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

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!

Sisters Anne Dolan, Abby Newton, Kit Hamilton, and Ruth Droege after their walk/run/bike ride on a chilly Saturday morning.

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.

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.	Sister Adele Rowland, far right, greets three other redbirds!
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.	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.