Dear sisters, dear brothers, On Sunday, the world learned about the horrible war crimes committed against the defenseless civilian population in Bucha, the city located less than 20 km west of Kyiv. Until recently, it had been an oasis of peace. Now this beautifully located town has become part of the history of human wickedness. That evening, I was listening…
Dear sisters, dear brothers, Yesterday Kyiv had one of its quietest days since the beginning of the war. I didn’t hear a single siren, although when I looked at the “Digital Kyiv” app, I found out there had been two air raid alarms. Only two; other days there had been as many as twenty. Yesterday you couldn’t hear repeated explosions,…
Dear sisters, dear brothers, It’s been a bit longer than usual since my last letter. Looking at what’s going on around us, it seems like we’re witnessing a transition from a certain kind of romanticism of the first days of war to the realism and pragmatism of the second month. What do I mean? First of all, that we’re getting…
Dear sisters and dear brothers, After almost an hour of driving from Kyiv, Father Thomas and I have reached Fastiv. I always visit this city and the brothers and sisters working there with great pleasure. Just before I left this morning, I met a woman who had managed to evacuate a few days earlier from one of the cities outside…
Dear sisters and dear brothers, In the last few days, Kyiv has become unsettled. The noise of blaring sirens has become more frequent, which means increased risk of air raids. I also seem to sense an increase in the sounds of battles fought on the outskirts of the city, all kinds of explosions, and the hiss and whizz of things…
Dear sisters and dear brothers, It’s already been a couple days since my last letter. This interruption doesn’t mean that something tragic has happened to us. Quite the opposite. I finally managed to travel to Fastiv. I had already started missing the conversations with my brothers Misha, John, Paul, and Igor, and Dominican sisters Damion, Monica, Augustine, and Gala, as…
Dear sisters and dear brothers, Today Kyiv is very sunny, although it’s cold, -2 °C. At night the temperature drops to -8 °C. When the heating works, it’s not a problem, but many places don’t have electricity or gas. For that reason, people are longing this year for the spring to come faster and for the weather to become warmer.…
The Dominican laywoman Ms. Mª Ángeles de la Riva is the new director of the House of Spirituality of Caleruega. From January 2023, the House of Spirituality of Caleruega, of the Province of Hispania, has begun a new stage in the management of all the services it offers. For this new stage, Mrs. Mª de los Ángeles de la Riva,…
Mark De Caluwe was born in Ghent in 1936, on 28 July – the anniversary of J.S. Bach’s death, as he liked to say. Coming from a large family – he was the second of ten children – he always remained very attached to his family. His father Adiel (1906-1988) was a doctor specialising in gynaecology. Together with his wife…
A new initiative of the Dominican Friars of the Province of St. Joseph, the pilgrimage kicks off on January 30 with a nine-month novena to Our Lady. It culminates on September 30—the eve of Rosary Sunday—in our nation’s capital with a full-day, national event at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, located next to the campus of the Catholic University of America.
