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Recent Ceremonies
Wellness Walk
Visiting Sister Gene in Tijuana
March for Life
To Lourdes with Love
Remembering the SOA
A Nun's Build
Recent Ceremonies
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Our most recent ceremony - November 8, 2009,
welcomed Sisters Colleen McDermott and Kathy Repass
to a special step in their process of Becoming
Dominican. They entered the novitiate and became
our newest sisters!
To enter into the journey of women who have responded to God's call lived through the lifestyle of the preacher in the tradition of Dominic, and view photos of recent ceremonies, please click on the link below: |
Ceremonies >
Wellness
Walk
On January 23, our sisters participated
in the
St. Joseph’s Medical Center First Inaugural
5K Fun Run/Walk for Wellness. Besides the four Dominican
Sisters pictured below, the race attracted over 150 participants.
The event raised funds for the new Patient Pavilion,
to open March 19, 2010, and featured festivities in the
plaza in front of the new pavilion. The hospital and
the sisters look forward to the event next year already!
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Sisters Anne Dolan, Abby Newton, Kit Hamilton, and
Ruth Droege after their walk/run/bike ride on
a chilly Saturday morning. |
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Visiting
Sister Gene in Tijuana
On January 26, Sister Colleen McDermott
and Elizabeth Simovich traveled to Tijuana, Mexico
to spend a few days with Sister Gene
McNally at her mission there in Colonia Esperanza. They
visited the church, the clinic, the play area, and the
classrooms along with many of the houses and workshops
that were built or improved through the mission funds
granted by the congregation.
During the tour, Sr. Gene frequently
indicated how donations from specific groups and individuals
had been used to fund the work and building projects. She
showed the beautiful work completed by the craftsmen
that the program has helped. She also pointed
out a variety of sturdy chairs, cabinets, and other
furnishings left over from numerous Dominican sisters’ and
Dominican University buildings.
This collaboration can remind us of the
reading from I Corinthians 12 where St. Paul talked
about how we each have different gifts for the benefit
of the wider community and how we need all of them
to truly be whole.
If you would like to see some additional pictures
and learn more about the individual programs, visit
Sr. Gene’s website at http://www.dominicansr-inbaja.org/.

Sister Gene explains many of the services offered
at the clinica and in the classrooms in Colonia
Esperanza to Sister Colleen. |

The play yard is a very special and safe place in
the colonia. There is also a basketball court
that many love to use. |

This is a view of homes on the hillside. |

Sister Gene says goodbye to Elizabeth
after driving
them back over the border
to San Diego. |
March
for Life
As we have in past years, our sisters
participated in the 6th Annual Wlak for Life West Coast
on January 22, 1011. Despite rain, tens of thousands
of pro-lifers filled the streets of San Francisco
in support of the dignity of human life. For more information
on the event visit the Walk
for Life website.
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The rain may not have been a good day for cameras,
but it didn't dampen the spirits of our marchers
Elizabeth Simovich, and Sisters Marion Irvine
and Bernadette Wombacher.
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To
Lourdes with Love
Eight members of the Dominican College
Class of 1959 had such a wonderful time at their 50th
reunion last spring that they wanted to get together
again. Their brainstorm grew to include invitations
to members of other classes they'd gone to school with,
and a desire to give something back to the Dominican
Sisters who'd taught them.
"To Lourdes With Love" was the result. The
Alumni Relations office of Dominican University collaborated
with the planning committee and our development office
to create a special event. Forty women came to the
gathering space at the Dominican Sisters Center on
December 9 and enjoyed memories, laughter, a silent
auction and a beautiful luncheon. Several sisters attended
and the proceeds were donated to the Lourdes Renovation
Fund.
Our Lady of Lourdes Convent is home to twenty-four
of our elderly and infirm sisters. A multi-phase renovation
project will make parts of the 100 year old building
more modern and comfortable. For more information,
please contact our Development Director, Kate Martin
at 415 456 1544.
We are grateful to members of the "To Lourdes
With Love" Committee: Lilla O'Sullivan Roll, Paula
Peters Avanzino, Nina Concannon Radisch, Carol O'Connor
Siri, Mary Nevin Henderson, Mary Lou Mitchell Byrd,
Diane Lucas and Peggy McGuire.

Committee chairs Mary Henderson and Carol Siri
confer as they set up
the silent auction.
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Sister Adele Rowland, far right,
greets three other redbirds!
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A blue and silver Father Christmas graced the silent
auction table. |

Silent auction action |
 More
silent auction action |

Blueprint of plans for the Lourdes Convent renovation
and photos of the Sisters living at Lourdes. |

Sister Patricia Simpson who will serve as moderator
of Lourdes Convent starting in mid-January
2010, described the planned changes. |

A Christmas luncheon is enjoyed by all. |
Remembering
at the SOA
This year five of our sisters travelled
to Fort Benning, in Columbus, GA, to join
thousands at both the Ignatian
Family Teach-In for Justice and the demonstrations against
the School of the Americas (SOA). The name of the
school was recently changed to Western Hemisphere Institute
for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC). But no matter what
its name is, this school is a combat training school
for Latin American soldiers, some of whom were responsible
for the assassinations of Archbishop
Oscar Romero, the
6
Jesuits, and the 4
church women, just to mention
the most well known. Hundreds of thousands of Latin
Americans have been tortured, raped, assassinated, “disappeared,” massacred,
and forced into refuge by those trained at SOA/WHINSEC.
This was a weekend dedicated to remembering them.
Below are some photos from the weekend.

The Puppetistas always
are created for the procession, and act out a drama
illustrating "speaking truth to power." This year's
Puppetistas were especially poignant, in that they
represented the six Jesuits who were assassinated
20 years ago (four of them are pictured above)
along with their housekeeper and her daughter at
their residence at the University of Central America.. |

A group of Dominican Sisters carry this Dominican
banner in the procession. Elizabeth Simovich
is 3rd from the left, Sister Kathy Repass
is 5th from the left, Sister Cyndie Cammack
is 7th from the left, and Sister Colleen McDermott
is next to her. |

A few of the senior citizens
on the sidelines encourage those in the procession. |

Thousands of students join together in prayer at
an inspirational Mass in the Convention Center. |

Elizabeth (in the white poncho) and Colleen move
through the crowd toward the fence to place their
cross there during the procession.
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Sister Colleen places a commemorative
cross bearing the name of a martyr
at the gate. |
An
Nun's Build
It's been more than four years since
Hurrican Katrina hit, and still many of the homes in
St. Bernard civil parish are not livable. During five
days of October Colleen McDermott, Sisters
Judy Lu McDonnell and Lorraine Amodeo represented the
Dominican Sisters of San Rafael in the project that is
described by NOLA, an online news service
in New Orleans:
During the
inaugural Nuns' Build last week, more than 80 Catholic
Sisters from communities across the nation came together to work on 10
homes. In all, the week brought in $31,842.88 in donations, enough to
buy the building materials for two families' houses. The biggest show
of support was from Catholic Health Initiatives in Littleton, Colo.,
which emptied their disaster fund to donate $28,947.88 to SBP.
Sisters
from around the country also donated their own money
and solicited
donations from their communities. We hope to use your
advice to build
upon these efforts for the next Nuns' Build Together
We were inspired
by the energy, dedication and spirit that you put into
these homes.
As you know, a great need still exists. The devastation
from the
floodwaters in the New Orleans area was complete. And
as we are
learning, it is also long lasting. One of our
clients described it
succinctly by saying, “this is a long storm.” This
simple phrase, in
the present tense, is an accurate reminder that many
residents
continue to struggle. Today more than 10,000 families
are still living
in FEMA trailers or other temporary housing; 60-80%
of these families
are homeowners who, almost four years later, still
have not been able
to move home, and regain their independence." For more information
about the project, please go to DomLife and St.
Bernard Project.

Colleen McDermott holds "Sister Penny" our special
penguin with her own special blog, surrounded
by Sisters Judy Lu McDonnell and Lorraine Amodeo
at the
site of their project. |

Sister Lorraine is "sweeping up." |

Sister Judy Lu is ready to do
some mudding. |

Our sisters get to enjoy some time in the French
Quarter. |

The state of some of the homes before the work is
done. |

The sisters' hard work pays off with some beautiful
results. |
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