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East Timor celebrates the blessing of the first Dominican house.

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At ten in the morning , His Excellency Virgilio do Carmo de Silva, Bishop of Dili, began the ceremony of the blessing of the new House of St. Dominic that the Province of Our Lady of the Rosary has constructed. 

The blessing was preceded by a short historical review of Dominican presence in East Timor until the arrival of the Brothers of the Province of Our Lady of the Rosary. After that, His Excellency and other representatives of the Brothers, the Dominican Family and some dignitaries, like the President of the Company responsible for the construction of the house, were honoured with the traditional imposition of the scarf. The ceremony continued with the cutting of the ribbon presided by the Bishop, the Provincial Fr. Bonifacio Solís García, OP., some representatives of the Brothers, and the different congregations of Dominican Sisters followed by the unavailing of the commemorative board in remembrance of the event, followed by the blessing of the house, the chapel, the new liturgical vessels and the Eucharist. 

The liturgy was simple and solemn. The music excellently conducted by Dominican Youth, the postulants of the Dominican Sisters, and the girls of the orphanage entrusted to the Missionary Sister of the Holy Rosary. A large group of faithful, members of the Dominican Family and other religious congregations were in attendance. 

The Eucharist was con-celebrated by the Dominican Father and two representatives from the religious and the clergy. It is to be noted that there were six members of the Lay Dominicans in South Korea who have been helping greatly the mission and some of the social projects initiated by the Brothers. 

The blessing and formal inauguration of the House concluded with a lunch organized by the Dominican Family and some volunteers and neighbours of the present house of St. Dominic in Dili. 

The basement of the house is quite large and it will be a good place for future projects and meetings of the youth and even of a possible school. In the ground floor to the right of the entrance there are two rooms for visitors, the dining room and the kitchen; at the two large rooms intended for meetings and conference and the possibility of dividing them to accommodate several groups at the same time, after that is the Chapel. Going up to the second floor to the left there are for individual rooms for the brothers plus the community room. To the right there are two dormitories for the postulants and their community and classroom. Unfortunately the house is not yet finished and there will be a lot of work to do before the brothers could move in. 

We wish to extend our thanks to all those who have made it possible for the house to be built, the vicariates and the missions that have contributed to the budget of this construction. Likewise we thank the brothers who are working in both communities Hatudo and Dili and we look forward to the day in which more brothers will join them and a further development of the mission could be achieved.