EVANGELIZATION, CATECHESIS, CATHOLIC SCHOOLS, AND LIFELONG
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION
The Parish of Our Lady of Solace-St. Dominic already has gone through consolidation and has
successfully been operating as a merged/consolidated parish from what used to be independently the
Our Lady of Solace Parish and St. Dominic Parish. We are now One Parish/Two Churches canonically
created in 2007. The following are our strengths in the area of Sacramental Life:
1. Faith Formation Center - Infrastructure: Due to the astute forward vision of our Pastor, our
Faith Formation/Catechesis function has been enhanced tremendously this year with the
completion of the renovation and conversion of our former St. Dominic Convent building into a
building solely dedicated to Faith Formation taking care of our Catechetical as well Family (whole
family) faith formation. It serves members of entire families from the two churches. We are
completely self-sufficient in this regard and can confidently offer our services and expertise to
other parishes.
2. Faith Formation Program Administration: Before the consolidation of the two churches into one
parish, there were 2 DREs both from Our Lady of Solace and there was none from St. Dominic.
Presently, on the administrative level, the incumbent DRE was appointed to replace two previous
and concurrent DREs and now serving students from both churches. Not only has this resulted in
less salary from 2 to 1 DRE, but has also resulted in better consolidation of resources and more
focused administration. The Center is serving parishioners from both churches and is
collaboratively run with 26 volunteer catechists from both churches. Instructions are also
offered in both English and Spanish. This is an area where we can confidently state that we can
offer help and advice to other parishes.
a) RCIA classes are held separately for English and Spanish catechumens
b) The curriculum has shifted from the sacramental type to lifelong catechetical formation,
operating sequential classes even as we offer more intense sacramental classes for those
who are candidates for the sacraments. As a fruit of this lifelong and all-ages approach, we
have, for the second consecutive year, been holding a separate class for our parents who do
not need the sacraments anymore but who are receiving religious education from qualified
and dedicated volunteers
c) Family Catechesis sessions are held a total of four times in both churches: each church has a
Fall and a Spring session (English at Our Lady of Solace and Spanish at St. Dominic)
3. Youth Ministry: Run separately by the Idente Missionaries and staffed by trained youth
volunteers, the parish runs a very strong Youth Ministry which develop the parish youth’s whole
person, making them more aware of their filial relationship with the Heavenly Father. This is
another area of positive collaboration between not only the 2 member churches (Our Lady of
Solace and St. Dominic) of our parish but also of our sister parish Santa Maria.
4. Vocation awareness: Work and active campaign have always been exerted toward creating
vocation awareness among the youth of the parish. The former Saint Dominic rectory has now
become an Idente Formation House under the then Cardinalate of His Eminence Edward Cardinal
Egan. It now houses two men in priestly formation with 3 more arriving very soon. One of the
current men in formation is a parishioner of Our Lady of Solace and who is now training in the
Saint Dominic Formation House. The formation follows the charism of the Idente Missionaries.
These young men will become part of the Archdiocese’s Seminary program on the way to their
priestly ordination. Lately, the parish has just witnessed the profession of vows of a young
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EVANGELIZATION, CATECHESIS, CATHOLIC SCHOOLS, AND LIFELONG
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION
Brother and a young Sister who committed themselves to the celibate life. Much earlier, we
have seen the ordination to the Diaconate at Saint Dominic Church of an Idente Missionary and
later his ordination to the priesthood. This newly ordained priest has now been sent to his first
mission assignment in Germany. In this area, the parish is very willing and able to collaborate
with other parishes in the promotion of vocation awareness and the propagation of the Idente
charism.
5. Support for Catholic Schools: our two churches have both lost their parochial schools. However,
the parish staunchly supports the Catholic School system; we have always referred our
constituents to Catholic schools in the area.
Given our experience of already having been merged since 2007, our current state of affairs allow for a
lot of collaboration and the ability to offer our services to other parishes in terms of training and advice
especially during the arduous path to merging if it happens to. We have gone through being merged
from two independent parish churches to our current “one parish/two churches” set up. It is by virtue
of that that we have the humble confidence of stating that we can offer ourselves to help others.
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