San Jose, CA Dominicans

[peregrinator_it]

Just a quick request on the off-chance that there’s a poster here from the SF Bay Area who can help me.

Does anyone know if Dominican Sisters at the San Jose mission are faithful to the Church? They’re giving a vocation retreat this coming weekend & I’m trying to figure out if they’re worth visiting.

I’m trying to visit religious orders with a view to possibly discerning a vocation but many of the communities in my area (particularly communities of women) do not keep up the traditional practices of their orders.

Many thanks.

 

[m134e5]

I don’t see anything on their website that makes it look bad, necessarily, but I don’t really see anything, other then the fact that they are always in the habit in pictures, that makes them look good. They’re mostly older though, and younger people tend to gravitate toward the more orthodox orders- maybe they just haven’t made their comeback just yet. I don’t think there would be any harm going to a vocation retreat with them, I wouldn’t fly across the country to go to one either though, but the Dominican charism doesn’t really appeal to me (plus, I’m a man- I don’t think that would be a good place for me).

 

[FCEGM]

My experience with this particular community of Dominicans was limited to my daughter taking piano lessons there for nine years. I believe the Dominican fathers of the area are quite orthodox, so perhaps that has overflowed to the sisters.

If you do decide to visit the Bay Area, there is a cloistered monastery of Dominican nuns in Menlo Park, on the SF Peninsula south of San Francisco. This community is devoted to Perpetual Adoration.

Perhaps also to consider are the Dominican Sisters of Nashville, who from everything I’ve ever heard about them are a lovely, orthodox community:

nashvilledominican.org/

 

[peregrinator_it]

Aaaargh.

I had a whole polished response typed out and then CAF refused to let me post it .

Thanks for your replies.

I guess I didn’t make it clear that I do live in the Bay Area, so this order is local to me.

I’m not interested in joining the Dominicans specifically- I’m most attracted to the Benedictines, but I’m not aware of any solid communities closer to me than Colorado, and I don’t have the wherewithal for plan tickets at the moment. So I’m trying to find some local communitites to visit to get a feel for religious life in general.

FCEGM: Thanks for the info on the Menlo Park Dominicans. I didn’t know they existed. I’ll look them up.

m13e5 : My reaction to the website was exactly the same as yours. As FCEGM says, the Domincan priests in this area are solid, but I’m not sure that their orthodoxy has spread to the sisters. And the diocese of San Jose is not exactly a stronghold of faithful Catholicism. However, I guess I’ll attend the retreat and see.

 

[FCEGM]

peregrinator_it:

. . . And the diocese of San Jose is not exactly a stronghold of faithful Catholicism. However, I guess I’ll attend the retreat and see.

Having lived in the Diocese of San Jose (Milpitas) for many years, I hear you! Please let us know how your visit with the Dominicans in Mission San Jose goes. I hope you are very pleasantly surprised.

If your attraction to the Benedictines at St. Walburga’s in Colorado continues, I hope you’ll be able to visit there, too.