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July 6, 2026, Adrian, Michigan – In a spirit of joy and gratitude, Adrian Dominican Sisters, Associates, relatives, and friends gathered to honor the witness and dedicated lives of 47 Sisters celebrating their Jubilees, their milestone anniversaries of religious life. The 2026 Jubilee celebration brought the Sisters to the Motherhouse for special activities June 25-27.

Sisters who celebrated these milestone anniversaries included three 80-year Jubilarians, two 75-year Jubilarians, 22 70-year (Double-Diamond) Jubilarians, 14 60-year (Diamond) Jubilarians, five 40-year (Ruby) Jubilarians, and one 25-year (Silver) Jubilarian. Together, the Jubilarians generously have given 2,995 years of religious life to God, God’s people, and the Adrian Dominican Congregation.

The celebration opened with a meeting of the Jubilarians with the General Council, followed by supper and a reception for the Jubilarians and their invited guests. 

The event took on a contemplative tone on June 26, when Jubilarians and other Adrian Dominican Sisters gathered for a Mass to celebrate nearly 160 deceased Sisters who would have celebrated their Jubilee this year. The name of each was read solemnly, while a handbell tolled after every 10 names that had been proclaimed. 

“We honor the memory of these women and remember their strong dedication to the Gospel,” Sister Carol Weber, OP, a 60-year Jubilarian, said in a reflection. “They went where God called them …. Their lives were steeped in prayer,” and their relationship with Jesus was “their very foundation.” 

Sister Carol also reflected on the group of women who followed Jesus and who came to his tomb early to anoint his body only to discover that he was alive. They announced Jesus’ resurrection to the apostles. “These women had a deep relationship with Jesus,” Sister Carol said. “They walked with him, they cried with him. They listened to him, and they loved him.

“I believe the women of the Gospel and our deceased Jubilarians leave us with a challenge,” Sister Carol said. “No matter our age or physical ability, we are still called to a deep relationship with Jesus, and to share that with everyone who crosses our path.”

The 47 living Jubilarians were celebrated during the Jubilee Mass on June 27. Father James Hug, SJ, presider, thanked the Jubilarians “for all the occasions, in good times and in hard times, in which you responded to God’s call to live in the light, to be the light, to show mercy and hope, conscious of those you have touched and blessed through the years, and of those who touched and blessed you.”

Sister Elise D. García, OP, Prioress of the Congregation, noted that the readings for the day focused on the call to abiding love. “They speak of the heart of the call, so vibrantly alive in each of you. Jesus makes that call clear to his disciples in this Gospel: ‘This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.’”

Sister Elise described the “incredibly rich and diverse ways” in which that call had borne fruit in the lives of the Jubilarians: as educators at all levels, from elementary school to college, university, and seminary education, and in various aspects of ministry in hospitals and healthcare, parishes, dioceses, leadership, nonprofit organizations, justice advocacy, social work, accompaniment with people at the margins, and vocation and formation. The Jubilarians also served in nearly every state and in the Dominican Republic, the Philippines, Taiwan, Kenya, and South Africa.

“You have lived your lives, entering into the communion of life and love that is God’s gift to all people,” Sister Elise said to the Jubilarians. “Through your loving ministry, you have invited countless children, women, men, and people of faith or no faith into the community of life and love.”

The Jubilarians demonstrated their continued commitment to God, God’s people, and the Congregation as they renewed their vows. The celebration continued after the Liturgy with a festive dinner for the Jubilarians and their invited guests. Even after the formal celebration, Jubilarians continued to celebrate with other Adrian Dominican Sisters, their invited guests, family members, and friends.
 

Caption for above feature photo: Awaiting the procession for the Jubilee Mass are, front row, from left, Sisters Durstyne Farnan, OP, Carol Weber, OP, and Theresa Mayrand, OP, all 60-year Jubilarians; and back row, from left, Sister Elise D. García, OP, Prioress of the Congregation, and Father James Hug, SJ, presider.

July 1, 2024, Adrian, Michigan – Joy, gratitude, happy memories, and a sense of homecoming permeated the Motherhouse Campus of the Adrian Dominican Sisters as the 2024 Jubilarians – Sisters marking milestone years of religious life – and their guests gathered for the June 20-22, 2024, celebration.

The 41 Jubilarians include one Sister celebrating 80 years, three 75-year Jubilarians, 22 Double-Diamond (70-year) Jubilarians, 14 Diamond (60-year) Jubilarians, and one Silver (25-year) Jubilarian. Together, the 2024 Jubilarians represent 2,710 years of dedication to the Adrian Dominican Sisters and to the people of God.

While the Adrian Dominican Sisters honor the Jubilarians throughout the year, the formal celebration began on June 20, 2024, with a meeting with the General Council, followed by dinner.

The Jubilarians remembered deceased Sisters who would have celebrated their Jubilees during a special Liturgy for Deceased Jubilarians. The liturgy marked the faithful lives of 44 75-year Jubilarians, 30 Double-Diamond Jubilarians, and six Diamond Jubilarians. 

In her reflection, Sister Joan Delaplane, OP, a 75-year Jubilarian, compared the deceased Jubilarians to the valiant women described in the Book of Proverbs, exhibiting spirit, courage, bravery, faithfulness, dedication, and risk-taking. She focused on the “faithfulness of our Creator to each deceased Jubilarian who was lovingly willed into life, cherished and cared for every sacred moment of life.”

Sister Joan noted that the bond of love between the Jubilarians and their deceased Sisters “is not severed by the thin veil that separates our physical selves,” and that the deceased Jubilarians will continue their own intercessions for the Adrian Dominican community, our nation, and our world.

“Our deceased Sisters utilized their diverse and wondrous gifts in so many beautiful ways,” while also remaining faithful throughout the difficult times and circumstances that they faced, Sister Joan said. She concluded by thanking God “for the gift of each of our deceased Sisters who shared faith and life with us on our journey.”   

The Jubilee events on Friday continued with lunch for Jubilarians and their guests; a happy hour for Jubilarians and Sisters who reside at the Dominican Life Center; dinner; and a piano concert offered by Sister Magdalena Ezoe, OP, composer, pianist, and Professor of Music Emerita at Siena Heights University.

The Saturday, June 22, 2024, celebration began with morning liturgy. “This is the day the Lord had made. Let us rejoice and be glad.” Sister Mary Louise Putrow, OP, 75-year Jubilarian, evoked that feeling as she quoted Psalm 118 in her welcome to the Jubilee Liturgy. “I rejoice that these 41 Dominican women – 80, 75, 70, 60, and 25 years ago – said yes,” Sister Mary Louise said. “They said yes to the whispering of the Spirit, and all of us were totally unaware of what that would mean. We began a journey that has brought us to this very moment.”

Sister Mary Louise noted the surprising changes brought about in the lives of the Sisters by the call of the Second Vatican Council, inviting the faithful in the Church to change and to continue in conversion. “God’s presence and spirit have remained with us,” she said. “We celebrate the many unspoken ways that we have been called to share our lives and enter into the mission of Jesus.”

In her reflection, Prioress Elise D. García, OP, expressed her gratitude for the Jubilarians and the “many shoulders we stand on, all who came before us and loved and guided us.” She recalled the gifts that the Jubilarians received from family members and friends, teachers and guides, Sister friends, and others who saw the Jubilarians through difficult times. “They are all part of the incredible journey that the One who began a good work in you continues to shape and mold in you to this day,” she said.

Sister Elise compared the companionship of the Jubilarians with that of Mary and Elizabeth, whose story was told in the day’s Gospel. “Two pregnant women, relatives, encounter each other at the opposite ends of child-bearing age – an unmarried teenager and an elder who thought herself well past child-bearing years,” she said. “But in their encounter with one another, they at once recognize the One who had begun a good work in each of them – and through them.”

Sister Elise noted that the companionship of Elizabeth and Mary is “mirrored by your companionship, as Dominican Sisters, as you worked together with so many others to advance the Mission in such an astonishing diversity of ways with extraordinary fruitfulness – through times of great joy and also, no doubt, of suffering.”

Sister Elise offered a litany of the many ministries that the Jubilarians were engaged in, from a variety of traditional educational ministries to those who “tended the hearts, minds, and spirits of so many in need of care” as chaplains, social workers, counselors, psychotherapists, spiritual directors, and directors of retreat centers. The Jubilarians served in various ways in parishes and dioceses, as mentors and social justice advocates, and in the Congregation as elected leaders and in congregational offices.

“You are a gift to us and to the world,” Sister Elise told the Jubilarians. “Your good works are still alive in the hearts of all those you served.” Yet, she said, those good works have not ended. She quoted canonist Kelly Connors, PM: “The first apostolate of all religious is the witness of their consecrated life. We carry out that witness until we breathe our last breath.”

The Jubilarians proved their continued commitment to the Mission of Jesus and the Adrian Dominican Sisters as they together renewed their vows. “To the honor of Almighty God, I, … make profession and promise obedience to almighty God, to the Blessed Virgin Mary, to our holy father St. Dominic, and to you, Sister Elise García, Prioress of the Congregation, and to your lawful successors, according to the Rule of St. Augustine and the Constitution of the Sisters of St. Dominic of the Most Holy Rosary until death.”

A festive dinner for Jubilarians and their guests rounded out the formal celebration, but many of the Jubilarians continued to take the time to celebrate with family members, friends, and Sister friends. Their sense of Jubilee continues throughout the year.