March 31, 2021

Father of Sisters Margarita and Teresita Ruiz Honored at Renovation of Chapel He Designed

*Participants in the Mass celebrating the upcoming renovation of the Catholic chapel at the Palacio Nacional.*

March 12, 2021, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic – Humberto Ruiz Castillo (1897-1966) – respected engineer and architect and the father of Adrian Dominican Sisters Margarita “Margot” Ruiz, OP, and Teresita “Tete” Ruiz, OP – was honored recently during a special Mass marking the beginning of a renovation project on a chapel he designed.

Humberto Ruiz Castillo designed a chapel located in the Palacio Nacional and dedicated to Archangel Raphael. The Palacio Nacional houses the executive offices of President Luis Abinader and Vice President Raquel Peña de Antuña. The Mass was celebrated by Archbishop of Santo Domingo Francisco Ozoria Acosta.

Sister Margot said the special event also focused on her father’s work. She and Sister were unable to attend, but their nieces and nephews represented the family. Members of her family were also asked to provide anecdotes about the architect for a book that will be written about his life and work.

“We are so proud,” Sister Margot said. “After the ceremony, my nieces and nephews were so proud to know that their grandfather was so good, so appreciated, and so intelligent.”

Humberto Ruiz Castillo designed and constructed several Catholic churches, as well as the Colegio Santo Domingo, the grade school and high school opened and staffed by Adrian Dominican Sisters. He also had a profound impact on his students at the University of Santo Domingo, passing on what he had learned in Europe and introducing them to Art Deco. In addition, he founded the Dominican Republic’s first association of engineers and architects.

*This chapel at the Palacio Nacional, the executive building of the President of the Dominican Republic, was designed by Humberto Ruiz Castillo, father of Sisters Margarita and Teresita Ruiz, OP.*

Humberto Ruiz Castillo has long been recognized for his contributions to the Church and to the Dominican Republic. In 1949, the Vatican consecrated him in the Order of St. Gregory the Great, one of the Orders of Knighthood bestowed by the Vatican in recognition of meritorious service to the Church. He was also named Diocesan Architect.

In addition, the Dominican Republic issued commemorative stamps in his honor in May 2018. On that occasion, Sister Margot recalled, her father was remembered as someone who was “very honest, disciplined, and generous – an example to all society. He put his heart into everything he did.”

March 16, 2021

Sister Celebrates 110th Birthday

St. Catharine, KY – Considering the events of the past year, it’s been a rare thing to hear the voices of children at the Sansbury Care Center in St. Catharine, KY. The Center, a founded ministry of the Dominican Sisters of Peace, is home to the Congregation’s elderly Sisters as well as local seniors.

Thursday, March 11, was an exception, as four grade students from nearby St. Dominic School sang an enthusiastic “Happy Birthday” to Sansbury resident Sr. Vincent de Paul Hutton as she turned 110 years old.

Sr. Vincent was joined by her Sansbury community and few friends and family for the celebration of this milestone birthday. The Sansbury staff believes that Sr. Vincent is the oldest Dominican Sister in the United States, having been a consecrated religious for nearly 88 years.

Sister Vincent de Paul Hutton ministered as an educator and administrator for more than 50 years, serving in Indiana, Kentucky, Illinois, Massachusetts, Puerto Rico, and West Virginia.

After she retired from teaching, Sr. Vincent began to work in the congregational finance offices of what was then the Kentucky Dominicans, now the Dominican Sisters of Peace. When she was in her late 80s, she approached the Prioress of the Congregation to say that she decided it was time to retire. Jokingly, the Prioress asked her, “What are you going to do next?” In all seriousness, Vincent replied, “I am going to work in recycling!

Today Sr. Vincent de Paul ministers in prayer and presence at the Sansbury Care Center.

Sr. Susan Leslie, Mission Group Coordinator for the Sansbury Care Center, says, ”Sr. Vincent de Paul is an amazing woman, an inspiration to all! When she smiles, even at 110 years of age, she lights up the room. We are blessed by her presence.”

View more photos here.

February 16, 2021

Sister Racquel Rones, OP, Celebrates New U.S. Citizenship

*Sister Racquel Rones, OP, proudly displays her citizenship certificate and the U.S. flag on the day she became a naturalized U.S. citizen.*

February 2, 2021, Detroit – The week of January 18, 2021, was a turning point not only for the United States as its new President and Vice President, Joseph Biden and Kamala Harris, were inaugurated. It was also a turning point for Sister Racquel Rones, OP, who became a new U.S. citizen the next day, January 21, at the Detroit District Office of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Sister Racquel took her oath of citizenship with about 25 other people who came from a variety of countries. Because of COVID-19 protocols, she said, the new citizens were encouraged to leave after they received the certificate and could not participate in the tradition of shaking the judge’s hand. Still, she said, she celebrated with her local community from Adrian who had accompanied her to Detroit: Sisters Jo Gaugier, OP, Tarianne DeYonker, OP, and Attracta Kelly, OP.

“I am so happy,” said Sister Racquel, a native of the Philippines and a member of the Adrian Dominican Sisters’ Our Lady of Remedies Mission Chapter, based in Pampanga, the Philippines. She was inspired by the welcoming words of the judge who presided over her Naturalization ceremony. “He told us, ‘Don’t forget January 21, 2021 – you’re celebrating your second birthday,” she recalled. “He encouraged us, when we’re able to travel, to discover the United States, our new country, with many mountains and beaches.”

Sister Racquel entered the Dominican Congregation of Our Lady of Remedies in 2000 and made her final profession of vows in April 2009. When the Remedies Congregation merged with the Adrian Dominican Sisters in 2011, she said, she was encouraged to consider applying for U.S. citizenship because of her youth and the possibility that one day she might minister in the United States.

Her ministries have included managing the Dominican Religious Store in San Fernando, Pampanga; serving as teacher, librarian, and bookkeeper at Dominican School of Apalit in Apalit, Pampanga; and serving as school treasurer at Holy Rosary College Foundation in Tala, Caloocan, and at Immaculate Conception Academy in Guagua, Pampanga. In addition, she served as pastoral minister at St. Eystein Menighet Parish in BodØ, Norway.

Sister Racquel is no stranger to the United States. Shortly after the two congregations merged, she spent a year with her sister in California.

Surrounding Sister Racquel Rones, OP (front and center) on the day she became a U.S. citizen are members of her local community in Adrian, from left, Sisters Jo Gaugier, OP, Tarianne DeYonker, OP, and Attracta Kelly, OP.

Before coming to Adrian in January 2020, Sister Racquel received a letter from Sister Attracta, Director of the Adrian Dominican Sisters’ Office of Immigration Assistance, listing the documents she would need to prepare to apply for U.S. citizenship. Her application was filed the second week of March.

“The hardest part [of becoming a citizen] was preparing for the interview and the exam,” Sister Racquel said. “Living with the community, watching the news, and being immersed in the culture really helped me, but what was really the hardest part was studying for the civics questions.”

She found support from her local community; from Sister Patricia Siemen, OP, Prioress, and members of the General Council; and from the Sisters at the Motherhouse, who encouraged her and prayed for her. In addition, Sister Corinne Sanders, OP, helped her to study for the exam and Sister Carleen Maly, OP, Director of the Adrian Rea Literacy Center, helped her improve her pronunciation of English.

In the end, Sister Racquel said, she was surprised by the easiness of the questions. “I didn’t find it hard,” she said. “If you’re open and ready, just challenge yourself. I was expecting the worst [of the exam], but my experience was not bad…. Prayers really work. Trust God.”

The new citizen also received informal education about the U.S. culture from her life with her local community in Adrian and from watching the news. She was particularly struck by the continuing efforts of African Americans – with the help of other Americans – to achieve racial equality through the Black Lives Matter movement. “It’s really enriching my history,” she said. “I’m so touched by their experience and how resilient they are, to be still fighting for their rights in this country.”

Sister Racquel also felt the shock of the Sisters in her community over the insurrection that took place at the Capitol on January 6 – and the excitement at watching the Inauguration. “We watched all day,” she said.

Once she receives her U.S. passport and visits her sister in California, Sister Racquel anticipates resuming ministry in the Philippines or Norway. But, she said, part of her will remain in her new country.

“I’m ready to embrace the future as an Adrian Dominican Sister,” Sister Racquel said. “I am so happy to know our Sisters, to share stories and life with them. … I will look back when I’m in my ministry, wherever that is. Now I have confidence.”

February 2, 2021

Coming Home to Her Call

Maria Tram Bui Enters the Dominican Sisters of Peace as a Candidate

Candidate Tram Bui is welcomed as a candidate to the Dominican Sisters of Peace.

Columbus, OH – On the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, Catholics celebrate the sinless birth and life of the Virgin Mary, Mother of Jesus. This holiday was another sort of celebration for the Dominican Sisters of Peace, as the Congregation welcomed Maria Tram Bui, 41, as a candidate on December 7, 2020, the vigil of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.

Born in 1979 in Binh Gia, Vietnam, Tram and her family, including her eight siblings, immigrated to America in 1999. The family moved to Houston, TX, in 2005, where she attended Christ the Redeemer and Our Lady of Lourdes churches in that diocese.

Tram earned a Doctor of Physical Therapy degree from Texas Tech University Health Science Center, Lubbock, TX, in 2010. She served as a full-time physical therapist at a short-term stay skilled nursing facility, North Houston Transitional Care.

Tram was initially introduced to the Dominican Sisters of Peace through our Kentucky Sisters, where she also heard the call of God to become a healer through her career in physical therapy. After she returned to Texas to continue her education, Sr. Mary Vuong, another Dominican Sister of Peace who ministers as a physical therapist in Texas, invited Tram to look again at her calling to religious life.

“Meeting the Dominican Sisters of Peace has made me feel very much at home – welcomed to the Community,” Tram says. “I am blessed to experience the joy and caring that they have shared with me.”

Candidate Tram Bui, center, receives the traditional Dominican Blessing from Sisters in her community: from left, Sr. Robin Richard, Sr. Pat Dual, Sr. Bea Tiboldi, Sr. Ellen Coates, and Sr. Margie Davis.

Tram was welcomed to the Congregation in a virtual ceremony held at the House of Welcome. Prioress Patricia Twohill and Vocations Director June Fitzgerald joined by Zoom call. Sr. June delivered the preaching during her welcome ceremony. Vocations Minister Mai-Dung Nguyen, OP, attended via Zoom Wichita, KS. She gave the Responsive reading and offered a prayer for Tram’s family in their native Vietnamese.

Tram is the daughter of Nghiem and Hanh Bui, and has four sisters, Teresa, Kieu Anh, Phuong, Lyly, and four brothers, Hoang, Tai, Trung, and Thanh. She also has two nieces and eight nephews.

During her candidacy, Tram will live at the Dominican Sisters of Peace House of Welcome in Columbus, OH. She will continue her career in physical therapy as she continues to discern her call to religious life.

The Dominican Sisters of Peace currently have seven women in various stages of formation and ministry.

January 19, 2021

Photo of the Week: Class of 2020 Continues Tradition

St. Mary’s Dominican High School Class of 2020 members returned to campus to collect their copy of the 2019-2020 school yearbook, Regina Rosarii, and pick-up pizza to go. Before they left campus, they added their names to the interior of the Veritas Tower – a tradition that started with the Class 2016.

Reflecting their alma mater’s song that celebrates “Saints and sages, named enrolled,” graduates autograph pillars inside the Veritas Tower. During the tower’s construction, the Class of 2015 signed a piling before its installation beneath the tower. The alumnae directory and other symbols representative of the school’s history are also under the tower’s base.

The yearbook’s theme, “I Was Here,” was selected to chronicle the school year’s events, including the impact of the Coronavirus Pandemic that led to the school’s transition last spring from the classroom setting to home learning.

A fellow alumna holds the 2019-2020 edition of Regina Rosarii, to take a photo of her personal signature inside the Veritas Tower.
A St. Mary’s Dominican High School Class of 2020 graduate signs her name on a pillar inside the Veritas Tower.