For 42 years going back to the founding of the first Mission of our Western Dominican Province in Chiapas, Mexico, you have supported by your prayers and contributions our various Dominican Missionaries. In each issue of Missionaries in Action, we hear dramatic descriptions of the lives of our missionaries and the people whom they serve in Mexico, Guatemala, Kenya, Lithuania, and the Philippines.

Sometimes I am asked about our preparation to become missionaries.  In our Western Dominican Province very diverse ministries are carried out not only in Mission lands, but also in parishes, hospitals, university Newman Centers, the St. Jude Shrine, and through itinerant preaching.  All of the Dominican Friars of our Province (going back to 1851) receive their educational preparation in the same school – the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology. 

In this issue I would like to share with you the history of the school and the exciting news of its new location under the direction of its dynamic president, Fr. Michael Sweeney, O.P.

The Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology had its beginnings over 150 years ago when Fr. Francisco Villarrasa, O.P. and six Spanish novices arrived in Monterey,California to be missionaries in Baja and Alta California.  In 1851 they established a school to prepare young men for the priesthood.  The school was moved to Benicia in 1854, but the traditional attraction of the Dominican Order to major university centers led to its relocation to the Berkeley/Oakland area near the University of California in 1932, where it was known as St. Albert’s College

In 1964 the school became the first Roman Catholic institution to join the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley.  The name was then changed to the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology

The students of the school now come from diverse back-grounds and a variety of life experiences.  Along with our Dominican Friars and future Dominican Missionaries, the student body consists of dedicated lay men and women and other religious orders including Franciscan Capuchins, Franciscan Conventuals, Salesians, Verbum Dei Missionary Fraternity, and Daughters of St. Paul.

We rejoice with the president, Fr. Michael Sweeney, O.P. and we ask your prayers for the future generations of Dominican Missionaries and Church leaders who, through their education at the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology, will bring the Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ to those in need throughout the world.

In Christ’s Peace,

 Fr. Martin de Porres Walsh, O.P.

 For more information, please visit the Dominican School of Philosophy & Theology’s website at www.dspt.edu.

	The procession from the old campus to the new campus
Over several years, we Dominicans were involved in negotiations with the Jewish Community of Temple Beth’El in Berkeley and finally purchased their former synagogue at the corner of Arch and Vine Streets close to the Graduate Theological Union.  After a great deal of remodeling, on September 13, 2006, the new campus of the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology was consecrated by the Most Reverend Allen Vigneron, Bishop of Oakland.	Dominican Brothers lead the procession onto the new campus
	Bishop Vigneron blesses the new DSPT campus.

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We welcome our newest staff member ….  Fr. Martin Walsh, O.P. baptized the newest member of our Dominican Mission Foundation staff … Augustus Langdon Loscavio, at St. Dominic’s Church in San Francisco in October 2006.  “Augie” was born on August 21, 2006, and is already helping around the office.  So if you call our office, you just may hear Augie in the background saying hello.   Pictured right  at the baptism: Fr. Martin Walsh, O.P., Paul and Nancy  Loscavio with Augustus and big sister Olivia.