St. Dominic's Parish, Yaba St. Dominic's Priory:
The Dominican House at Yaba became a Priory December 12, 1983. Its first Prior was Fr. Richard Farmer.
A Priory is a "Monastery" or "Nunnery". It is a community of religious guided by rules and regulations and bound together by their desire to share each other's life for the purpose of serving God through service to mankind.
St. Dominic's Priory is one of the largest and most popular Dominican priories in Nigeria. It houses 15 Priests and Brothers, including the Prior Provincial, Fr. Thomas McDermott.
As the new Church was nearing completion in 1993, Father Tom McDermott, OP, the then Pastor of St. Dominic's foresaw that some money would probably be left over in the building Fund. Eventually about N 20 million was left over. It should be noted that Fr. McDermott raised part of this money on behalf of the Dominicans in the United States. This money was left in a Dominican account in case it was needed to finish the Church. Apart from this, the new Church was built entirely with local Funds.
It was already evident that he Dominicans desperately needed a large residence for the priests and bothers. It wasn't enough just to build if there weren't sufficient priests and brothers to serve them.
St. Dominic's had always seen known for the good service provided by the Dominicans. But his standard could no longer be maintained with a parish, which had nearly tripled in size while the number of Fathers and brothers remained the same. So, in light of the availability and the need for a larger residence, Fr. Tom set about drawing simple sketches of the floor plans of the Priory.
Mr. Ayodele Maja, an architect who trained in Scotland and worked in England for several years had just started an architectural firm in Ikoyi with his partner, Zube Onoche called Mode Limited. Ayo took the simple sketches of Fr. Tom and using a computer, came up with the design of the new priory.
Archbishop A.O. Okogie scrutinized the plans and then gave his permission for the project. The contract was awarded to Cappa and D'Alberto Plc., the same company which built St. Dominic's Church for N64 million and construction began on Ascension Thursday in May 1995 and the building was finished in July 1997, about two years and two months later. It was dedicated January 28, 1998.
Rev. Fr. Gilbert Graham, OP, representing the Dominicans in the US raised and handed over the sum of $100,000 for the building project. Eventually, the building finished at the cost of about N70 million and of this amount, the Parish contributed approximately two-thirds of the money and the Dominicans, the remaining one-third.
The new Priory has all the features required by the international constitution of the Dominican Order, a sitting room (called recreation room, in Dominican parlance), a separate television room, a library, a mail room, a refectory or dining room, a large kitchen and a private chapel with sacristy. In addition, there are six offices for the Provincial, Prior, Pastor, Economic Administrator and others. There is also a Penthouse.
Every Dominican Priory must have a cloister or private area for members of the Order only. Most of the new priory is cloistered and therefore off-limits to laymen and lay women except for the house helps and repairmen. The purpose of the cloister is to safeguard an atmosphere of prayer, study and recollection in the House.
In the years ahead, the Priory will be a great source of Priests and religious to serve not only St. Dominic's Parish but the entire Archdiocese of Lagos through talks, retreats, parish missions, confessions and more.
When the new Priory was begun, no one expected that it would be finished under ten years, given the hard times in the country, and the fact that a House which most of the parishioners would never see the inside of would never be as popular project as the church was. ut our parishioners responded more quickly in building the new priory than they did with the church.
Everyone should realize at least one thing as they look at this beautiful new building: It has taken the Dominicans 50 years since their arrival on this very compound in 1951, to reach this day!
Today evokes the memory of the first three pioneer Dominicans, late Bishop Michael Dempsey, OP (Late) Bishop Edward Thaddeus Lawton, OP and Fr. Arthur Kinsella, OP.
Though the St. Jude Apostolate has grown to become the most popular of the Dominicans, operating from St. Dominic's, others with the same operational base include the church, the Clinic, the Makoko out-station which caters to the Egun fishing community and the out-station at Tarkwa Bay, which began as a rest house for the Dominicans in 1976.
Since Fr. Farmer, the Priory has had other Priors like Frs. Tom McDermott (1987), Martin Aitsebromo (1990), Peter Otillio (1993), Paul 'Bola Oye (1996) and Biodun Ademoye (1997).
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