By: Roberto Alonso
Located in a corner room on the first floor of the Magnus Arts Center (MAC), resides a lesser known department of our Dominican community.
The McGreal Center for Dominican Historical Studies can be found through the rst door on your left once you pass the mural. A room that so many of us pass. A room that holds the rich history of Dominican’s roots.
Their most recent project in the works is Volume II of Project Order of Preachers in the United States (OPUS) called “Dominicans on Mission: Selected Essays”, a book collecting essays from various religious gures that discuss a wide variety of topics from Father Samuel Mazzuchelli to economic justice for Dominican women.
Aside from working on this boo, they are also responsible for collecting, organizing and preserving documents and artifacts U.S. history of the Order of Preachers, including friars, nuns, laity and sisters, according to their website.
According to a worker at the McGreal Center, Anita Morgan, “As an alumna, I love being at Dominican University and nd it to be architecturally beautiful and conducive to study. The McGreal Center is a most welcoming and friendly place. The work is signi cant and important. Challenging, too.”
According to the Director of the McGreal Center Sr. Janet Welsh, OP, “The McGreal Center anchors our university in its Dominican mission and Catholic roots, because that’s our mission.”
They don’t just collect and organize our history, their mission is to promote and write of the history of the OPUS.
According to Administrative Assistant and Marketing Manager for the McGreal Center, Giselle Magana, “The center facilitates the opportunity for serious research related to Dominican family’s signi cance in the life of the Order of Preachers, the church and the nation.”
According to Morgan, her duties were to compile a database of 18 Dominican universities and colleges.
“The purpose of the database is to collect contact information for a targeted audience. This list of faculty is relevant to the book of 12 essays soon to be published, as the essays pertain to subjects that faculty teach, in education, health, art, religions and social justice, to name few,” she said. “We hope that this book of essays will be used as a textbook in class, or for the intellectual development of individuals.”
According to Welsh, the idea of Project OPUS can be attributed to Mary Nona McGreal, OP (April 20, 1914–March 20, 2013), a Dominican Sister of Sinsinawa.
“Sister Nona wrote all this for the sake of present and future service to the church, there is a need to know the history of the Dominican family on mission together beginning in the earliest years of the nation. This is so wonderful,” she said as she flipped through the pages, smiling.
According to Welsh, the hope for the second volume is to catch the interest of not only the Dominicans, but also the interest of professors in the various Dominican colleges and universities to use in their class. They also hope to develop lesson plans around the book that can be used in classes.
“We need to help our students, faculty and sta realize the importance of being a Dominican university, a Dominican Catholic University. To know the history helps you realize your identity, the legacy of those who went before us.”
The way they plan to market this book is on a more digital level and with the help of Professor of Management, Marketing and International Business David Aron and one of his marketing classes to help develop a strategic marketing plan for the book. They hope to market the book not only internally within the Dominican family, but externally, to anyone that may be interested.
According to Magana, the McGreal Center isn’t a business or a marketing department, it’s a historical center that needs help from experts to reach a wider audience.
“My focus is digital marketing because it’s more innovative,” she said. “One way we’re going to market the book is through mass emails. We were also thinking of local newspapers, magazines, church bulletins, social media and hopefully an e-book that would be published on Amazon.”
According to Welsh, the reason they want this book to reach a wider audience is because of the story the essays will tell.
“The story is riveting. The story not only helps you understand who we are but how Dominicans are involved in the society,” she said. “As a Dominican, how do you participate in the creation of a more just world? That’s the beauty of history. You learn from people’s mistakes and you can be inspired by how no matter what the challenge, they have the courage to keep on going.”
According to Morgan, students at a Dominican university should know the story and significance of their educational foundation.
“Who are the Order of Preachers and why are they important? What is significant about the Dominicans that stands apart from other religious orders? Why a Dominican university? These are relevant questions that students might like answered,” she said. “One of the answers lies in a quote from a Medieval text of Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales” often used in her class. Sister Clemente speaks of the Clerk and of herself: They shall gladly learn, and gladly teach.”
According to Welsh, the goal for Volume II: “Dominicans on Mission: Selected Essays” is for it to be released by 2020, and at this point, the writers are doing revision work on some of their essays after having received feedback from selected readers.
Another great way to understand the history of our Dominican family and to nd out more about the archives, taking a visit to the McGreal Center and be greeted by a wonderful sta that are more than glad to show you around and leave you with more knowledge and some great lessons.
For more information on the book or the McGreal Center in general, visit its website at www2.dom.edu/mcgreal or email Welsh at jwelshop@dom.edu.
alonrobe@my.dom.edu
