Dominican Life 
USA
A web crossroads for the Order of Preachers
“I often wonder what Dominic and Catherine think of the associates’ presence with the sisters today,” writes Peace Dominican Associate Conni Dubick, OPA, in a recent article. “Could they have imagined that their call to preaching centuries ago has resulted in inspirational lives chosen by over 600 Dominican Associates of Peace?” Read more
San Rafael Dominicans
On March 8, International Women’s Day and the first day of National Catholic Sisters Week, in the Year of Consecrated Life, the Dominican Sisters of San Rafael rejoiced as Sister Colleen McDermott made her final profession of vows.
Family and friends from near and far, including her parents, Joe and Mili McDermott of Vallejo, California, arrived at the Dominican Sisters Center for Mass and to witness the Rite of Profession.
Colleen first met the San Rafael Dominicans in the 1990s while she was associate director of campus ministry at the University of San Francisco. In Charlotte, North Carolina, Colleen was diocesan director of campus and young adult ministry, serving 25 colleges and creating regional and parish young adult ministries. Concurrently, Colleen spent three years as director of the Frank J. Lewis Institute for Campus Ministry Orientation.
Colleen’s bachelor’s degree is in mathematics. She earned her master’s degree of theology from the University of San Francisco, and received her Ph.D. in Adult Education from the University of Georgia.
Visiting one of the sisters in California in 2005, Sister Colleen tells us, “Unbeknownst to me, I was just in time for a vocation retreat. I had a paper to finish [for school] and so I thought I would attend just part of the retreat. The opening prayer and sharing were so good that I attended the entire retreat. On the last day, one of the other women asked me, “So, are you going to join this community?” Out of the blue, I answered, “Yes!” I actually looked around to see who had spoken! This began my process of discerning if I was being called to enter the Dominican Sisters of San Rafael.”
In 2008, Colleen entered the community as a candidate. She spent her novitiate year at the Collaborative Dominican Novitiate in St. Louis, Missouri. Her ministry activities include servings as the congregation’s social justice educator and liaison with the Marin Interfaith Council. For two years, she worked at Homeward Bound of Marin as a research and grant specialist. Currently, she is the director of community service at St. Dominic Parish in San Francisco, which includes Lima Center, a drop-in center for homeless adults.
It was a beautiful day and a moving service, designed to reflect the spirit of the motto she chose to have engraved in her ring: “My peace I give.” In the liturgy booklet, Sister Collen wrote, “To my friends and family, those here today and those with us in spirit, your support and love is a sign of God’s hope in my life. I am so grateful that you are here to witness for and celebrate with me today. May God’s abiding peace be with you today and always.”
National Catholic Sisters Week is a annual celebration of the lives and legacies of Catholic sisters that takes place in March in conjunction with National Women’s History Month. This year’s event is March 8–14. Dominican sisters are marking the occasion in many ways, including open houses at convents and postings of stories and videos. The Sinsinawa Dominicans created this video, capturing expressions of gratitude from those whose lives have been touched by the sisters. The Adrian Dominicans are hosting public events this week at Dominican Life Center. The Racine Dominicans are compiling “Sister Stories” on their web site. Two Grand Rapids Dominican Sisters were featured in a radio interview. For more information about National Catholic Sisters Week, visit www.nationalcatholicsistersweek.org. More
Dominican Sisters’ Conference
As we embark into this New Year, the Dominican Sisters’ Conference is counting down to the 2015 Climate Summit in Paris, France. The DSC’s Paris 2015 Sub-Committee encourages sisters and others to participate in the “Paris 2015 and Counting” initiative to help raise awareness of justice issues impacted by climate change. January’s focus is how climate change and human trafficking are related. More information and resources, including study guides, action items, and prayer service materials, are available online. The DSC is also planning for its second convocation Oct. 1–4 in Wheeling, Illinois. Registration materials for attendees and market place vendors are available on the DSC web site. The latest issue of the DSC newsletter, In the Loop, has also been posted. Read newsletter (PDF)
“Still Alice” opens with a 50th birthday dinner in honor of Alice Howland, a brilliant linguistics professor at Columbia, given by her loving family. Everything seems picture-perfect for the successful, intelligent Howland family.
Not long after the dinner, Alice begins to notice that all is not right with her. She goes to California to give a guest lecture and, inexplicably, forgets a key term. When she returns to New York, she goes jogging one day and forgets where she is. Concerned, Alice consults a neurologist. They find that she has early onset Alzheimer’s. Alice informs her husband, John (Alec Baldwin) and her three grown children, Anna, Tom, and Lydia. All are shocked and, at first struggle with the diagnosis. How could Alice, such an accomplished professional, have developed such a disease so early in life?
“Still Alice” chronicles the progression of the Alzheimer’s in Alice. Alice was a great teacher, but has to admit her disease to her department chair and give up her career. She becomes distraught when she cannot find a bathroom in her seaside cottage, and has an accident. She does not sleep well, waking up John in the middle of the night looking for her phone. Alice becomes fearful and agitated. Little by little, she slips away from the world she knew and loved so much. An independent woman, she can no longer go out by herself.
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USA
A web crossroads for the Order of Preachers
