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June 24, 2025, Adrian, Michigan – In a spirit of joy, homecoming, and happy reminiscence, the Adrian Dominican Sisters welcomed to the Motherhouse Campus 46 Jubilarians – Sisters celebrating milestone years of commitment to religious life. The June 19-21, 2025, celebration marked a total of 3,080 years of commitment to religious life by two 80-year Jubilarians; 10 75-year Jubilarians; 20 70-year (Double-Diamond) Jubilarians; 12 60-year (Diamond) Jubilarians; and two 25-year (Silver) Jubilarians.  

While many Jubilarians and guests came a few days early to reunite with friends and celebrate their lives of ministry, the formal Jubilee celebration began on June 19, 2025, when the Jubilarians met with the General Council and later broke bread with them.

The event took on a thoughtful yet grateful tone on June 20, 2025, when the Jubilarians, guests, and other Sisters, Associates, and friends gathered to honor the deceased members of each crowd (class) of Jubilarians. 

“We are here today to remember the 113 Sisters from those celebrating crowds who are no longer with us in the body,” said Sister Andrea Balconis, OP, a 60-year Jubilarian. “This is not a sad day,” she added, noting that the Sisters were celebrating in heaven.

The Liturgy began with the solemn, respectful recitation of the names of the 41 deceased 80-year Jubilarians, 46 deceased 75-year Jubilarians, 23 deceased 70-year Jubilarians, and five deceased 60-year Jubilarians.

In her preaching, Sister Marilyn Winter, OP, a 70-year Jubilarian, reflected on the mysteries of life and death. “We … know the transient nature of physical reality and that we need to aspire to lead good lives, to prepare to come before the judgment seat of God,” she said. The words of the readings of the Mass helped to make sense of death and gave a sense of hope in Jesus’ promises, Sister Marilyn said, adding that she was left with a desire for more.

She reflected on the ways that rituals help the survivors, recalling her recent experience at cemeteries on Memorial Day. The people who gathered “gained strength to continue their journeys from the stories of the past lives, not just of those who gave their full measure,” but of mothers, grandfathers, teachers, and coaches. In the same way, she said, the 2025 Jubilarians remember those who have gone before them: teachers, housemates, travel companions, and “those only known to us by their silent presence.”

In gatherings of Adrian Dominican Sisters and Associates, “we see the face of God,” Sister Marilyn said. “We recommit each day to this life we have been given. We relish the time to share with those with whom we live and minister and those who have supported us through it all, and we value the precious times and spaces we have remaining.”

The Jubilarians, their guests, and other Sisters and Co-workers spent the rest of the day sharing time and building memories together: through a special lunch for Jubilarians and their guests; a happy hour in which the Jubilarians mingled with the Sister residents of the Dominican Life Center; a barbecue dinner; and a concert of classical piano music, performed by Sister Magdalena Ezoe, OP.

Sister Rosemary Finnegan, OP, 60-year Jubilarian, welcomed fellow Jubilarians, guests, Sisters, family members, and friends to the Jubilee Mass on the morning of June 21, 2025. “It’s a privilege to walk with these women as we journey down many changes, praising God and touching hearts along the way,” she said. “All of us feel privileged to spread the Gospel graces by our Creator, nurtured by our lives together.”

Sister Elise D. García, OP, Prioress of the Congregation, noted the fitness of the focus of the day’s readings on the Holy Spirit. “How else would you have responded to the call if it were not for the presence of the Spirit?” she asked. But, she added, they responded not only to the initial call to enter the Adrian Dominican Congregation, “but to each of the calls that have summoned you over the years, calls that took you to places near and far, to ministries you thought were beyond your reach, to a multitude of challenges and opportunities you never imagined.”

Sister Elise delineated the specific ways that the Jubilarians served the people of God through the years: through various ministries in education, parish and diocesan services, religious education and faith formation, healthcare, community and congregational leadership, justice and peace advocacy, and advocacy with marginalized groups. She noted that they served in 22 states and numerous countries. 

“You have given witness to the depth of love … at the heart of the Spirit who animates us all,” Sister Elise concluded. “Wisdom’s radiance shines upon you.”

The Jubilarians demonstrated their willingness to continue their call to religious life and the Adrian Dominican Sisters as they renewed their vow of obedience “to Almighty God, to the Blessed Virgin Mary, to our holy father, Saint Dominic,” and to Sister Elise and her lawful successors “according to the rule of St. Augustine and the Constitution of the Sisters of St. Dominic of the Congregation of the Most Holy Rosary until death.”

March 26, 2025, Chicago – Sister Jamie Phelps, OP, was honored in early March as Founding Director of the Augustus Tolton Pastoral Ministry Program. The program at Catholic Theological Union (CTU) provides Black Catholics with scholarships and professional and spiritual formation to serve Black Catholics in pastoral ministry.

The program is named after Venerable Father Augustus Tolton (1854-1897), the first recognized Black Catholic priest in the United States. He is among six prominent U.S. Black Catholics whose causes for canonization in the Catholic Church have been opened.

Sister Jamie completed her doctorate from Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., before becoming a Professor of Systematic Theology at CTU. “CTU is a graduate theology program that prepares men and women for mission all over the world,” she said. “When I came to CTU, I was delighted because it helped me translate my theological study into something that would help people in their involvement” in the Church’s mission. She served at CTU from 1986 to 1998.

Sister Jamie said she and others at CTU realized that few Black Catholics were involved in ministry among Black Catholic parishioners. The Tolton Pastoral Ministry Program was developed in collaboration with Father Donald Senior, President of CTU, and Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, who wanted a place to train Black Catholics in ministry.

“In order to encourage Black participation, we set up the Tolton Pastoral Ministry Program,” along with a scholarship program to provide for tuition and books, Sister Jamie said. “A lot of people were working in the parishes but didn’t have money for the program. I was interested in providing education that grounded them in Catholic theology.” 

Sister Jamie said the program offers a Master’s in Divinity (MDiv) as well as a Master of Arts in Pastoral Studies (MAPS). The MAPS program had a pastoral component, requiring students to participate in practicums in the community and to write about their experience from a theological perspective. 

The goal, Sister Jamie said, was to help students “address the specific needs of Black Catholics in urban settings and to make sense of who God is and who Jesus is in the context of the Black community in the United States in particular.”

Over the years, Sister Jamie said, the program benefited the Black Catholic community. “They have priests, Sisters, and lay people doing more effective, theologically grounded ministry,” she said. Graduates of the program were trained to educate their parishioners about Jesus Christ.

“We developed the method of analysis that was not just left-brain but right-brain,” she explained. “How do you see yourself, your identity in your mission and in your ordinary life? You have to demonstrate your love for Jesus by loving your neighbor. This would compel you to be engaged in justice ministry … helping people to change their behavior to a right relationship with God, neighbor, and self.”

Sister Jamie said the 35th anniversary celebration included dinner and a recognition award for herself as founding director of the program. But she particularly enjoyed the celebration because it brought together former and current faculty members and students of the Tolton Program. “The real highlight for me was seeing [the Tolton Program’s] effects and meeting old colleagues from CTU,” as well as realizing the success of the program: the graduates made a positive impact on Church and society, she said.

During the celebration, she said, “My most profound rejoicing was to recognize that the founding of the Tolton Program was of God – because if it’s of God, it will grow. It has grown and continues to grow.” 

Read more about the celebration and the Augustus Tolton Pastoral Ministry Program in this article in the Chicago Catholic.

 

Caption for above feature photo: Kim Lymore, Director of Catholic Theological Union’s Tolton Scholars Program, holds a photo of Father Augustus Tolton, the first recognized Black Catholic priest in the United States. Seated in front of her are Sister Jamie Phelps, OP, center, with two current Tolton Scholars: Gardis Watts, left, and Kianda Boyd.
Photo Courtesy of Catholic Theological Union