Dominican High Schools Preaching Conference

2009 Action Plans

We, the preachers of Colegio San Antonio, Isabela, Puerto Rico, commit to preaching the gospel in the following ways:

  • During the school year 2009-2010 our Colegio San Antonio is celebrating its 90th Anniversary. To enhance our feast we have desire to celebrate a High School Dominican Congress. We plan to invite high school students from other Dominican schools throughout the island.
  • At this congress, our main objective will be St. Dominic charism and new ways of communicating them. Among the charism to be discussed at the Congress we will mention the four pillars.
  • We will be together all day and for closure we will have an artistic ______of the talent using as a theme of our 800 Jubilee: “At the beginning there was a Verb: Saint Dominic, preacher of the grace.” This artistic creation we will be exhibited throughout the year at our school.

We, the preachers of Dominican Academy, New York, NY, commit to preach the gospel

  • By increasing involvement, enthusiasm and understanding in prayer through incorporation of music and other forms of art;
  • By raising awareness of current events and eliminating indifference in our community, which is the source of injustice;
  • By enthusiastically presenting the four pillars and creating an atmosphere of love and appreciation starting at the Freshman Retreat.

We, the preachers of Dominican High School, Whitefish Bay, WI, commit to preach the gospel in the following ways:

  • We will kick off by meeting with the new Freshmen class and get them excited. We will notify them about our knowledge as DHS preachers and make sure they are ready to begin the year strong!
  • We plan on having an “emotional” week that we will do different activities daily with Michael Letro’s motto! (Possible invitation to have Michael talk)
  • We will continue to support poverty by having fund raisers to buy nets including armbands (personalized).
  • Also, we will continue raising awareness of the environment that will include buying recycling bins and looking into carbon footprints, given that we are lacking in that area.

We, the preachers of Edgewood High School, Jefferson, WI, commit to preach the gospel

  • As peer ministers at our school. We will strive to be leaders and role models of the four Dominican Pillars. We will incorporate the Dominican Blessing into every school lliturgy.
  • We will support the efforts of the Dominican Identity Committee at our school to teach and preach our Dominican values across the curriculum.
  • We will identify one organization or agency in our city that serves the working poor of our community and raise awareness and money to donate for use in their outreach.

We, the preachers of Fenwick High School, Chicago, IL, commit to preach the gospel in the following ways:

  • To plan and administer every aspect of the Freshmen, Sophomore, and Junior retreats.
  • To form a student led liturgy planning committee in order to achieve an increase in assembly participation at liturgy.To improve the quality of the music, and to increase the use of the school’s multimedia resources in worship.
  • To educate the Fenwick community in a broader way with the situation in Iraq.
  • To volunteer as a team at local ministry sites.
  • To explore the possibilities of working together with other area Dominican student preachers.

We, the preachers of Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy, South Pasadena, CA, commit to preach the gospel

  • By informing our community of our Dominican values and incorporating them into our liturgies and daily life.
  • By encouraging service for the good of the community and not just by simply fulfilling our requirements.
  • By preaching the Dominican values through our daily life.

We, the preachers of Immaculate Conception Academy, San Francisco, CA, commit to preach the gospel in the following ways:

  • We want to encourage the entire student body to become active participants in our school liturgies by incorporating the new music we have heard here and also seek to involve more students in liturgical ministries.
  • We want to remind our students of the importance of the four pillars of Dominican life, as they are truly what support the heart of our faith ______. We will do this by involving them regularly in our school prayer life.

We, the preachers of Lacordaire Academy, Upper Mont Clair, NJ, in our 90th anniversary year commit to preach the gospel

  • By making our liturgies more inclusive and interactive through the use of ritual movement, power point presentations and getting “emotional” –Dominican style.
  • By incorporating the use of and respect for the rituals, faiths, beliefs and cultures of all people.
  • By organizing opportunities to educate, advocate and activate the students of the entire academy - Pre K through 12 to better understand the Dominican tradition of preaching through prayer, study, service and community.
  • By informing and enlightening the students of our school about social justice issues including the death penalty, the environment and the war among others in order to make a difference.
  • By working with our sister schools; Mt. St. Dominic and St. Dominic’s to better foster community through preaching and service.

We, the preachers of Marian Catholic High School, Chicago Heights, IL, commit to preach the gospel

By getting the community “Fired upon Faith”.

  • Meet with teachers to create a culture of prayer.
  • Enliveningmorning prayer.
  • Getting more involved in all-school mass.
  • Extend an invitation to the entire community to get involved in school’s prayer life.

We, the preachers of Mount St. Dominic Academy, Caldwell, NJ, commit to preach the gospel in the following ways:

  • We will revamp our school’s prayer services by incorporating the symbolism of water and light as well as introducing more lively music.
  • We will be instrumental in the planning of our school’s Social Justice Day and hope to be able to have a Dominican sister or brother speak to our entire school community.
  • We will establish a Sister Prayer Partner program between the sisters in our infirmary and retirement home and the Sophomore class.
  • We will deepen our school’s relationship with Lacordaire and St. Dominic’s and work together to bring the Dominican style to our larger community.

We, the preachers of Our Lady of the Elms, Akron, OH, commit to preach the gospel in the following ways:

  • We, as preachers will march in the light of God to bring the good news of Christ’s salvation to those who are not here.
  • As a result of our discernment of the needs of our study body, we will implement a contemplative prayer service once a week to encourage deeper spiritual growth.

We, the preachers of Regina Dominican High School, Wilmette, IL, commit to preach the gospel in the following ways:

  • We will each invite two people to take part in the school liturgies to promote enthusiasm and emotion.
  • We will invite guest speakers to educate and promote the Dominican identity in the school.
  • We will be the leaders for the Freshmen Retreat with the focus on the four pillars and the Dominican Charism.

We, the preachers of Rosary High School, Aurora, IL, commit to preach the gospel in the following ways:

  • We will identify specific ways to incorporate the Dominican Pillars into everyday life at Rosary, so all our girls will understand the pillars’ significance in a Dominican life.
  • We will name “Peace” as the overall theme for the Eucharistic liturgies in the 2009-2010 school year and will choose a particular “Peace” focus for each monthly all-school mass.

We, the preachers of Sacred Heart Griffin High School, Springfield, IL, commit to preach the gospel in the following ways:

  • To introduce our Freshmen to the Dominican traditions more thoroughly during Freshmen Orientation and throughout the year.
  • To acknowledge issues of social justice to our school community with activities such as reducing our carbon footprint on October 24th, the “Nothing but Nets” program, and increasing awareness of the Dominican presence in other countries.
  • To increase the use of artistic expression during prayer services.

We, the preachers of St. Agnes Academic High School, College Point, NY, commit to preach the gospel in the following ways:

  • Plan an assembly on the four pillars.
  • To involve more students in planning morning prayer services and liturgies.
  • To organize a fundraiser to purchase nets for the children in Africa.

We, the preachers of St. Agnes Academy, Houston, TX, commit to preach the gospel in the following ways:

  • Dominican Mass
  • Conference, Alumni Retreat
  • Trip to Puerto Rico
  • Video on Global Poverty
  • Penny Bonds?
  • Movie Night
  • Peace Prayer

We, the preachers of St. Dominic Academy, Jersey City, NJ, commit to preach the gospel in the following ways:

  • We would like to use profound silence, especially on Ash Wednesday, when entering our prayer services.
  • We would like to incorporate new liturgical music that we learned here and use Power Point instead of paper (go green!).
  • We will make use of the metaphor of interlocking fingers when holding hands to use our strengths to cover each others weaknesses.

We, the preachers of St. John the Baptist Dominican High School, Amityville, NY, commit to preach the gospel in the following ways:

Because our campus minister who was a part of the school since he was thirteen and was the heart and soul of our school, is moving on to study priesthood, we’d like to help the students and faculty cope with this loss of leadership

  • So we will ask to preach at the opening liturgy to speak our truth about change. And we will commit ourselves to “stepping” up plans for attracting more members to the Dominican family.
  • We plan on inviting others to join into some preaching activities because unlike other schools, our patron saint is St. John not St. Dominic. We have made it our job to spread the good news through preaching at our school and to get others “emotional” Dominican style.

We, the preachers of St. Mary’s Dominican High School, New Orleans, LA, commit to preach the gospel in the following ways:

  • We will address the all personnel retreat in August and relate our new understanding of the Dominican charism.
  • We would like to “team up” with our athletic department to promote and raise funds for the “Nothing But Net” program.
  • We will be a visible presence on our campus throughout the year.

We, the preachers of St. Pius X High School, Houston, TX, commit

  • To CELEBRATE COMMUNITY by praying a multi-lingual Our Father on the feast of the Immaculate Conception.
  • To CELEBRATE SERVICE AND PRAYER by adapting the conference’s Tuesday evening prayer to our Tour Bearer (Junior) Retreat.
  • To CELEBRATE THE FOUR DOMINICAN PILLARS IN PARTICULAR STUDY by researching and teaching the causes and prevention of malaria in Africa to our school community and raise funds to purchase mosquito nets.

We, the preachers of Trinity High School, River Forest, IL, commit to preach the gospel in the following ways:

  • We plan to establish a peer ministry team dedicated to bringing the Dominican traditions of prayer, study, preaching and community to the heart of the Trinity family.
  • We will share our gifts of art, humor, music and enthusiasm through leadership in liturgies, retreats and service opportunities.
  • We are committed to being “emotional”.