Turning out in droves to celebrate the parish’s patron saint, parishioners and clergy gathered Aug. 8 in St. Dominic, Brick, to mark St. Dominic’s feast day with a 10:30 a.m. Mass. celebrated by Father Brian Woodrow, pastor, and concelebrated by Father Michael McClane and Father Joseph Gnarackatt, parochial vicars, and Dominican Father Leo Joseph Camurati of the Dominican Friars Foundation, New York City.
The Mass concluded with a joyful procession accompanied by Marian hymns provided by the parish choir, schola and string ensemble. Participants – including children in their First Communion attire – processed with statues of the Blessed Mother holding Jesus, St. Joseph and St. Dominic throughout the parish grounds.
Father Woodrow expressed his thanks to all who made the celebration possible in a letter the following week, calling the day “absolutely beautiful!” and “a prayerful success.” Even the drizzling rain could not dampen the celebration, he noted, which concluded with the parish’s annual picnic.
“How beautiful was it that our Lord halted the rain, just in time for the procession to glorify him and to honor our Blessed Mother, St. Joseph the Worker, and our patron St. Dominic!” Father Woodrow wrote. “In these days that can seem so filled with uncertainties, our parish church truly set the world on fire just as St. Dominic did in his day and continues to do through us … the day was truly a glimpse of heaven!”