A New Priory and Novitiate
The renovation of our Denver Novitiate and construction of a new Priory wing does not so much center on the building, as beautiful and practical as it will be, but rather on the teaching, learning, prayer, and community that will occur there. We will do in this novitiate and priory what we have always done: form young friars living together with men who walk the walk. To do less falls short of our mission as Dominicans.
Construction on this project began in the fall of 2019 and will continue through Thanksgiving, 2020. How appropriate. We will have much for which to be thankful. During that time, our novices and their novice masters will live off site; sharing the novitiate of the Southern province until June, 2020, and then living in a house on the grounds of a property owned and operated by the Little Sisters of the Poor in Denver. For these, we are equally grateful.
Handprint Architecture of Denver, Colorado, designed the new priory/novitiate in close collaboration with the Dominican Central Province and St. Dominic Priory in Denver. Mortenson Construction, also of Denver, is doing the construction. The total cost for the project and its ancillary features is $5.5 million. Plans include living, dining and sleeping quarters for as many as 12 novices and 10 professed friars, as well as a library, laundry, storage, and landscaped grounds and a central courtyard. The novitiate chapel remains the center of these new and renovated spaces.
The four pillars of Dominican life—preaching, prayer, study, and common life—drive this project. Design principles defining the new priory/novitiate include a unified community, space for contemplative life, and a modest, solid, quiet and luminous building, reflecting both the simplicity we seek as Dominicans and respect for the neighboring Denver community.
We invite you to be a special part of this once-in-a-generation effort by giving today. Just choose the "Society for Vocational Support" on our Donate Online Today page.
For more information, watch the video below or contact Fr. Andrew Carl Wisdom, OP (a.wisdom@opcentral.org) or Mr. Bob Dixon (b.dixon@opcentral.org) in the Office of Mission Advancement. Thank you.