This year’s seminar took place at Hinsley Hall in Leeds on 21-23 March. 2025 is a Jubilee Year, and the theme is ‘Pilgrims of Hope’, so the theme of the seminar was Hope.

The seminar is always a great occasion for the different branches of the Dominican family to come together, and our 3 main speakers were a friar, a Lay Dominican and a sister:

• fr. Dominic Ryan OP: ‘Aquinas on Hope’
• Dr. Sara Parvis: ‘A Church of Heroic Communities: Militant Hope’
• Sr. Hyacinthe Defos du Rau OP: ‘The Dominican Life as a Sign of Hope’

We also had short sessions on 2 other Jubilee themes: Lilian Lee from the Edinburgh Lay Dominicans spoke to us about Bl. Pier Giorgio Frassati, who will be canonised during the Jubilee of Young People later this year, and Simon Hewitt from the Yorkshire Group of Lay Dominicans spoke about Indulgences.

As always, there was plenty of opportunity for people to socialise, as well as to hear the annual reports from the friars, 3 congregations of sisters, the Lay Dominicans, the Secular Institute and the Priestly Fraternity.

It was also a weekend of prayer, with the celebration of the office and Mass in the chapel at Hinsley Hall. The Prior Provincial, fr. Nick Crowe OP was unable to be with us this year, and the seminar was chaired by fr. Greg Pearson OP,