St. Gertrude Parish has been staffed by Dominican Friars from the Province of St. Joseph since it was established in 1944. In addition, St. Gertrude Priory has been the site of the Novitiate for the Dominican Province of St. Joseph since 1984. St. Gertrude School has been staffed by the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia since it was founded in 1934.

The Order of Preachers, also known as the Dominican Order, was founded by St. Dominic de Guzman in 1216.  As with all religious orders, Dominicans dedicate their lives to Jesus Christ and the service of the Catholic Church through the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. The mission confided to the Order by the Church is “preaching for the salvation of souls.”  In order to better accomplish this mission, Dominican life is grounded in contemplative prayer and theological study.  
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While parts of Dominican life, including the habit and communal chanting of the Liturgy of the Hours, are drawn from earlier monastic traditions, the Order is committed to the work of evangelization, which includes strengthening the faith of those who believe, as well as preaching the Gospel through various means to the wider culture.  The friars’ commitment to theological study enables them to effectively engage the intellectual difficulties that modern life presents. As a Dominican parish, St. Gertrude reflects many of these distinctively Dominican features in her parish life, with a view towards catechetical and intellectual formation, devout prayer and liturgy, fervent preaching, and a robust Catholic community life.

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The Friars

St. Gertrude Priory, which is attached to the parish, is home to a community of Dominican friars who live and pray together, led by their elected prior. The friars serve in a variety of ministries for St. Gertrude Parish, the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, and the Dominican Province of St. Joseph, as well as the wider Dominican Order. The priory is also home to the Novitiate for the Province of St. Joseph.  The novitiate is the initial year of formation in the Dominican life where the primary focus is the spiritual formation of the brothers before they begin their formal theological studies at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, DC. 

The Dominicans currently in residence at St. Gertrude Priory are:  

Father J. Alobaidi, O.P. is a retired professor of Bible theology and languages (research assistant, University of Fribourg (Switzerland) Bible professor at The Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception and  lecturer in Islamic Theology and Post Biblical Judaism, Washington D.C.). Novice instructor.

Father John Corbett, O.P., born in 1951, is a native of Columbus Ohio. He graduated from Providence College in 1973 and was ordained  a Dominican priest in 1980. He received the Doctorate in Sacred Theology from Fribourg University in Switzerland. He has taught moral theology at Providence College, The Josephinum in Columbus and the Dominican House of Studies in Washington D.C. He is currently helping both in the Novitiate with spiritual direction and in the wider parish with Mass, preaching, and confessions.

Father Michael Mary Dosch, O.P. grew up on the Jersey Shore, graduated as an electrical engineer from the Catholic University of America, then worked for the Federal Aviation Administration for four years before entering the Order of Preachers in 1998.  After his ordination in 2005, he was the young parochial vicar at St. Gertrude’s until 2010.  After six years as pastor of St. Patrick’s in Columbus, he returned to Madeira as the Novice Master in 2016.  His primary responsibility is the formation of the Novices.

Father Jordan, Kelly, O.P., grew up in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Prior to coming to St. Gertrude in July 2021, Father Jordan was the pastor at St. Sebastian Church in Providence, Rhode Island, for three years. He has also served as pastor of the Church of St. Catherine of Siena and as the executive director of Dominican Friars Health Care Ministry, both in New York City. Father Jordan has also taught every grade from kindergarten through graduate school. His greatest love is the liturgy, and liturgical music has a special place in his heart. As St. Gertrude's director of liturgy, Father Jordan is often found playing the organ.

Reverend John Langlois, O.P. was elected the prior of St. Gertrude in 2020.  Born in Berlin, NH, he entered the Dominican Order in 1985 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1991.  He holds a doctorate in Church History, and has spent most of his priestly life teaching, both at Providence College in Providence, RI and at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, DC.  Immediately before coming to St. Gertrude, he served as President of the Pontifical Faculty at the Dominican House of Studies for seven years. 

Father George Schommer, O.P., is pastor of St. Gertrude Church. He was born and raised in Detroit, MI, and attended Franciscan University of Steubenville where he definitively discerned his vocation to the priesthood and the Dominican Order. Ordained in 1994, Father George has served as parochial vicar at St. Gertrude twice, worked in the advancement office for the Dominican Province of St. Joseph, traveled extensively as an itinerant preacher of parish missions, and served as pastor of St. Dominic Church in Washington, DC, and St. Patrick Church in Philadelphia, PA. He returned to St. Gertrude Church as pastor in July 2020.

Father John Mark Solitario, O.P., was ordained a priest in 2019 at the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. Having studied theology with the other friars at the Dominican House of Studies and gained some pastoral experience with the Catholic Latino community in Washington, D.C., he is happy now to be serving as a parochial vicar at St. Gertrude.