Hello, I would like to introduce myself to you, my name is Fr. Brian Bricker, O.P. and I am new here to Helsinki. I will be the spiritual advisor to the Dominican Laity. I live in the community with Fr. Antoine. As I have just arrived at the beginning of February I am only beginning my studies in Finnish and so it will take some time to learn it properly. I have been asked to tell you a bit about myself.
I was born in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. I have three sisters and a brother. I have a twin sister, Brenda and we are the youngest in the family. My father was raised in a Jewish family and my mother in a Protestant one. They both became Anglicans after they were married. I was raised in the Anglican Church but I became a Catholic in 1969 when I was 14 years old. I was attracted to the Catholic Church because of its teaching authority, its history, its spiritual traditions and because of its universality. I liked the idea that a person could go to Mass every day. As a teenager I worked in a Catholic hospital as a volunteer and then in the admitting office. It was run by a community of sisters. They had an influence on me as well, seeing active religious women edified me.
I would like to briefly mention another Catholic group that had a great influence on me. I also helped out at a place called Marian Center which was run by members of the Madonna House Apostolate. Their foundress was a woman named Catherine Doherty. She had come to the USA originally from Russia and there she had worked along side Dorothy Day of the Catholic Worker Movement. The community consists of lay men and women and priests all of whom take promises of poverty, chastity and obedience. It is a community which lives by begging, they are steeped in the spirituality of Russia as well as the West. Their work consists mainly in operating soup kitchens and social services for the poor, in addition to that they also have places where people can come and make retreats. (The Madonna House Apostolate has an interesting website that you can find by writing its name into Google.)
In my home city of Edmonton there is a very large Ukrainian community and so I became interested in the Ukrainian churches. There are about 16 of them in Edmonton, both Catholic and Orthodox. From them I developed my love for Eastern spirituality.
I began my studies at the University of Alberta where I studied mainly French and sociology. I also studied in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan where I earned my second degree in teaching. I taught school from 1976 until 1983. I taught many levels but when I ended that career I was teaching high school French and theology.
I joined the Dominicans in 1983 in Denver, Colorado as a member of the Chicago province of St. Albert the Great. I took my first vows in 1984 and then moved to St. Louis Missouri where I studied at the Aquinas Institute of Theology. While doing my studies I did ministry in prisons, hospitals and social service agencies. I went to Mass most Sundays at an Afro-American parish. It was during those years also that I learned to speak Spanish and I had the opportunity to spend two summers in Antigua Guatemala in intensive language courses.
I was ordained a priest in 1989. Since then I did mostly parish work. My first assignment was in Chicago where I worked in a largely Mexican parish. I spent some time as a chaplain for the Dominican Sisters in Wisconsin and then spent six years in Denver Colorado as the assistant pastor in our parish there which also had a very large Spanish population. During all of these years I also worked with other Dominicans in preaching retreats and preaching parish missions. While I was in Denver I also became the chaplain for a group called Faith and Light which is part of a world wide organization which works with the mentally and physically handicapped and their families.
I was given a year long sabbatical starting in 2004. During that time I spent a month in The Dominican Ashram, a house of prayer belonging to our province. I then spent three months travelling around India, a truly fascinating country. I was able to work, both saying Mass and doing some elementary nursing at one of Mother Theresa’s hospitals in Calcutta.
From February through May I did a renewal course in theology in Dublin Ireland.
My next assignment was to be the chaplain for the Dominican nuns at Prouilhe in France. I was there from September 2005 until just before I came here. A year ago, in February of 2007, Fr. Bruno Cadore the French provincial invited me to consider coming to Finland when I was finished at the monastery. I said yes and here I am.
Finally I would like to say that my own spirituality has many influences and yet for me throughout the years I have come to rely daily on the Holy Spirit and the consolations and wisdom I receive through praying to him. I find it also most helpful to realize that the whole Pascal mystery of Jesus’ passion, death and resurrection can sustain me in my daily joys and sufferings. I believe very much in the mercy of God and His love for all people which has no limits. I believe we will all be surprised at the tenderness and compassion of God when we meet Him face to face.