The paper that was drawn up will be presented to the five Provincials when they meet during April and then put together in a final form which will be presented to the General Chapter to be held in Bologna in June.

Brother Daniel Thomas, O.P. (left) and Brother Frederick Narberes, O.P. (right) from the Western Province were co-hosts for the meeting. Brother Daniel is currently director of St. Benedict Lodge, Dominican Retreat & Conference Center at McKenzie Bridge, Oregon. Brother Frederick administrates an alternative education program in Southern California (Soledad Enrichment Action [S.E.A.]) which works with members of gangs. The two brothers are classmates and have been in the Order since 1959.

In this photo (c. 1940's) Brother Robert Lavigne (far left) of the Western Province is shown with a group of brothers wearing the black scapular which was a distinctive feature of the "lay brothers" habit from the earliest days of the Order until the mid '60s when the brothers changed to wear the same all-white habit as the priests.

From Whence They Came

The ten brothers who gathered for this meeting in Oakland ranged in age from forty-eight to seventy-two and have given more than 350 years of combined ministry to the Church and the Order. Almost all of the brothers began their life in the Order when they were called "lay brothers" a term that referred to vowed, but not ordained members of a religious order. These brothers are now called, "cooperator brothers" which replaces an interim word, "conversi" which was used when many of the applicants to the order as non-clerics were thought to have "converted" from a raucous way of life to follow the Lord more perfectly as non ordained religious.

In their early days they were mostly engaged in the internal support of the communities in which they lived working as cooks, launderers, receptionists (the term used in the Order was "Porter") and sacristans. In the post Vatican II church these Brothers moved into newly emerging territories and were found in the missions of Bolivia and Honduras, in the classrooms of high schools and universities and as administrators of programs covering a wide range of parish and provincial programs.

Number of Cooperator Brothers in the Five Provinces

It should be no secret that the number of brothers in the provinces - and in fact throughout the Order - has decreased in recent years. The main focus of this meeting was to look at the ways that this trend could be turned around. In an era when there is an emerging sense of the role of the laity in the Church the unique role of a religious brother, who is vowed to a life of prayer in the tradition of the Dominican Order, needs to be publicized and proclaimed.

The total number of cooperator brothers in the five provinces is just over one hundred down from an all time high of four times that amount in the beginning of the '60's.

Would you like free information on becoming a Dominican Brother?

In Eastern U.S., contact Fr. John Joseph Reid, OP at 401-865-2240.

In Central U.S., contact Louis Stephen Morrone, OP at 708-771-7254 or SVSDomin@aol.com.

In Southern U.S., contact Fr. Henry P. Groover, OP at 305-666-7141 or HGROOVEROP@aol.com.

In Western U.S., contact Fr. Mark Padrez, OP at 510-658-8722 or VOCATIONS@opwest.org.

As we gathered we thought that this was probably the first ever meeting of cooperator brothers in the history of the Order of Preachers. If you know of a previous gathering that included only cooperator brothers, please let us know the details.

[As of 2002, the Western Province has opened a new formation program for cooperator brothers.  Learn more about them and see their photos.]