Make First Profession and Celebrate their 60th Jubilee
By Catholic San Francisco
On a bright, sunny Sunday morning, inside a monastery chapel in Menlo Park, a group of faithful Catholics in their black and white attire to honor St. Dominic awaited the first ring of the bell to announce the start of Mass. These women are members of the Corpus Christi Chapter of the Dominican Laity (or sometimes called Lay Dominicans or Third Order Dominicans), were celebrating the occasion of the First Profession of their three novices and to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the founding of their chapter.
Who exactly are the Dominican Laity? They are lay individuals who have professed to live a life according to the Rule of the Dominican Order. While living in the world, they have chosen a way of life that seeks holiness for the greater glory of God and the salvation of souls. They strive for Christian perfection according to their state in life following in the footsteps of their founder St. Dominic de Guzman, by living out the elements of the Order’s charism of preaching through study, prayer, community life and apostolic works. Each member actively participates in their local parish according to their gifts, skills and strengths.
On Sunday, September 28, 2025, at the Corpus Christi Monastery in Menlo Park, three of the chapter’s novices, namely Aleni Flores-Nate, Jackie Crawford and Joyce Parayno, made their first profession promising to live this way of life for a period of three years.
But what drew them to this way of life? For all three novices, it was a calling with many signs bringing them to this first profession.
Jackie, a public-school teacher for the Fremont Unified School District, emphasized that “all things kept leading me to the Dominicans until I had to commit. When you’re called, you have to commit. You have to say, ‘Yes.’”
For Aleni, a retired scientist, she said she “went through a lot. My husband passed, and I had these big surgeries coming up. I needed something to give me strength. When you go through something like this, you feel powerless. Then I found it in prayer. Only Jesus is the answer with the help of the Blessed Mother. I began looking around at other third orders and the Dominican laity replied to my email right away, so I said this might be my call.”
Joyce, a manager for a technology firm, prayed for friendship and God answered. “I prayed to just have friends to share my faith,” she said. “One day while I was at corpus Christi Monastery I said, ‘if the Dominican nuns come out, I’ll ask if they have a third order.’ The nuns came out and I asked. They said they had a third order and gave me Gloria’s number. And that’s it. The Lord answered with friendship with others through Him and friendship with Him through others.”
Following the homily by Fr. Ambrose Sigman, OP, the profession ceremony took place with the formation director calling out each candidate’s name as they stood up and approached the altar. The Prioress then asked them, “What do you seek of God and His Church?” They all responded loudly, “God’s mercy and yours”. They each made their public profession at the sanctuary after which the Chapter’s Religious Assistant Brother John Paul Puschautz, OP, prayed for them and blessed their Dominican crosses. Members of the chapter were invited to congratulate the newly professed with a holy embrace.
At a reception following Mass, everyone enjoyed a celebratory feast, including a large cake. After the reception, the nuns opened the parlor to greet the visitors including the newly professed members. It was a grace-filled day, which included the families and friends of chapter members as well as special guests such as Remee Vargas from the Department of Youth and Young Adult Ministry of the Archdiocese of San Francisco.
“The call to the Dominican way of life is a real call to a lay vocation, said Charo Aguirre, formation director for the chapter. “It is a call not only to live out our baptismal promises but to go to the heights of our faith echoing St. Pier Giorgio Frassati’s famous motto ‘Verso L’alto!’, which means ’to the heights’, striving for the spiritual summit to encounter Christ to join Him in heaven. To be perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect is a good reminder to desire sanctity and take courage to become a great saint!”
For more information about the Dominican Laity Corpus Christi Chapter and to contact them, please visit their website at www.dominicanlaitymenlo.org.
