curial church of the Dominicans there.

"I found that I was being drawn to communal life," Brother Corwin said.

Brother Peter said he was raised in the Presbyterian faith, but fell away in his youth.

"When I was in college, I found myself being drawn back to a relationship with God, but it was in the Catholic Church that I found what I

was looking for," he said.

Brother Joseph Mary said his Dominican pastor in Vancouver, B.C. introduced him to religious life and one day simply asked him if he’d ever considered the Dominicans.

"For a while, I’d given up prayer, but I was really being called back, and now I love communal life," he said.

Brother Justin’s vocation story began at St. Dominic Parish in San Francisco.

"I looked at the Jesuits at the University of San Francisco, but the Dominicans live a more communal life, and that’s what I was looking for. I’d been reading St. Thomas Aquinas."

Dominicans, the Order of Preachers, was founded by St. Dominic, a contemporary of St. Francis of Assisi, in the early 13th century. The order was founded to preach the gospel and combat heresy.

A Dominican’s formation process includes a one-year novitiate, three years of study after taking simple vows (the postulancy), a renewal of vows followed by a period of clerical residency (the cooperative), and further studies. Some Dominicans continue studies for the priesthood; others remain brothers.

Brother Corwin said he’s led "a very secular life working in the high-tech industry.

"I hardly told anyone I worked with that I’d planned to enter religious life," he told the Intermountain Catholic. "I miss the problem-solving element of my work, but I’m finding religious life much richer."

Novice Master Father Anthony Rosevear said the Western Province now has 28 men in formation.