San Damiano Fraternity History

History: San Damiano Fraternity

1981, the San Damiano Fraternity was begun by Fr. Roger Mollison, with Fr. Leonard Schreiner, OFM acting as Spiritual Assistant. This fledgling fraternity of twenty-five inquirers met in Loveland, Colorado. They gathered to attend Mass and used the homily as a basis for formation discussion.
1983, seven of the original twenty-five inquirers were professed at St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church in Loveland, CO and three more were professed in 1984.
The Spiritual Assistant asked a member to become the Formation Director saying: “Lay people must lead the Church”. The goal was to become a strong spiritual fraternity and to serve each other and the Church.
1985, a one-page newsletter was started and today the San Dan Damiano Lantern continues the tradition electronically.
1989 to 1997, Father John Lager used the Serendipity Bible to help fraternity members share more of themselves and their pasts.
1997-2000, the Formation Director, started modeling formation following the Rite to Christian Initiation for Adults (RCIA) journey.
2000-Today, Retreats became integrated into the fraternity's life through attending Days of Recollection, going to Colorado Springs, the Abbey at Wallburga to attending the Regional Retreat at St. Malo's, Allenspark, CO today.