A Visit from the Order of Preachers

The students of Thomas Aquinas College, California, received a visit last weekend from a contingent of friars and sisters from the Western Province of the Order of Preachers. The guests, who included several alumni, shared how they discovered their Dominican vocations — and gave students a glimpse of mendicant life. 

Led by alumnus, last fall’s matriculation speaker, and his order’s new vocation director, Rev. John Winkowitsch (’04), the habited contingent arrived on Friday evening. They had no sooner reached campus than they had the chance to showcase the rhythms of religious life, praying Compline with students in the evening half-light of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity Chapel. 

The following morning, the friars addressed the male students, recounting their various — and variously dramatic — roads to the priesthood. Presenters included Fr. Winkowitsch, as well as two younger alumni still in formation, Br. Kevin Peter Cantu (’15) and Br. Michael Thomas Cain (’18). The students were receptive. “My biggest takeaway was that it took time to get where they needed to be,” says Greg Haggard (’26). 

Saturday afternoon, both the friars and the sisters spoke about various aspects of Dominican life. In particular, they discussed the role of study — certainly one of the greatest affinities between campus and conventual life. Citing the friars’ approach to study, Jeremiah King (’26) realized that “through studying, you can come to see God,” he said. “Study lets you contemplate when you listen to Him, the highest form of prayer.”

In the evening, it was the sisters’ turn to recount how they came to live as brides of Christ — stories that were as various as their brothers’. One had been confident of a call to religious life from the age of 8, while another did not fully hear God’s invitation until she was near 30. Both, however, emphasized that God often speaks through ordinary people and events — in a comment from a friend or a sibling or in a sense of belonging. 

The fullest immersion in Dominican life came on Sunday, when Rev. Paul Raftery, O.P., who previously served as a chaplain on the College’s California campus, joined his fellow friars to offer Mass in the Dominican Rite in the Chapel. The experience of this venerable liturgy — originally codified in 1250, when St. Thomas Aquinas was himself a young friar of 25 — was a first for many students. 

The visit was a rich testament not only to Dominican life, but to the perennial role of religious life in general, which reminds the faithful of their ultimate home in heaven. “Their lives are an inspiration, seeing their devotion to and intimacy with Christ,” says Katelyn Woods (’25). “Even not being a part of their order, seeing them — not just hearing about them — increases faith greatly.”