• Who We Are
• What We Do
• When We Meet
• How To Participate
• This is a Lifetime Vocation
• Request Admission as a Postulant

Members of these Fraternities are also Dominicans, fully part of the Order of Preachers. Dominicans make a promise of obedience to the Master of the Order. Both laity (Catholic men and women, married or single) and diocesan clergy (priests and deacons) may profess as Dominicans in a lay or clerical fraternity of St. Dominic. The lay members are also called Lay Dominicans or Dominican Laity.

What We Do
We are all disciples of Jesus Christ living Dominican spirituality in the secular world. We find our inspiration in the Rule of the Lay Fraternities of Saint Dominic, just as holy men and women, Saints and Blesseds, have done throughout the history of the Dominican Fraternities since 1285.

One of the mottoes of the Dominican Order is Veritas (Truth). The purpose of the Order of Preachers is to praise God, to bless our world with lives of prayer and study, and to preach and proclaim His Truth to those around us.

Today we are called to preach and defend the Faith throughout the world, to revitalize those of dormant faith, lax morality, and erroneous thinking. The friars (First Order) preach and teach the Catholic Faith in the foreign missions, colleges, seminaries, and parish churches. The nuns (Second Order) live lives of cloistered contemplative silence and study, continually praising God through the celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours, and offer up their lives of penance for the preaching apostolate of the Friars. The tertiaries (Third Order - now known as the Fraternities) sanctify their secular vocations by offering the work of each day to the Lord through daily Mass, the Rosary, and Morning and Evening Prayer. They live by promises to follow the Rule of the Lay Fraternities, especially by observing prayerful study, works of penance, regular Confession, and monthly Chapter meetings, all animated by an apostolic outreach that remains the hallmark of the Dominican Order.

When We Meet
We currently meet at Christ the King Church in Norfolk, VA on Saturday mornings. There is an 8am Mass followed by Adoration in the Sanctuary. Around 9:30am we say Morning Prayer, followed by the Rosary according to the Dominican tradition. We conclude prayers with the Divine Mercy chaplet. We then move from the Sanctuary to the Commons and continue our meeting in the Bible Study room. We study Dominican spirituality and history, as well as Church documents and Holy Scripture. We share personal experiences witnessing our faith, and discuss the preaching mission of the chapter and upcoming events.

How To Participate
All from the Greater Hampton Roads area are welcome - this is the first chapter being formed in this area. The main chapter meeting is mid-month, but there is usually a small meeting on the other Saturdays as well, because such opportunities for Dominican formation are important. The public is welcome to visit.

Are you interested in becoming part of the chapter as a Dominican? You may apply by filling out this questionnaire. You must first be a practicing Catholic and then spend six months as a Postulant while completing a postulancy formation course. Upon acceptance as a Novice, you make a commitment to seek God's will and practice the Rule itself for 12 months while completing an additional formation course for novices. After that year, you may request to make a three-year First Profession as a Dominican, which allows for spiritual formation. Profession consists of a promise made directly to the Master of the Order (via representative) to live according to the Rule. After the three-year period, the promise may be renewed for three more years, or you may request to make Final Profession for life in the Fraternities of Saint Dominic.

Once you become a novice, you are a true member of the Dominican Family, and share in its benefits and responsibilities. One of the responsibilities consists of helping to offset administrative costs via annual dues. This currently entails $60 per year to the Province and $3 per year to the Region. There are currently no chapter dues.

There is no special kind of clothing that is prescribed, but you are required to wear either a small Dominican scapular or medal at all times under your clothing, and to also wear a Dominican pin, necklace, or other exterior sign when appropriate (subject to chapter charters).

This is a Lifetime Vocation
Final profession in the Fraternities of St. Dominic is a lifetime commitment but it is made only after four and a half years of preparation and discernment, and confirms the individual's vocation in the Order of Preachers. In addition to this preparation, an evaluation and approval on the part of both the Formation and Chapter Councils is required, and the candidate must have reached the age of twenty one at the time of Final Profession. Members make Final Profession to the Master of the Order, and as such accept the serious canonical obligations of being a Dominican. During the Rite of Final or Perpetual Profession the candidate promises "to live according to the Rule" of the Fraternities of St. Dominic for his whole life.

You do not initiate your own vocation. You are called to a vocation, and so if you are considering Dominican life you need to be drawn to prayer, study, and evangelization. How much time you spend on these pursuits as a Dominican will depend on how God chooses to use you and your talents.

Consider that a vocation is about who God is calling you to be, and not merely about what you think you should do with your life. (Reread that carefully).

Request Admission as a Postulant
To request admission as a Postulant, please fill out this questionnaire and bring it to the meeting.