The Dominican Foundation, at its Board meeting last March, formally closed the Capital Campaign (1999-2010). In 1999, at the dawn of the new century, the Friars called on their cherished friends and faithful benefactors for help in putting the Province of St. Joseph in the best possible position to serve the Church in the 21st century, and to pave the way for us to continue fulfilling our charism in ways both time-tested and new. The Campaign raised a total of $28M, $3M above the original target.

Our particular needs were prompted by ongoing, key developments: each year, dozens of young men express a strong desire to join the Order, and a growing number of laity is discovering the riches of a renewal in Thomism; our Vicariate of Eastern Africa is bursting with life; our older Friars have mounting and expensive health care needs; and a new century calls for new ways of preaching.

Thus, the goals--or, as we often referred to them, the four pillars--of the Campaign were set: we must have the means to educate and form young men for their vocations as Dominican priests and cooperator brothers and leverage our resources to equip laity for ministry, as well; our missionary work in Eastern Africa requires investment in new infrastructure, such as parishes and priories, and the formation of a new generation of Eastern African Dominicans; we have to find ways to properly care for Friars who have given their entire lives to serving the Church in the Order; and all the Friars, young and old, must expand their preaching ministry-through study and taking advantage of new technology-to meet the needs of people coping with a media-saturated age and a pace of life that seems to grow faster by the day.

The centerpiece of the Capital Campaign became the construction of the new Academic Center and Theological Library at the Dominican House of Studies, which was dedicated a year ago. The House of Studies will be a world-class center of learning and spiritual formation for many decades to come, serving the English-speaking world at large. Here, generations of vocations to the Order will be equipped to serve the Lord in the fullest way possible.

In Kenya, a new parish house was built on the grounds of St. Catherine's Church in Nairobi, bringing the Friars that much closer to the people they serve. And, also in the capital city, we were able to construct a new house for the community of Friars at St. Dominic's-a much larger one than its predecessor, because of the increase in vocations. These and other developments have paved the way for the Vicariate to welcome students from other African countries.

The Campaign helped us to provide for the needs of the Friars living at the Center for Assisted Living at St. Dominic's Church in Washington, D.C., which is providing a nurturing environment for those requiring limited daily physical and medical care. We have begun to look at ways to update other priories in the Province, so that aging Friars need not always leave the communities they have been a part of for so many years and can ‘age-in-place'. Money raised helps pay for insurance premiums and uninsured medical expenses incurred by Friars young and old. Clearly, this is an area of ongoing and mounting need.

In New York, media-savvy young Friars have begun to produce a weekly radio show on Scripture and other topics that is broadcast to a national audience on satellite radio. The Province website received a complete make-over and now features the very latest in audio and video technology-anchoring one of the Order's mottos "To Praise, To Bless, and To Preach" in the modern age. Communication, of course, is fundamental to preaching and our work in this vital realm will continue to develop and grow.

These, of course, are but some of the projects the campaign allowed us to accomplish side-by-side with our invaluable lay supporters and collaborators. The Dominican Foundation now stands ready to launch a new sustaining giving program in the form of the Annual Appeal which, building on the success of the past decade, will henceforth seek to meet the needs of the Province.