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August 31, 2026, La Grange Park, Illinois – Three women and five men preparing to profess their perpetual vows in their respective religious congregations had the benefit this summer of the wisdom and experience of two Adrian Dominican Sisters. Sisters Xiomara Méndez Hernández, OP, and Sara Fairbanks, OP, gave presentations on the vows of obedience and celibacy, respectively, during the July 2026 Life Commitment Program offered by the Religious Formation Conference (RFC) at the Wells Spirituality Center in La Grange Park, Illinois.

The participants were preparing to profess perpetual vows to the Servite Fathers, the Society of the Divine Word, the Sisters of St. Francis of Dubuquey, the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, and the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word. Six of the participants were from countries outside of the United States, including Togo, Nigeria, Haiti, and Honduras.   

The intent of the 42nd Annual Life Commitment Program was to give those preparing for perpetual profession the opportunity to reflect “on what it means to embrace a lifelong ‘yes’ to God – not only on the day of final vows, but through a lifetime of growth, challenge, renewal, and faithful discipleship,” according to the brochure. Each day of the conference focused on the message of one of the four presenters and included input and time for participants to reflect on the message and engage in group discussion. 

Sister Xiomara has been involved with the RFC for seven years and gave two presentations for the Life Commitment Program in Spanish. Last year was her first time presenting in English, the language she presented in this year as well. 

Vow of Obedience 

Sister Xiomara’s focus was to “help the participants to reclaim obedience” and not to see it as passive, to go beyond the cultural idea of obedience as docile, predisposed to submit readily to control; tractable, permitting easy handling; or bidable, easily led. Instead, Sister Xiomara spoke of obedience as a “mature, conscious, and relational practice” and as the act of saying “yes” to God.  

She spoke of four motives for obedience: fear-based, reward-based, duty-based, and obedience-based. “At the end, my hope is that we land in the last type of obedience: love-based obedience.” Sister Xiomara presented Jesus as an example of living out love-based obedience, as described in Philippians 2:8: “Being found human in appearance as a man, [Jesus] humbled himself by becoming obedient to death – even death on a cross.” 

Sister Xiomara challenged the participants to reflect on their source of joy and whether obedience leads to joy. “When we are obedient, we need to trust and fall in love with God, and that will help us decide everything,” she said. 

In her presentation, Sister Xiomara drew on her own experience, particularly in her choice for the vow formula that she proclaimed. “I had special permission to make vows for eternity,” she said. The traditional vow formula professes obedience until death. “I brought my own story into the presentation so they see I went through many struggles as I discerned religious life before I made my final commitment,” she said. “I was very conscious about the language, professing perpetual vows. I see this as a continual ‘yes.’”

Vow of Consecrated Celibacy

Sister Sara spent much of Friday with the participants, eating meals and attending Mass with them, and even watching World Cup soccer games with them. She gave her presentation on Saturday. 

Sister Sara first contrasted consecrated celibacy – abstinence from any sexual relationship – to cultural celibacy, which for some means merely not being married. “Consecrated celibacy is at the heart of religious life because it expresses our personal response to God’s invitation to our radical intimacy and mutual commitment for life,” Sister Sara said. “In this response to God’s call, we commit ourselves totally to God to the exclusion of other commitments – to spouse, family, or projects.” 

Still, she said, consecrated celibacy does not mean isolation from other people. “It’s about developing intimacy with God, self, and others.” She focused much of her talk on developing relational skills for those three areas of relationship. Skills for relationship with God include “attentiveness to God, prayer as an act of receptivity, asking God the right questions, right thinking about God … and finding God in the silence of our heart.” 

Skills for the love of others include empathy, interpersonal trust, communication skills, capacity for self-disclosure, and fidelity. “You’re in ministry with all kinds of people, and in community with all kinds of people, and you need to develop relational skills, having friends who nurture your growth and development,” she said.

Sister Sara emphasized one relationship that many neglect: relationship with oneself. “If you don’t have healthy self-esteem, it’s hard to believe that God loves you,” she said. She pointed to the teaching of St. Thomas Aquinas, who, even in the 13th and 14th centuries, understood the importance of correct self-love. For Thomas Aquinas, “self-love is the pillar of spirituality,” Sister Sara said. “All the good that we desire for our loved ones, we most desire for ourselves.”

Sister Sara said she benefited from the process of preparing her presentation. “I enjoyed reviewing some of that material. I’ve done a lot of inner work myself and integrating my life experiences in my relationship with God, and my growth in my own self-esteem and self-compassion. Developing relational gifts was so foundational for me.”

Hope for the Future

Both Sisters Xiomara and Sara came away from the experience with hope for the future of religious life. Sister Sara noted that, when she entered, only two or three women were entering religious life in a typical year. “I knew from my experience that this wasn’t a popular choice, but the desire to serve God is expressed in other lifestyles as well – the Associates and lay people who are lay ecclesial ministers,” she said. “I’ve met a lot of people dedicated to proclaiming the Gospel. I don’t know how religious life is going to evolve, but I trust that it will.” 

She also finds hope from the three women who have recently entered the Adrian Dominican Congregation: Sister Elizabeth Guerrera, who was received into the novitiate on August 7, 2026; Sister Jamie Caporizo, OP, who made her First Profession of Vows on August 8, 2026; and Sister Katherine Frazier, OP, who professed her perpetual vows on August 11, 2024.

Sister Xiomara found hope in the readiness of the diverse group of participants to profess their perpetual vows. “They were joyful. They were real,” she said. “I felt so much hope and joy for the Church through them. What is dying is the old religious life pattern. But God continues to call…. The ones who are entering are really, really committed.” 

Caption for above feature photo: Sister Xiomara Méndez Hernández, OP, shares her wisdom with men and women preparing to profess perpetual vows in diverse religious congregations.

August 14, 2024, Adrian, Michigan – In a spirit of joy and a celebration of community, Adrian Dominican Sisters, Associates, family members, and friends witnessed the Perpetual Profession of Vows of Sister Katherine Frazier, OP. The Rite of Perpetual Profession was held on August 11, 2024, during liturgy in St. Catherine Chapel at the Adrian Dominican Sisters Motherhouse Campus in Adrian.

“I am so grateful for this opportunity to make my perpetual vows with the Adrian Dominican Sisters,” Sister Katherine said. “Throughout my formation, I have been rooted in an 800-year Dominican tradition, and I know that those roots will sustain me as I continue to discover where God is drawing us in the future. At this same time, I see my commitment not only to being with the Adrian Dominican Sisters, but to my Dominican family all around the world, and my desire to preach a message of love and mercy to the world.”

The older of the two daughters of Lee and Lynne (McKenna) Frazier, Katherine is native to the Fort Wayne, Indiana, area and formally entered the Adrian Dominican Congregation in 2015. She holds a bachelor’s degree in medieval studies from St. Mary’s of Notre Dame, Indiana; a master’s degree in world archeology from the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England; and a Master of Arts in Pastoral Studies (MAPS) from Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. 

Sister Katherine has spent much of her adult life working with youth. At the time of her entrance, she was Director of the Bishop Donald Trautman House at Gannon University in Erie, Pennsylvania. After her First Profession in 2018, she served in Mission Integration at Regina Dominican High School, an all-girls school in Wilmette, Illinois, formerly a sponsored institution of the Adrian Dominican Sisters. She spent a year working in refugee resettlement in New Haven, Connecticut, helping refugees to find their way in the United States. 

In June 2022, Sister Katherine became Executive Director of the Dominican Youth Movement USA, overseeing youth outreach programs such as the Dominican High Schools Preaching Conference, the Dominican Colleges Preaching in Action Conference, and Dominican Young Adults USA. Through the years, she has served on the Vocations Team, reaching out to young Catholic women who are considering a call to vowed religious life.

Sister Patricia Walter, OP, Sister Katherine’s mentor and Dominican Charism Formator, and Sister Mary Priniski, OP, Chapter Prioress, both testified as to Sister Katherine’s readiness for perpetual vows. 

“Through the years, I have seen Katherine’s commitment to prayer and her delight in leading groups of young people in reflection,” Sister Patricia said. “She has developed insights and skills which serve her well in meeting the challenges of community life and ministry …. She has discerned her call to religious life prayerfully and faithfully, fully aware that religious life is undergoing significant transformation.”

As Chapter Prioress, Sister Mary has worked with Katherine for several years. “Her creativity in those ministries has been evident,” she said, adding that she also experienced Sister Katherine leading prayer, preaching, serving as cantor, and using the creation of art in her contemplation. “I can enthusiastically attest to the readiness of Sister Katherine for perpetual profession.”

Sister Lorraine Réaume, OP, Vicaress and General Councilor, reflected on the Sunday readings: the prophet Elijah’s rest and refreshment on hearth cakes before beginning a nonstop 40-day walk and Jesus’ treatise on the Eucharist, food that brings eternal life. She noted the “mysterious journey” that Sister Katherine is committing to at a time when the future of religious life is unknown. “But she knows, and we know, that the sustenance and love needed will be provided,” Sister Lorraine added. “We trust in the God who calls us from the future.

“Katherine, today is a stopping point on the way of your journey,” Sister Lorraine said. “This commitment you and we are making to each other will feed and nourish you so that you can go forward and fully live the Dominican religious life you have begun with such fidelity.”

During the Rite of Profession, Sister Elise D. García, OP, Prioress of the Congregation, formally questioned Sister Katherine on her willingness to unite herself more closely to God by a bond of religious profession, to live a life of charity, and to center her ministerial activity in contemplation. 

Sister Katherine professed her vow of obedience to God, the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Dominic, Sister Elise, and her 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.”

Sister Elise presented Sister Katherine with a ring, symbolizing her perpetual fidelity to Jesus Christ. The ritual concluded with the signing of the profession documents by Sister Katherine and Sister Elise; Sister Katherine’s two witnesses, Sisters Emmy Chelagat Choge, OP, and Carol Gross, OP; Sister Mary Priniski, OP; and Father Dennis Woerter, OP, celebrant, a Dominican Friar of the U.S. Central Province.

On behalf of the Dominican family – and particularly the Dominican Sisters of Adrian – Sister Elise affirmed Sister Katherine in her perpetual profession. “We joyfully congratulate you and pray that God continues to inspire you to enter into each day with a generous heart.”