Farewell for Fr. Dominic Briese, OP

Friday, May. 02, 2025

TAYLORSVILLE — Hundreds of well-wishers gathered April 27 to give thanks for the service that Dominican Father Dominic Briese has provided in Utah for the past 12 years. The farewell open house was held April 27 at St. Martin de Porres Parish in Taylorsville, where Fr. Dominic has ministered since 2020.

Fr. Dominic has been elected prior of Blessed Sacrament Priory and Church in Seattle, Wash., which is owned and operated by the Order of Preachers and is within the jurisdiction of the Western Dominican Province, to which Fr. Dominic belongs.

Fr. Dominic, who was born in Mineloa, N.Y., originally came to Utah to attend the University of Utah, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in finance. He went on to work at Hill Air Force Base before entering the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology in Berkeley, Calif. He he was ordained a priest for the Western Dominican Province on June 1, 1996.

Following his ordination he served for six years as associate pastor for his order, first in Phoenix, then in San Francisco. He then was appointed director of the Newman Center at the University of Las Vegas. After that appointment, he was transferred to a parish in Sacramento, Calif., where he served as pastor and a preacher. In 2012 he came to Utah. His first assignment was at St. Vincent de Paul Parish in Holladay for a couple of months; he was then assigned to live at the University of Utah Newman Center and teach theology at Judge Memorial Catholic High School in Salt Lake City. He also served as the school’s chaplain. 

After five years at Judge, he served three years as a theology teacher and chaplain at Juan Diego CHS in Draper. Since 2020 he has been at St. Martin de Porres Parish, first as administrator, then as pastor. 

People from all his assignments in Utah were present at the open house, including high school graduates and their families, and members of the various parishes.

Having Fr. Dominic at St. Martin de Porres Parish has been a blessing, said Anna Kontas, a 94-year-old parishioner who has followed the priest since he came to Utah. 

“I used to go wherever he was preaching,” she said. “I had my son-in-law driving me to St. Vincent’s.”

When Father Jan Bednarz retired in 2020 as pastor of St. Martin de Parish, “I prayed that Fr. Dominic was going to be sent here,” Kontas said. “He is so good at preaching. … Not only is he a wonderful speaker, I feel I get so much more out of Mass now than what I used to.”

Besides, everyone “loves him,” she said, adding that Fr. Dominic started many groups at the parish, and helped people have the desire to serve.

“He brought more parishioners here; everybody here is very happy and works so well thanks to him,” she said.

A similar feeling was shared by Guadalupe Vazquez Gonzales, the parish’s director of religious education.

 “I came to this parish following him,” she said. 

She has always had the desire to serve in the parish, and Fr. Dominic was the one who opened the doors for her to do so, she said, “and for that I am very grateful. In other parishes I always said I wanted to help, to serve, and no one listened, but here he has always encouraged everyone to serve to build the Church together.”

Thanks to Fr. Dominic “we have built a very beautiful community, a welcoming one,” Vazquez Gonzales said. “We are a family.”

For Connie Gardner, the parish coordinator who organized the farewell open house, Fr. Dominic was the one who grew the parish community.

“He has brought the people together with a welcoming spirit,” she said, adding that Fr. Dominic built “a community of love and acceptance; he brought the Gospel to everyone in the Church.”

The priest always had a joyful way of doing things, “and his gifts of preaching and teaching,  offering a simplistic view of life has been beautiful, and has built this parish community,” Gardner said. “He is leaving a good legacy. We now have a very diverse demographic, we have so many ethnicities and age groups.”

Fr. Dominic has meant “a friendship, love, compassion,” said Annie Gardner, Connie Gardner’s daughter, who is also a St. Martin de Porres parishioner. 

“He was the one for me here, and I am going to miss him,” she said, adding that she is very grateful because he was always there for her. “I will miss you very much,” she said to him.

Fr. Dominic’s final official day at the parish was April 27. Father Rodelio Ignacio has been temporarily assigned to St. Martin de Porres Parish. Official diocesan assignments will be announced in the next few weeks.