by Judy Schaefer, OP, and Priscilla Wood, OP

This summer, 25 lay faculty and administrators from nine of our Sinsinawa Dominican sponsored ministries attended “Heart of Our Dominican Identity: Truth, Passion, and Joy―A Conference for Partners in Mission” at Sinsinawa Mound.

Sponsored by the congregation through the Resources for Mission Office team, the conference aimed to help participants from our sponsored ministries gain an understanding of the theological, historical, and spiritual perspectives that ground Dominican mission, in particular those elements most significant to our Sinsinawa Dominican heritage.

Presenters included Judy Schaefer, OP, on the theological understanding of Dominican mission; Laurie Brink, OP, on “Discovering the Word: Scripture and Mission”; Peggy Ryan, OP, on “Passing the Torch: The Dominican Charism into the Future”; Ann Henkel, OP, on Dominican spirituality; Janet Welsh, OP, on the history and impact of the Order of Preachers; and Priscilla Wood, OP, on Dominican heritage and the arts.

In addition to visiting the two exhibits and the Archives Department at Sinsinawa Mound, all visited St. Augustine Church in New Diggings with a great tour by George Burns, St. Patrick Church in Benton, and St. Michael Church in Galena; experienced a combination of night prayer with a meditative study of the windows in Queen of the Rosary Chapel; held a remembering prayer service in the sisters’ cemetery; and throughout all the days, lots of conversation, conversation, conversation!

At the closing ritual, each participant received a candle with “Partner in Mission” inscribed on it. We hope that this event may be repeated or taken to another level of study into the future.