The Dominican Difference
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Our Dominican identity makes Blessed Sacrament Parish unique.
As of July 2024, the Schoenstatt Fathers have staffed Blessed Sacrament. We are delighted to continue honoring our Dominican heritage while jumping into the Schoenstatt spirituality.
We are a parish in the Diocese of Madison formerly staffed by Friars of the Province of St. Albert the Great of the Order of Preachers (O.P.) (commonly known as the Dominicans). The Dominican mission is preaching. Central to the Dominican charism is an emphasis on the four pillars of community life, lifelong study, prayer, and ministry in service to others.
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THE FOUR DOMINICAN PILLARS
Blessed Sacrament Parish forms and nurtures
active disciples of Christ, who love God and neighbor,
through the Dominican Pillars of
Prayer, Study, Community, & Ministry.We are a vibrant parish with numerous ways to be involved.
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eXAMPLES OF pRAYER
We pray for each other's needs at Mass and various events.
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Dominicans lives are centered on Jesus Christ, the true light, and are moved by the Holy Spirit who radiates God's healing presence in the world today. We celebrate the Word in daily common prayer, meditation, study, and in the proclamation that is preaching. In imitation of the Mother of God, who pondered these things in her heart, our lives are nourished by God's Word as spoken in Sacred Scripture, celebrated in the Eucharist, and encountered in everyday life.
According to the desire of St. Dominic, the solemn and common celebration of the liturgy must be maintained among the principal duties of our vocation. In the liturgy, especially in the Eucharist, the mystery of salvation is present and at work, a mystery in which we share and which we contemplate and proclaim in preaching to others so they may be incorporated into Christ through the sacraments of faith. In the liturgy, together with Christ, we glorify God for the eternal plan of the Divine and for the wonderful order of grace. We intercede with the Father of mercies for the entire Church as well as for the needs and the salvation of the whole world. Therefore, the celebration of the liturgy is the center and heart of our whole life, and unity is especially rooted in.
Each Dominican is called to balance the two dimensions of our life, the contemplative and the active. The balance is something for which we continually strive, not something that we achieve once and for all.
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EXAMPLES OF Study
- Blessed Sacrament School
- Religious Education - CGS
- Sacramental Preparation
- Youth Ministry
- Middle & High School
- Rite of Christian
Initiation of Adults (RCIA)
- Adult Faith Formation
- Bible Studies
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St. Dominic made study an essential part of the "Sacred Preaching." This was no small innovation in the thirteenth century when most of the clergy were uneducated. St. Dominic sent the friars to the great universities of his time to study, to preach, and to establish places of learning. This dedication to study and teaching continues today.
The purpose of Dominican study is to make us useful to the souls of our neighbors. As distinct from mere curiosity, it is a spiritual work of mercy aimed at facilitating more effective communication of the truth that saves. While knowledge can certainly be sought for its own sake, study is all the more noble and virtuous when one is motivated by the dual command of love of God and love of neighbor.
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Examples of Community
- Coffee and Donuts
- Gardening - Garden Angels
- Christmas Market
- Called by Name
- Keeping the Connection
- Greeting Ministry
- Senior Meals
- Oktoberfest
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At Blessed Sacrament Parish, we pray that our parishioners will want to take up the call of stewardship. We appreciate your selfless gifts of time, talent, and treasure. Stewardship illustrates our understanding that we are all here for the Glory of God in the building of His kingdom. Blessed Sacrament Parish has a vibrant parish life that allows church members to engage in the community.
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EXAMPLES OF MinistrY
- St. Thomas Aquinas Dinner
- Adult Bible Study
- Young Adults, Married & Single
- Lay Dominicans
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As the "O.P." after our name suggests, preaching is at the heart of Dominican life. In fact, we were founded to be "useful to the souls of others," and we make ourselves useful primarily through our ministry to the Word of God. Our common life, our study, and our prayer are all geared to support the vocation of a preacher. For us preaching takes many forms. We preach from the pulpit during the liturgy and at retreats, but we also consider our teaching and various kinds of pastoral care to be ways in which we bring the healing Word of God to bear on the lives of those we serve. Our preaching ministry takes us to parishes, university campuses, retreat centers, prisons, food pantries, shelters for the homeless, and other places where people are impoverished literally as well as spiritually.
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