Mission West Campaign

Mission West: Campaign for Dominican Friars

Mission West: Campaign for Dominican Friars is a capital campaign which will raise critical funds to support our mission of evangelization and preaching the gospel.  We begin by forming and educating our novices and student brothers to become excellent priests and brothers.  We must also care for our aging friars in their retirement.  This is why our new, three-year effort to raise $15 million is subtitled Campaign for Dominican Friars.

An actuarial study estimates that the number of elderly and infirm Dominicans requiring special care will triple in the next decade. Further, the Province finds that it does not have the facilities for this coming need.  In order to grow its retirement fund and provide suitable care for our retired friars, the Mission West Campaign hopes to raise critical.

A major portion of the budget for the Western Dominican Province is expended on education.  We support our House of Formation at St. Albert Priory so that there may be future priests and brothers to serve the Church.  The Province has covered the tuition for our students at the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology (DSPT) in Berkeley for seven years.  The entire cost of the Novitiate in San Francisco is also paid by the Province.  Even after finishing their education at the DSPT, students may continue their studies for higher degrees, a cost we cover as well.

Key to the work of the Dominican friars in the western United States and beyond is the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology.  Although 2012 marks the 80th anniversary of the school, we have only been in our current facility since 2006.  It is a beautiful campus which became available for purchase at the same time our school was displaced.  It now provides a superb setting for instruction in philosophy and theology to both lay and clerical students, as they prepare for future leadership roles in the Church.

Mission West: Campaign for Dominican Friars is the most ambitious and necessary capital campaign the Western Dominican Province has ever undertaken.  The Province cannot care for its elderly and infirm nor educate future priests and brothers without new, financial means.  The Province and its ministries cannot expand their work nor secure new loans without eliminating this building debt.  Your participation in the Mission West Campaign will ensure that the Western Dominican Province is debt-free, ready to train both clerical and lay church leaders, and able to provide appropriate care for our Dominican friars in their retirement.

Please join us by generously supporting Mission West: Campaign for Dominican Friars.
Thank you and God Bless.

Designated Giving
“When you choose to support Mission West: Campaign for Dominican Friars, you may designate your gift according to your wishes and the following needs:

• Friars Retirement – Health and nursing care.
• Initial and Ongoing Formation – Student formation at St. Albert’s, tuition, sabbatical programs, etc.
• Debt Relief – Relieving facilities and buildings debt.
• DSPT – The Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology.
• Wherever there is most need.