A divine calling

The Rev. Thomas Saucier, O.P., does not simply stand at the altar when delivering his Sunday homily at Columbia’s St. Thomas More Newman Center. Instead, he walks up and down the chapel’s aisles, addresses his parishioners and makes them laugh while teaching a lesson on God’s generosity.

“His sermons are definitely very different,” said Amanda Gramlich, a junior at MU and a parishioner of two years. “I find myself paying more attention.”

Saucier’s love of teaching is a common characteristic of Dominican friars. He is one of four such friars who started their ministry on July 1 as priests at the Newman Center and Sacred Heart Catholic Church. The Dominicans replaced three diocesan priests — the Rev. Charles Pardee, the Rev. Mark Smith and the Rev. Edwin Cole — who were transferred to other parishes in mid-Missouri.

The Rev. Joachim Culotta, O.P., explained that the initials placed after his name stand for “Order of Preachers.” To him, the initials are as important as the title of reverend.

The friars are Dominicans who happen to be priests. Many Dominican friars are never ordained as priests and are only brothers.

“Priesthood is a vocation; being a Dominican is a life,” Saucier said. “You’re embracing more than a profession. From the time I get up until the time I go to bed, I live my Dominican life.”

The Order of Preachers, or Dominicans, was founded by St. Dominic de Guzman, a canon from Spanish nobility, in the 13th century. While traveling in the south of France, St. Dominic witnessed the influence of the Albigenses, a Christian sect whose teachings he believed were a heresy.

The Order of Preachers was thus created to advocate and educate people about the Catholic faith. Only a few years after creating the order, St. Dominic sent his friars to study and preach in Europe’s leading universities.

Today, Dominican friars are still erudite, and their main occupation is teaching.

“The Dominicans have a long tradition of study and involvement in the intellectual life,” said the Very Rev. Michael Mascari, prior provincial for the Province of St. Albert the Great, which covers the Central U.S. “We, as priests, feel we have something we can contribute to university life.”

Two years ago, Mascari sent offers to several bishops to take over Newman Centers in their dioceses, in an effort to refocus the order’s mission on campus ministry.

The Diocese of Jefferson City was interested in the offer, because it freed up three priests to serve in other parishes, said the Rev. Greg Higley, vicar general of the diocese.

“We knew we were going to get experienced priests who were used to being around college students and also families,” Higley said. “It just seemed like a good fit.”

The Dominicans also took over Sacred Heart and gave the parish a second priest. The Rev. Steve Kuhlmann, O.P., is assisted by the Rev. Thomas Paulsen, O.P.

The four priests live together in a house adjacent to Sacred Heart and established a religious community named St. Raymond of Peñaforte.

Culotta, the oldest, is its religious superior.

“As Dominican priests, we live a community life,” Culotta said. “We are a family.”

The friars’ common life can serve as a model of Catholic living for parishioners, he said. The priests pray together every day after the 7.30 a.m. Mass and are sometimes joined by parishioners.

The priests said they hoped the parishioners might someday form a Dominican laity chapter, but they don’t have immediate plans to create one.

“Once they get to know us a little more, they’ll form it themselves,” Saucier said.

The Dominican friars are hard to miss. Their dress consists of a white habit of their order.

“It’s a way of showing that there’s a difference here,” Saucier said. “The habit can be an important symbol, especially in the classroom, when Father walks in with his rosary beads and his white habit. You’ll be seeing that a lot, initially anyway.”

But the habit isn’t worn everywhere and doesn’t prevent individuality from showing either: Under its long sleeves, Saucier, an avid bicyclist, also wears a yellow “live strong” bracelet.

But the most important function of the habit is to simply show that Saucier, Culotta, Kuhlmann and Paulsen are not only priests, they’re Dominicans.

A Dominican life is a search for the truth, which can be found in science, physics, literature, art and other studies, Saucier said.

“The essence of what God is comes through in all those things,” he said.

One particular study awaiting Kuhlmann and Paulsen is the Spanish language.

Sacred Heart’s weekly Spanish Mass is attended by about 90 people; even though it is not the greatest number of parishioners, it is the only such Mass in the area and is growing quickly.

Every Sunday at 1 p.m., Kuhlmann reads off a Spanish church book, with a distinct American accent. His last Spanish class was in the spring of 1981, when he was a freshman at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.

At his first Spanish Mass, Kuhlmann introduced himself in Spanish and then asked parishioners to have patience with his language skills. By the fifth Mass, he was getting compliments on his progress.

“They’re also very gracious,” Kuhlmann said. “It’ll take time, but I’ll get there.”

At the Newman Center, the priests now prepare for the return of students.

Culotta had to adjust his sleeping habits to be present at the 9 p.m. Sunday Mass, mostly attended by students. The first college Mass will be held Aug. 20 on MU’s South Quad, following a barbecue.

Another challenge for the priests will be to serve both the Newman Center’s students and regular parishioners. Saucier said he hopes he can grab students’ attention at the beginning of the semester, before the demands and distractions of college life take over. He would also like to plug students into the daily life of the parish as much as possible.

“If it’s two separate communities, I’m sort of doomed from the beginning,” he said.

As the school year progresses, Saucier would like to see more intellectual and ethical discussions among the Newman Center, the university community and churches outside the Catholic faith.

“This is where we believe, as Dominicans, we belong,” Culotta said.