Novice Experiences Adventure
and Challenge in Anchorage

August 26, Anchorage, Alaska – In popular culture, novices learn about their new life in rather traditional ways: taking theology classes, chanting Morning and Evening Prayer in community, or spending hours on their knees, praying in a chapel. But Adrian Dominican novice Sister Xiomara Méndez-Hernández had some rather unique ways of learning about ministry: cooking 20 pounds of rice for a fund-raising dinner; teaching women to sew; and helping at a Vacation Bible School. And she did all of this in a place far removed culturally and geographically from her native Dominican Republic: in Alaska.

Sister Xiomara shares her talents during her ministry immersion experience at Clare House in Anchorage, Alaska

Sister Xiomara, who was received into the novitiate on March 12, traveled to Anchorage for her immersion experience in ministry on May 19 and returned to the Motherhouse campus in Adrian on July 31. While there, she lived in community with Adrian Dominican Sisters Ann Romayne Fallon, OP; Jacqueline Stoll, OP; and Lorraine Reaume, OP. Sister Josephine Gaugier, OP, who had lived in that community for years, traveled to Adrian in May to assume her new role as Chapter Prioress of the Holy Rosary Mission Chapter.

“Each day was different,” Sister Xiomara said during an interview in Adrian. “Each day was an adventure.” Those adventures gave her many opportunities to share her compassion and ministerial skills, as well as her talents and education as a former fashion designer.

Sister Xiomara spent much of her time at Clare House, with the 14 women and 20 children who at the time were residing at this emergency shelter for homeless women and children. While there, she taught the women to dress professionally, styled their hair and gave them small make-overs so that they would look professional during job interviews. Many of the women at Clare House were “not only homeless, but hopeless,” she explained, and many had never been to a beauty salon. Her work on their physical appearance built up confidence and “helped them to see themselves in another way.” In addition, she gave sewing classes, attracting the interest of one woman so much that, even when she moved out of Clare House with her husband, she drove 45 minutes every week to attend Sister Xiomara’s three-hour evening class.

The Catholic Anchor, Diocese of Alaska newspaper

Sister Xiomara had a unique opportunity to help raise funds for Clare House during a visit to Kodiak Island, located off the southern coast of Alaska. Her background in fashion design became known to the people of the island through an article in the archdiocesan newspaper, The Catholic Anchor, describing the novice’s presentation at the Alaska Catholic Youth Conference. Through this local fame, Sister Xiomara met the mother of Clare Jean Fulp, a fashion design student who wanted her help in organizing a fashion show to raise money for Clare House and St. Francis Shelter, also in Anchorage. She agreed to be the adviser to the young adults who organized the fashion show, dubbed “Clare to Clare” at Sister Xiomara’s suggestion. The fashion show, organized in six weeks, raised $10,000 for the two shelters. The organizers hope it will be an annual event. Other activities on Kodiak Island included helping in a thrift store and cooking 20 pounds of rice for a special dinner to raise money for legal fees for a woman who had been deported from the island.

Sister Xiomara made great use of her native Spanish language, from offering reflections during Mass at Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish to visiting with members of Hispanic communities, both in Anchorage and on Kodiak Island. Sister Xiomara recalled helping a medical team who periodically serve the community at the cathedral by translating for Hispanic residents who came for assistance. She told the moving story of a woman from the Dominican Republic who, coming to Alaska to visit a friend, wound up in the shelter. Sister Xiomara was especially moved by a couple – also from her country – who took the woman in, despite their own economic struggles.

But Sister Xiomara experienced more than ministry during her time in Alaska. She enjoyed the weather – at times the temperature reached 82 degrees – and her time in community with the local Adrian Dominicans. “I felt supported,” she said. “I felt challenged.” She added that she has gone “from one international community to another.” The sisters in Anchorage hail from the United States, Canada and, with the addition of Sister Xiomara, from the Dominican Republic. Members of the formation house in Adrian come from the United States, Iraq, Africa, and the Dominican Republic.

She and the community had their own adventures: seeing a glacier up close; viewing an exhibit of the St. John’s Bible at the University of Alaska; meeting priests and sisters who serve in the diocese; and visiting the churches and towns in the Anchorage area: Valdez, Glennallen, the Kenai Peninsula, and Homer.

Reflecting on her time in Alaska, Sister Xiomara noted that she was excited about her first taste of formal ministry. “I came to each day with new eyes,” she said. “I had the opportunity to use my skills, my talents.” She faced many challenges, she said, but “every challenge was an opportunity to learn and to grow.”