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July 13, 2026, Adrian, Michigan – Children, parents, teachers, and school administrators from Detroit to Arizona and California have cause for gratitude as Sister Teresa Estrada, OP, turned 100 on July 2, 2026. Sister Teresa ministered as teacher, principal, colleague, and friend.  

In addition to celebrating her birthday this year, Sister Teresa was one of the Adrian Dominican Congregation’s Jubilarians; she marked 70 years as an Adrian Dominican Sister. 

Sister Teresa’s birthday was celebrated at the Adrian Dominican Motherhouse on July 2, 2026, with a special Mass, lunch, and a party, attended by Sisters, Associates, Co-workers, and friends. During the party, she received proclamations from Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, State Senator Joseph Bellino, and State Representative Nancy Jenkins-Arno. 

“I’ve had a happy life,” Sister Terry said. “I still get letters from one of the teachers going back 40 or 50 years. I loved teaching children, and I thought it was a gift that God gave me. I tried to find the best way that I could help these children.” She also appreciated the parents and the opportunities to help the parents raise their children to be the best that they could be.

“I love what we did today,” Sister Teresa told her group of well-wishers. “I am filled with such joy for this celebration of my jubilee ... and my 100th birthday .... Thank you for the written and spoken messages of love, unity, and support, which I will hold in my heart forever.”

Born on July 2, 1926, in Pirtleville, Arizona, Sister Teresa was the daughter of Manuel and Maria (Rodriguez) Estrada. She entered the Adrian Dominican Congregation on June 26, 1956, and received her high school diploma from St. Joseph Academy in Adrian in 1958. She was received as a novice on December 27, 1956, taking on the religious name of Sister Marie Manuel. She professed her first vows on December 28, 1957, and her final (perpetual) vows on December 28, 1962.

Sister Teresa holds a bachelor’s degree in Spanish from Siena Heights College (University), Adrian, and a master’s degree in elementary education from the University of Arizona in Tucson.

After teaching at St. Philomena in Detroit from 1958 to 1962, Sister Teresa began her final years of ministry in the Southwest. She ministered in education for 30 years in Arizona: as a teacher at St. Anthony, Casa Grande, 1962-1968; as both teacher and principal at St. Joseph, Winslow, 1968-1974; and as a teacher at Santa Cruz Elementary, 1974-1987.

Sister Teresa spent the rest of her formal ministerial life serving at St. Jeanne de Lestonnac School in Tustin, California, as teacher from 1987 to 2007 and then as plant supervisor from 2007 to 2017. In 2018, she took on the role of altar server coordinator until 2021, continuing to serve the school in any way she could until 2022, when she retired and moved to the Dominican Life Center in Adrian.     

Sister Teresa also appreciated the Sisters she worked with and the leaders of the Adrian Dominican Congregation. “I have been blessed with religious women in leadership in the Adrian Dominicans and in the Little Company of Mary [founders of St. Jeanne de Lestonnac School], who have been remarkably supportive in all my ministries. I am grateful and humbled by the trust with which the parents have placed their children under my care,” she said.

Sister Teresa also influenced the Adrian Dominican Sisters who came to know her through the years. “I was influenced by her presence and her joy, always participating in whatever was going on and always coming prepared,” said Sister Lorraine Brennan, OP. “Her quiet prayerfulness was another influence. She would listen intently and if she had something to say, she would say it.” 

Sister Victoria Dalesandro, OP, has known Sister Teresa since Sister Victoria first entered the Congregation, when Sister Teresa was a Novice. “No matter where she went, she had good relationships with people. Even the nurses who take care of her right now, she calls them her students or her kids. I think her legacy is love – love of people. That’s what you pick up from Terry.”

Watch the video of Sister Teresa’s birthday celebration. 
 

Caption for above feature photo: Sister Sara Fairbanks, OP, standing right, Mission Prioress of Holy Rosary Mission Chapter, offers a tribute to Sister Teresa Estrada, OP, seated left. Seated with her, from left, are her sister Salud “Sally” Estrada, ODN, and Sister Marie Luisa Vasquez, OP. Sister Patricia Leonard, OP, standing, right, is Chapter Prioress of Holy Rosary Mission Chapter. 

July 13, 2026, Detroit – “My hope is that the Church will become ever more open to the voices, leadership, and gifts of women, and that it will continue to grow as a community marked by justice, compassion, inclusion, and fidelity to the Gospel. I hope we will courageously follow where the Spirit is leading us for the good of the whole Church.”

Those are the words of Sister Janice Brown, OP, in response to her attendance at the 50th anniversary of the Women’s Ordination Conference (WOC). Held at the Marygrove Conservancy in Detroit over the Memorial Day weekend, the anniversary event continued the exploration of women’s roles in the Catholic Church begun in the original conference, held in Detroit in 1975.

Sister Janice attended the anniversary event with Adrian Dominican Associate Carol Hofer and Adrian Dominican Sisters Janet Stankowski, OP, Cheryl Liske, OP, Judy Friedel, OP, and Durstyne Farnan, OP. The conference included keynote addresses, workshops, and lively liturgies, including the closing Pentecost Mass.

Sister Janice noted that Adrian Dominican Sisters were among about 1,000 participants who, encouraged by the changes that the Second Vatican Council brought to the Catholic Church, came to Detroit for the first Women’s Ordination Conference. “I believe it is important for the wholeness of who we are as people created in God’s image to continue this conversation,” she said. “I wanted to be part of discerning authentic responses to the Spirit, who continually guides the Church toward greater truth, justice, and inclusion.”

Carol, who attended the first conference – but in the overflow room because the number of participants exceeded expectations – said the recent conference “was special, but a source of grieving to come together once again half a century later … with a bit of progress seen in some Church policies but with the same tired responses given to block women from ordination, even after careful research shows the prohibition does not make sense.”

Carol attended some presentations that focused on women in the Bible who served in higher capacities as deacons in the Church. “The Church later decided who would work in this capacity, but the very early Church shows evidence of women as leaders, as priests.”

Sister Cheryl, who has been active in the Discerning Deacons organization, says the call to ordain women to the diaconate is related to the WOC movement. She noted the difference between transitional deacons – men who become deacons as part of their formation to become priests – and men, sometimes married, who are ordained as permanent deacons. Both the WOC and Discerning Deacons “are raising up in their own way how silly it is to purposely bar women from active ministry when we know that women are already called.” 

Sister Durstyne was impressed by two speakers, Natalia Imperatori-Lee, Associate Professor of Systemic Theology at Fordham University, and Teresa Delgado, Professor of Theology and Religious Studies at St. John’s University in New York. “They are both women of color, the only women I know of who can say some of the things they said,” especially about colonization and its effect of excluding women of color in conversation and decision-making, Sister Durstyne said.

Noting that Dr. Delgado had said she felt called to be a priest since she was 6 years old, Sister Durstyne encouraged women religious to stay open to the possibility of women’s ordination. “We have experienced the call to religious life,” she said. “We need to honor in some way the women who feel called to be ordained a priest.”

Although some participants felt a degree of sadness that women are still not allowed to be ordained, they also were inspired by their experience of the anniversary event. “Meeting women and men from diverse backgrounds who share a love for the Church was inspiring,” Sister Janice said. “I appreciated hearing personal stories, engaging in thoughtful dialogue, and experienced a sense of community rooted in hope and faith.”

Sister Janice also left the conference feeling even more strengthened in her conviction that “women have much to offer the Church in ordained ministry. [The conference] reinforced my belief that this conversation is not only about roles, but about recognizing and affirming the gifts God has given to all people.” She added that, while change in the Church often comes slowly, “I was encouraged by the commitment, wisdom, and faithfulness of those who continue to engage in this issue with love for the Church and trust in the Spirit.”

Sister Cheryl added: “Hope isn’t a prediction. It’s something that keeps us alive. As Dominicans, we’re called to preach and serve, and that’s what the ministry of the Church should be.”
 

Caption for above feature photo: Participants in the 50th anniversary Women’s Ordination Conference are, from left: Sisters Janet Stankowski, OP, Janice Brown, OP, Judy Friedel, OP, and Durstyne Farnan, OP; Associate Carol Hofer; and Sister Cheryl Liske, OP.