A New Friar

This morning we had the pleasure of a visit with one of our newly professed friars, Bro. Justin Marie Brophy, OP. Brother Justin, along with 7 other Brothers made First Profession on August 15th and heads off to the Dominican House of Studies, Washington, DC for further studies.

Brother brought along his wonderful mother, Colleen Brophy and we fell in love with her immediately! It's beautiful to see her enthusiasm of her son's vocation—an attitude not very common among parents of new priests and religious! Colleen is so vibrant and loving we can understand why the person in the bakery this morning thought that she was Brother Justin's SISTER!

Brother shared with us tales from his novitiate and reported on the housing crunch which the novitiate priory of St. Gertrude's in Madeira, OH is now experiencing!

Brother Justin may be a graduate of Notre Dame and a son of St. Dominic but he remains a true son of New Jersey! What was the biggest adjustment in the novitiate? Ohio pizza and bagels but especially the bagels which Brother says were no more than rolls with holes! The highlight of his home visit has been eating a genuine New Jersey bagel!

The visit of our brothers is always welcome and it is especially gratifying for us who pray them along the way to see them first come as shy, awkward novices, then professed and then to have them preach for the first time as deacons and then come and offer their First Mass for us. While our spiritual motherhood embraces all people, it is our Brothers in formation that bring it forth in a special way.