ST. DOMINIC SCC

ST DOMINIC SMALL CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY

St. Dominic Small Christian Community is one among other groups in Holy Family Minor Basilica. The group was formed in 2010 following adult catechism in 2009/2010.

Our Patron Saint is Saint Dominic, the man who was handed the Holy Rosary by our Blessed Virgin. We have a membership of 50 active members.

We meet every Sunday at 10.00 am in the St. Dominic hall situated behind the small hall in the church compound.

Our main activities are;

  • Reciting the Rosary
  • Bible Study
  • Charity work
  • Evangelization
  • Guiding our members on the process and importance of receiving Church Sacraments as required by the Catholic faith.
  • Celebrating mass in members’ homes
  • Guiding and counseling our youth and walking closely with our children in their studies and appreciate them for exemplary performances in school
  • Encouraging our members to wed by helping them in planning the wedding
  • Helping and participating in the funeral organizations of our bereaved members
  • Holding parties (end of the year and quarterly birthday parties) etc.

Below are some of the activities that we undertook in the year 2019:

Team Building Venue: Karura Forest

Date: 01.09.2019

In line with the church guidelines, we had our team building which helped bring the team together by encouraging collaboration and teamwork. Team-building exercises help encourage unity, cooperation, and understanding. Laughter and shared experiences also break down emotional, cultural and spiritual walls that may be erected between team members. We had fun activities that helped people see each other in a different light while connecting in a different setting. We were privileged to have a brilliant facilitator who was focused on getting results through a series of planned activities that aided long term team building through fostering genuine connections and deeper discussions.

Below are some of the key learnings that we as St Dominic got from the team building activities;

  1. Communication and working better together
  2. Collaboration and fostering innovation and creativity
  3. Celebration, team spirit, fun, and motivation
  4. Healthy competition
  5. Teamwork and boosting team performance
  6. Networking, socializing and getting to know each other better.

Recollection/Retreat Venue: Komarock Shrine

Date: 13.10.2019

What we call a retreat consists of time spent in solitude and consecrated to practices of prayer and penance.

A retreat refreshes and revitalizes gives the opportunity for more time spent in prayer and contemplation, and rekindles and deepens one’s relationship with God. One may take this opportunity to more clearly hear God’s call and to seek God’s healing grace and thereby attain a degree of spiritual renewal.

The purpose of a spiritual retreat, as an addition to daily spiritual activities, is to temporarily leave behind the usual distractions we all face for a time long enough to allow relaxation and for an inner change to occur: the ongoing conversion of heart that is critical to deepening faith.

Retreats vary in character not only in their duration and setting, but they may also be divided into two basic types: personal retreats and group retreats. Both have the function of interrupting the daily routine and allowing for spiritual renewal.

The personal retreat permits far more flexibility in scheduling the retreat date and in pursuing relaxation, prayer, contemplation, and study in accordance with one’s own preferences.

It may be undertaken especially to aid in making an important personal decision and to devote extra time for prayer for healing of oneself or others. A retreat can help one recuperate from stressful events; we may turn to scripture for a good example of this: Jesus, upon hearing of the death of John the Baptist “withdrew in a boat to a deserted place by himself.” (Matthew 14:13).

Group retreats frequently center about a particular theme, perhaps a presentation by a guest speaker, and have the advantage of providing guidance and structure for a portion of the retreat.

Group retreats may emphasize silence—when not listening to a presentation or meeting with a spiritual advisor—so as to avoid the natural tendency to fall into ordinary patterns of discussion; other retreats may instead encourage socializing, especially when members of the parish are brought together in restful preparation for certain future activities.

Below are some of the benefits that we as St Dominic got from the retreat:

  1. We grow in our love relationship with God. (Luke 10:27)
  2. We learn to meditate on God’s nature. (Psalms 93:5)
  3. We learn to shut out external activity. (Psalms 27:4)
  4. We find God in a deeper dimension (Jeremiah 29:13-14)
  5. God fights on our behalf when we are silent. (Exodus 14:14)

Almsgiving/Charity Venue: Nanyuki nyumba ya wazee

Date: 24.03.2019

Scripture is rich in passages that directly or indirectly emphasize the necessity of contributing towards the welfare of the needy. The history of the Church clearly shows that early Christians fully realized the importance of this obligation. Community of goods (Acts 4:32), collections in church (Acts 11:29; 1 Corinthians 16:1; Galatians 2:10), the ministry of deacons were simply the inauguration of that world-wide system of Christian charity which has circumscribed the globe and added another testimony to the Divinity of that Church which directs her ministrations towards the alleviation of human misery in every shape and form.

Remarkably, almsgiving is equally important in the Christian faith and according to the Bible (Acts 9:36-43, Galatians 2:10, Luke 21:1-4, Mathew 25:45, etc), It is categorically encouraged for believers and the faithful to give alms as part of prayer. In the Catholic faith, according to the catechism, besides prayer and fasting, almsgiving is the third most important cardinal principle taken a step higher during the month of lent also termed as the penitential season.

Any material favour done to assist the needy, and prompted by charity, is almsgiving. It is evident, then, that almsgiving implies much more than the transmission of some temporal commodity to the indigent.

According to the creed of political economy, every material deed brought by man to benefit his needy brother is almsgiving.

According to the creed of Christianity, almsgiving implies a material service rendered to the poor for Christ’s sake. Almsgiving is among what are known as the ‘corporal works of mercy’: consisting especially in feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and imprisoned, and burying the dead. Among all these, giving alms to the poor is one of the chief witnesses to fraternal charity: it is also a work of justice pleasing to God (Mt 6:2-4).

These ‘works of mercy’ are charitable actions by which we come to the aid of our neighbour in his spiritual and bodily necessities. There are other ‘spiritual’ works of mercy that include instructing, advising, consoling, comforting, as well as forgiving and bearing wrongs patiently.”

Some of the Biblical principles that we as St Dominic have benefitted from this activity are but not limited to:

  1. Giving should be done in accordance with our means Paul is quite clear on this: “For if the readiness is present, it is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have” (2 Corinthians 8:12). Put another way Paul is saying that you should give in proportion to what God has given you. He said it this way in 1 Corinthians 16:2, “each one of you is to put aside and save, as he may prosper.” This means at least two things: (1) since we are all supposed to give proportionately, those who have more money are expected to give more [we who are particularly blessed materially must remember this], and (2) the Lord never asks us to give what we do not have, or contribute beyond our means. Are you really giving in proportion to the material blessings that the Lord has given you?
  2. Giving should be done in light of the incarnation. Many Christians argue about whether the tithe (10% of our income) is still the standard for our giving to the Church (disputants usually want to show that less than 10% is fine). Paul scuttles the whole debate in one verse.

He says: “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9). Christ’s self-giving is now the standard for our giving! We begin from the base of the tithe and aim for emulation of His self-sacrifice. Our giving is to be inspired and instructed by Christ’s inexpressible gift. In light of such a challenge, who could possibly satisfy himself by asking “how little a percentage is acceptable for me to give?”

  1. The Lord Jesus expects and requires us to give. Jesus said to His disciples, “when you give” not “if you give” (Matthew 6:2)! Hence, Christian giving is not optional, but rather essential.

We often hear folks say: “in the Old Testament they had to give, but not in the New – now we only give if we want to.” This is clearly not Jesus’ teaching. He expected all His followers to be givers. Christians will give.

  1. The Lord Jesus wants us to give for the right reasons. Jesus warned His disciples not to give for the sake of being admired by men. “Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them,” He said (Matthew 6:1).

When we give, we must be careful to examine our motives. We ought to give for the glory of God and the good of His people. We must desire His approval of our giving, rather than the praise and admiration of people.

Other activities

PPC Team Building We were task with organizing the PPC team building event. This did come as easy as we thought, but through the help of Fr-In-Charge Peter Kamomoe, it did come out as a success. We managed to book the St Mary’s grounds and also got a facilitator who took as through the whole exercise. We thanked the members of the Executive committee for helping us facilitate the smooth successful event.

Offer Mass

We offered Mass at one of our member’s home and as usual, we came out to support this worthy cause. We went further ahead and organized for a requiem mass for the Husband of one of our own members. This took place at the Holy Family Minor Basilica. This just shows how far we can do as a Jumuiya. Members came out in numbers to give support to one of their very own.

A visit to Marurui

We also got a chance to visit the young (Teenage) mothers at Marurui. These young girls who got pregnant as a result of Rape from their Family members and friends. Here we managed to raise so money that went on to paying school fees to the young girls who are still in school. (Members listening to the narration of what happened to the girls. The young teenage mothers signing to us.)

Wedding Celebration

The Son of one of our members got married and we were there to offer support just as we have been doing to all other wedding celebrations. Members do come to support in ways such as ushering, driving the newly married couple as we as come to witness the marriage covenant.

End of Year Party

Finally, we did have our end of year party that was held at the paradise lost. This is in line with our constitution. This year we invited Fr. Francis but because of the retreat, he was not able to avail himself. During this day, members are always encouraged to gift their prayer partners for having prayed for them. Members together with their families usually attend this event to mark the year and give thanks to God.

We have undertaken several major church projects and in our future plans, we intend to continue supporting the church with various projects according to our means. In case of new membership, we have welfare officers who are always there to guide, welcome new members and take them through our activities

ST. DOMINIC IN PICTURES