In the nineteen sixties, when the author became a Dominican, the province went through a profound crisis. This article asks how it was able to survive this crisis and find new life and vigour. It did so because the brethren were usually able to engage in constructive dialogue. This was due to three characteristics of the province. As British, it embraced diversity in its core; the intellectual tradition of the province, an open Thomism, pushed it beyond any simplistic opposition between the tradition and progress. There is a tradition of brotherhood often overflowing into friendship which held the brethren together in times of crisis.
