In 1854, the sisters moved from Monterey to Benicia because it seemed to offer a more promising future for a school than Monterey and because Alemany's newly divided diocese no longer included Monterey. The school and convent were named St. Catherine's. Mother Mary continued to guide the young group and to instill in them a sense of Dominican life and apostolate. Her last act as prioress was to open a convent and school in San Francisco in 1862. This school--St. Rose Academy--was closed after extensive damage suffered in the 1989 Loma-Prieta earthquake.
The sisters whose original purpose was to provide education have operated and taught in elementary and secondary schools in California and Nevada for a century and a half. Under the forty-two years of leadership of Mother Louis O'Donnell (1887-1929), the sisters also entered the health care field in Stockton, California (St. Joseph's Home and Hospital, 1899) and in Reno, Nevada (St. Mary's Hospital, 1912). These two hospitals have continued to expand and to serve their communities.

Since Vatican II, the work of the sisters has extended beyond education and health care into other areas depending upon the individual's talents and the needs of the time. Dominican sisters of the Congregation of the Most Holy Name teach, administer schools, care for the sick, work with the materially poor, do social service, and are engaged in a variety of other ministries. At its height in 1965, the congregation numbered 376 women religious.
The congregation has a tradition of providing haven for refugees (e.g., Hungarians after 1956, Vietnamese in 1970s). And during the 1980s, it took corporate stances on nuclear freeze, sanctuary for Salvadoran and Guatemalan refugees, and employment of non-documented aliens. More recently, it declared its opposition to the death penalty and called for an immediate moratorium on it. This Dominican congregation, still centered in San Rafael, numbers over 135 women religious who continue to work primarily in California and Nevada.