The Governance committee is currently developing protocols to be followed regarding matters of discipline both at the individual level (within a particular fraternity) and at the fraternity level. Generally speaking, disciplinary issues are usually a matter of inadequate formation, and thus it is the goal of any measures taken to be both charitable and formative. The planned protocol will outline how this is best accomplished, and will be distributed to the PC Delegates once it ready for their review.

The formation committee received feedback from the Provincial Council on the Formation section of the Particular Directory. We are currently working through incorporating this feedback into our draft, which we hope to submit to the Governance Committee by December. We are simultaneously developing goals and an outline for the Formation Director Handbook. We hope to have the first draft of the Formation Director Handbook completed by the 2023 Provincial Council.

Following the Provincial Council meeting in September, the communications team evaluated our needs for the upcoming year and assessed where our priorities should lie. We are continuing to focus on Veritas and this communications committee email, while also supporting Brother John and the ongoing effort to connect and communicate with the Puerto Rico fraternities. We are in need of a Webmaster and a Spanish-speaking Lay Dominican to assist with translation efforts.

Tom Weber (LNG) has found it necessary to resign as Provincial Treasurer. We thank him for his service to the province. 

The Provincial Executive Council met with those who had expressed interest or applied to serve on this committee or were already on the committee on Friday November 18, to appoint a new treasurer and to final committee members. We are pleased to announce that the committee members are Lyna Harritt (WHR), Jim Pomeroy (STL), and Kent Haley (EVN). Tim Martin (EVN) has graciously accepted appointment as the Treasurer and Committee Chair. 

With the holidays upon us and the new Treasurer in another state it will take to transfer accounts, process requests, and reassign the Treasurer email address. Until this is complete please send any request and emails to both the Treasurer and President email accounts. If any of your members have not yet paid their 2022 provincial dues, please send them directly to the President until further notice:

Mrs. Gwendolin Weinberger, OP

10471 Woodcliff Court

Hartland, MI 48353

How Albuquerque Meets the Needs of Asylum Seekers

Many asylum seekers travel through Albuquerque on their way to join sponsors and family elsewhere in the country, Faith based agencies and community organizations decided to come together to coordinate their efforts to reach out to address the asylum seekers’ needs and formed Albuquerque Asylum Seeker Welcome (AASW). A member of Nuestra Señora de las Montanas Lay Dominican Fraternity (ALB) is one of the founders of AASW. The organization has a number of teams to handle specific needs: health, hygiene, clothing, food and travel. Usually, Albuquerque receives one busload of asylum seekers a week, with notification from ICE the day before the bus will arrive. There are two large teams of volunteers, composed of all of the care groups. The teams switch off each week. The asylum seekers arrive in shorts, t-shirts and flip-flops year round, no other belongings. The health team, made up of volunteer doctors, nurses and other health professionals, is the first to greet the asylum seekers and tend to their health needs. Subsequently, the other teams arrange for showers, clothing, food, a room to sleep in, and travel arrangements. Each subteam is responsible for gathering goods and supplies, storing them, and then setting up the space to distribute the goods to the asylum seekers the day before they arrive. The process of caring for the asylum seekers and then helping them make arrangements to travel to their family and/or sponsors usually takes 1-4 days. The asylum seekers leave with a backpack containing clothes, personal care items, and some non-perishable food to last them until they reach their next destination. In the past four to five years, six members of the ALB fraternity have volunteered, time, money, and goods to this effort. Two of these members serve regularly.

Mrs. Marie Ryan, OP (ALB)