What's Happening

By Sister Katherine Frazier, OP
Executive Director, Dominican Youth Movement USA

July 25, 2025, Sparkill, New York – The 23rd Annual College Preaching in Action Conference took place May 20-25, 2025, at St. Thomas Aquinas College in Sparkill, New York. The conference brought together 25 students from participating Dominican institutions: Albert Magnus College, New Haven, Connecticut; Aquinas College, 
Grand Rapids, Michigan; Barry University, Miami, Florida; Caldwell University, Caldwell, New Jersey; Dominican University New York, Orangeburg; Molloy University, Rockville Centre, New York; Ohio Dominican University, Columbus; and St. Thomas Aquinas College, Sparkill, New York.

The students and their mentors learned about the Dominican Charism from different presenters, who highlighted the diverse ways that Dominicans live out their tradition in the world.

The conference opened with Sister Diane Capuano, OP. Throughout her presentation, students were encouraged to sing along to various Dominican hymns that introduced major themes and people.

These themes were expanded upon the next day by Sister Kathleen Tuite, OP, and Kaitlyn Tashjian, an Associate of the Dominican Sisters of Caldwell, who led students in exploring the history of the Dominican Order, the four pillars, and some of the ministries that Dominican Sisters engage in throughout the United States. After their presentation, Sister Terry Rickard, OP, helped the students to explore their leadership and preaching skills.

On Thursday, students and mentors learned about the signs of the times. The day began with a keynote address by Dr. Walter Hidalgo, a Mission Program Director for the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers. He introduced the students to the principles of Catholic Social Teaching and the See-Act-Judge Method of discernment, using examples from his ministry. His presentation set up a day in which participants learned more about the United States, racism, and missionary discipleship.

On Friday, participants served in the local community. At Harmony Hill, they learned about small-scale, environmentally sustainable farming and planted some tomatoes. At House on the Hill Head Start, founded by the Dominican Sisters of Blauvelt, students helped the children served by the program.

Other participants visited the Maryknoll Sisters of St. Dominic to learn about their global mission. Another group went to Brick It Again, a nonprofit that sells LEGO kits to support children, adults, and families with intellectual or developmental disabilities. 

The final group collaborated with Keep Rockland Beautiful to clean up Sparkill Creek. The group particularly enjoyed the waders they were given to wear and the work of picking up all the trash to make the creek a safer and cleaner place.

Saturday brought a change of pace as participants explored the Dominican tradition of preaching through the arts. In her keynote address, Sister Barbara Schwarz, OP, led participants through a lectio divina exercise using color, movement, and images to explore the Gospel message. Afterward, participants attended sessions of their choice, where they created mandalas, wrote poetry, participated in improv theater, and explored praying and journaling through artwork.

Throughout the week, participants came together for morning and evening prayers. Each student had the opportunity to plan prayer under the guidance of Sisters June Fitzgerald, OP, and Susan Olson, OP. This led to a wide diversity of prayer experiences, including using worship songs, praying with Scripture in different languages, and creating beauty within the prayer space.

The week concluded with Sunday liturgy celebrated at the Sparkill Dominican Sisters Motherhouse. The participating students read their preaching plans for their home college. The plans included everything from praying the Rosary as a community to creating more service opportunities and planting a community garden.

In reflecting on her experience, Kamryn Daniels of Ohio Dominican University wrote, “The Preaching in Action Conference is not only an excellent and immersive way to learn the Dominican Tradition, but also to connect with so many amazing people.”

“The conference provided me with so many connections and resources to become a better preacher,” Gionna Bean, of Aquinas College, wrote. “I can’t wait to take what I learned back to my campus.”

Many thanks to those who made this conference such a positive experience for Kamryn, Gionna, and all the students who attended the College Preaching in Action Conference. The hospitality offered by St. Thomas Aquinas College, and for the prayers of all the members of the Dominican Family also helped make this program a success. Gratitude is extended to the presenters, who shared their wisdom with the participants and generously gave their time. Finally, the mentors and the students created a joyful experience as they entered into the experience of this conference. 

 

Caption for above feature photo: Participants in the Dominican Colleges Preaching in Action Conference after helping to clean up Sparkill Creek in New York.

October 9, 2024, Adrian, Michigan – Adrian Dominican Associate Life welcomed three new Associates on October 3, 2024, during an evening Commitment Ceremony held in Holy Rosary Chapel on the Motherhouse Campus.

Associates are women and men, at least 18 years of age, who feel called to the Dominican Charism (spirit) and who make a non-vowed commitment to associate themselves with the Adrian Dominican Sisters. While maintaining their independent lifestyle, they are invited to share in the Sisters’ mission, ministries, and spiritual and social activities.

Associate Nancy Mason Bordley, Director of the Office of Dominican Charism, welcomed the Associates, Sisters, and friends, explaining the commitment that the Associate candidates and their mentors had already made in preparation for the event. Each Associate candidate “has acknowledged his or her desire to make this next step and has spent months discerning how they will live out the Dominican Charism as a member of the Dominican family,” she said.

During the prayer service, candidate Celeste Mueller preached on the Gospel explaining how Jesus sent out 72 disciples ahead of him to villages and towns where he intended to visit. “It’s a pattern that has been repeated in our history,” she said, noting that Dominic, too, sent out his brothers to preach when they had only been in the Order for a short time. That pattern was repeated with Dominican Sisters who came from Germany to New York in 1853 and the Sisters who began ministries at parishes in Adrian, Michigan, in the late 19th century – and beyond to the new Associates today, Celeste said. 

“What we share with the earliest disciples and every Dominican through the ages is the invitation to become the sacred preaching,” Celeste said. “Each of us is ready and fully equipped to respond to that invitation.”

The new Associates are:

Celeste Mueller, a self-employed practical theologian and leadership formation facilitator from University City, Missouri, is the great-niece of Sister Rose de Lourdes DeSchryver, OP. A native of Detroit and the youngest of seven children, she was taught by Columbus Dominican Sisters at St. Clare de Montefalco Elementary School. She attended Our Lady Star of the Sea High School. 

Celeste, who earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and theology at the University of Notre Dame, came to know the Adrian Dominican Sisters through her studies. While earning a master’s degree and partial MDiv at Aquinas Institute of Theology, a graduate school in the Dominican tradition, in St. Louis, she was a classmate and student of Adrian Dominican Sisters. She earned her doctorate in ministry (DMin) at Eden Theological Seminary in St. Louis and returned to Aquinas as an Assistant Professor, counting Patricia Walter, Joan Delaplane, OP, and Maribeth Howell, OP, as her colleagues. Sister Patricia was her mentor in her journey to Associate Life.

“I am inspired by the creative and deeply committed spirit of the vowed Adrian Dominicans, and I have been deeply impressed by their hope-filled engagement of profound issues and their willingness to collaborate with non-vowed Associates to assure and even expand the impact of the Dominican Charism in the world,” Celeste said.

She and Tom, her husband of 40 years, have two grown children and one granddaughter. Celeste’s ministry is developing leaders “fueled by virtue” for the work of spiritual and theological formation. 

Peggy M. Pantelis, of Chesterfield, Michigan, heard about Associate Life for years from Mary Kay Homan, OP, her mentor. “My family was very loving [and] went to church every Sunday,” she recalled. She is the middle of three children: her older sister, Pat, is deceased and she remains close to her younger brother, Jim. 

A retired teacher in the Macomb Intermediate School District, Peggy remains active as President of the St. Basil Conference of St. Vincent de Paul. She also works one or two days each week with visually impaired students. She and her husband, Gary, have two children: Elizabeth and Paul, who is married with a 4-year-old son. 

Peggy enjoys joining and leading discussion groups for church programs. Becoming an Associate “seems like the next step,” she said. She brings to Associate Life compassion and the ability to teach and hopes to find “growth in my prayers, the ability to share my faith with others, and [involvement] in something that would impact lives.”

Stephen Wolbert, a native of Flint, Michigan, is the CEO of Social Impact Philanthropy and Investment (SIPI), serving as a consultant, primarily with nonprofit organizations in North Flint. In his work, he positions nonprofit organizations, helping them to expand their mission and serve more people. “Over the last 8-and-a-half years, we have helped organizations secure over $10 million in additional resources and impact the lives of over 13,000 people per year,” he said.

Stephen came to know the Adrian Dominican Sisters through Carol Weber, OP, Executive Director of St. Luke N.E.W. Life Center in Flint. Through Sister Carol, his mentor, he said he has “become really amazed with [the Sisters’] ministries and vision for how to sustain them long-term.” He holds Sister Carol – as well as the late Judy Blake, CSJ, Co-founder of St. Luke N.E.W. Life Center, as “tremendous mentors,” along with his parents, grandparents, and friends.

Stephen hopes that being an Associate will augment his ministry at SIPI. “While the work is extremely rewarding, it can become exhausting,” he said. “I would like to explore more fully how to move these challenges into purpose, develop a more focused personal mission, and develop a network of others that are doing work as ministry.”

After each new Associate was introduced by his or her mentor and declared their intention to become an Adrian Associate, they proclaimed together their commitment statement. “United in purpose through the Office of Dominican Charism, we Dominican Associates commit ourselves to sharing life in a communion of Gospel-driven women and men who are spiritual seekers, alive with the fire of being Dominicans in service to the world,” they proclaimed. “We strive to widen and deepen the impact of the Dominican Charism, which urges us forward in our desire to transform the world in partnership with the emerging reign of God.”

The new Associates and their mentors concluded the formal ceremony by signing the commitment form. Associates James Mallare and Rosemary Martin presented the new Associates with the Associate pin and a candle as a symbol of their new commitment. 

For information on becoming an Adrian Dominican Associate, contact Associate Nancy Mason Bordley at 517-266-3534 or visit www.adriandominicans.org/MeetDominicans/Associates.

 

Caption for above photo: Participating in the Commitment Ceremony for new Adrian Dominican Associates are, from left, Sister Patricia Walter, OP, mentor of Celeste Mueller; Sister Mary Kay Homan, OP, mentor of Peggy Pantelis; and Sister Carol Weber, OP, mentor of Stephen M. Wolbert.