Sister Spotlight: Spring 2025

I’ve always considered myself a local person. I was born and raised in Hudson County, New Jersey, and entered a diocesan congregation in Essex County: the Sisters of Saint Dominic of Caldwell, New Jersey, in the Archdiocese of Newark. My early teaching assignments were in either of those two counties, a rather small radius of miles. I loved being a Dominican because the motto then was “action and contemplation.” As a child, I had always longed for a deep relationship with Christ, and I believed that being a Dominican would lead me more deeply into the contemplative life. After Vatican II, we focused on the motto “to praise, to bless, to preach.” I looked for the depth in my small part of New Jersey.

In 1983, I was elected to the leadership in my congregation, where I was invited to widen my vision. My election as Chair of Region 3 in LCWR brought me to many parts of the country. I met many wonderful women religious from all parts of the United States. The LCWR agenda was eye-opening for me. Then, attending the UISG (International Union of Superiors General) meeting in Rome brought a major expansion of my thinking. Two important things happened in Rome after the UISG meeting. We Dominicans were invited to a local Dominican house, where we were to meet the newly elected Master of the Order, Fr. Timothy Radcliffe. But first, the French Dominican sisters talked about their inability to continue their ministry at the Belvedere, a guest house that accommodated pilgrims wanting to learn more about St. Dominic. The Belvedere was in the neighborhood of what was believed to be St. Dominic’s house. Could we help? Caldwell and Amityville responded and four sisters, Jeanne Goyette, Renee Canitrot, Lenore Toscano (all French speakers), and I traveled to Paris to meet the sisters. Then we went by train to Fanjeaux. There we met with a Dominican friar and others to explore the possibility of building a ministry there. Jeanne, Lenore, and Renee slowly developed the programs and tours. Many other Dominicans and laity joined the team as time went on. For twenty-seven years, this powerful and far-reaching ministry enriched so many people who grew in their love and knowledge of St. Dominic and Dominican spirituality.

At that same meeting, the doorbell rang while we were conversing, and in walked Timothy. It was raining that day, and Timothy had biked to the Dominican convent. He was soaking wet, his hair disheveled, and his habit streaked with mud. As he spoke, his deep spirituality and his vision for the Order enflamed my heart with new life. I wasn’t a local anymore.

In 1989, the Berlin Wall fell, and years of suppression of the Church by the Communists came to an end. Cardinal James Hickey of Washington, DC, called for a national collection to aid the Church. Sisters Lucianne Siers (Grand Rapids), Helen Demboski (Hope), and I were asked to go to Eastern Europe to talk with Dominican women and men, to hear their stories, and to determine from them how their needs could be helped with the US collection. We landed in Prague and were welcome by a group of Dominican sisters. Their stories were frightening. The sisters told us of being awakened at midnight and being brought to the central hall of the first floor of their convent. They were told they could no longer live off the people and ordered to return to their family homes. They were so proud to tell us that every sister refused to leave. They were then put into a concentration camp (a walled-off section of the local town). Their prayer books were taken, as was their money. They were subjected to raids at night to ensure they had no religious artifacts. The Communists spread propaganda telling the townspeople that there were dead babies in the sisters’ basement. They suffered a great deal. We then traveled through the Czech Republic and Slovakia and heard heroic stories of men and women who kept the Catholic Church alive through their underground network, at great risk to themselves and their families.

In 1999, Fr. Timothy Radcliffe visited the Dominican women and men in Iraq. He was shocked by what he saw in the total devastation of much of Iraq. Wanting to support the Dominicans in Iraq, he challenged the US Dominicans to “do something” to show our support for the Iraqi Dominican women. After deliberation, it was decided that a delegation of women religious would gather medical supplies and visit the sisters to show our support and get some accurate grassroots information. The city of Baghdad was in ruins. The sisters told us of the harm done, not to Saddam Hussein, but to women and children who suffered food deprivation, unclean water, and poor sanitation caused by the US bombs. As part of that delegation, I witnessed some results of the bombs and some of the worst possible examples of the terrible harm done to simple Iraqi citizens. We ended our trip by writing an open letter to Hillary Clinton, then First Lady of the United States, begging her to use her influence to stop the bombing of this devastated country. There was no response. The war escalated. A second delegation soon followed. A few months later, the teams from both delegations gathered in Washington, DC, and met with Network personnel who briefed us on approaching our district congressional representatives to lobby them to stop the bombing. That afternoon, women from all over the country met and talked with our representatives to share our concerns. We brought hope and developed some deep connections with our Iraqi Dominican family, as well as a stand against the war. 

So much can be said of all these experiences, but space is limited.

The last fifteen years of my ministry, back in New Jersey, was spent at Stella Maris Retreat Center, at the edge of the Atlantic Ocean. My heart was at home with work that allowed me to dive deeply into the mystery of God.

Yes, I am a “Jersey girl,” but belonging to the international Order of Preachers has enabled me to praise, to bless and to preach all over the world.