Vocations and Growth

I have spent the last couple of days visiting one of our student brothers in France. I had been interested to hear that the province of France (there are two French Dominican Provinces in the Order: the province of Toulouse and the province of France) has been receiving novices consistently each year for almost thirty years now.

I'm told that there is even talk of opening a new community of Dominican friars somewhere in the country with several concrete possibilities being considered. It is unlikely the province would be able to do this without the intake they have experienced these last few decades.

The Irish Dominican Province has itself been experiencing a degree of stability on the vocations scene these last ten years, something which has not always been noted. I have every confidence that as a province we too will be able to think in terms of growth rather than decline. Death and decline, crisis and closure are, unfortunately, terms receiving great use in Irish Church circles these days. It's time to think differently!

Here's the website of the Province of France: http://www.dominicains.fr