Sister Siobhan Burroughs, OP, made her first profession of vows with the Dominican Sisters of Sinsinawa at the Dominican motherhouse, Sinsinawa, Aug. 7, 2022. Sister Siobhan has been practicing obedience to God through prayer and action since she was a child in Trinidad and Tobago. “In my family, you didn’t have a choice. You had to go to church,” she recalled. She now understands those early practices her parents set have helped shape and form her personal relationship with God. “When I’m reflecting how God had been leading me as a child, each part of my journey has been purposeful, even though I didn’t recognize it. Every experience has prepared me to say yes to God in a more full and authentic way.”

A string of incidents in her life have led her to this conviction: obedience brings blessings. As a young adult, she struggled with her relationship with the Church and God. Siobhan had felt God’s presence strongly as a child, but that feeling lessened over time. Her search and prayer life led her to a parish where she was invited into the choir and prayer groups, which led her to a deeper understanding. Sister Siobhan said, “I learned that even though I couldn’t tangibly feel God, that God was still there. I had to trust.”

While managing a successful career as a clinical psychologist, she became active in her parish, expanding her ministries to choir; dance (“everything has rhythm in Trinidad”); children, youth, and young adult ministries; and outreach ministry where they go from home to home sharing the Gospel and praying. One day while in prayer, Sister Siobhan asked God about where she was to be directing her life, admittedly desiring the vocation of marriage. She said, “I always prayed, not my will but your will.” She was led to participate in a religious life discernment retreat and, as she states it, “I told God, ‘At the end of the retreat, you will tell me what my vocation is.’ God told me my vocation is not important right now. ‘All that matters is your relationship with me.’” After absorbing the message, she recognized that being in full relationship with God was going to lead her to be who she was truly called to be. “Thanks be to God for that guidance.”

In 2016 during adoration, Siobhan heard God say, “Go to World Youth Day.” Although there were significant challenges to get there, she made the trip to Poland. She saw Catholic sisters from all over the world and was mesmerized by them. “In a moment of euphoria, I told God yes in my heart,” Sister Siobhan shared. She committed to discern all the different congregations of sisters. “I think God had been calling for a while. I wasn’t in a place to accept.” God later told her to “preach and teach,” but she didn’t know what that meant. 

With the encouragement of her aunt in Trinidad, Siobhan attended a vocation discernment retreat and found herself lodging in a room that had “Dominican” on the door. She asked what that was and found it to be one of the many orders of sisters who were present at the retreat. Searching them out, Siobhan learned that the mission of the Dominican Order is to “preach and teach.” It was there that she first met Dominican Sisters of Sinsinawa and began to seriously discern her vocation to religious life with this congregation.

In 2017, God spoke to Sister Siobhan during her personal prayer. “I was in a position to hear and honor the request. I couldn’t live another second making the choice that was different from what God wanted,” she proclaimed. “God helped me, gave me the grace.” Sister Siobhan can now say that she made her vow of profession because it is something she desired and not just something God desired. “It was a long process of wrestling, but it has gotten me where I am.”

Sister Siobhan credits her family, parents Anthony and Gemma (Adams) Burroughs of La Horquetta, Arima; sister Roxanne; brother Shane; and grandmother Christiana Patrick for her strong faith foundation. She continues to visit her two childhood parishes, Church of the Resurrection in La Horquetta and Santa Rosa in Arima, when she is in Trinidad. “They have been incredibly supportive of my vocation,” Sister Siobhan reflected.

Since entering the Dominican Sisters of Sinsinawa, she has ministered with a women’s drop-in center in Milwaukee and, while in Trinidad, at the Franciscan Institute for Personal and Family Development, with a COVID-care hotline, and with a gardening program. Sister Siobhan spent a year at the Collaborative Dominican Novitiate in Chicago before preparing to make her first profession. She will return to Trinidad in September and make plans for her next ministry. She shared, “I want to continue to honor God with my life. I pray that I can be a blessing to everyone who I encounter.”

To view the Mass and profession, go to www.sinsinawa.org/live and tap on “on demand” and then scroll down to the Aug. 7 Mass. To make a donation in honor of Sister Siobhan, go to www.sinsinawa.org/donate. The Dominican Sisters of Sinsinawa invite you to learn more about our worldwide Dominican family, the Order of Preachers. For over 800 years, Dominicans have continued to preach the Gospel in word and deed. Today, thousands of sisters, nuns, priests, brothers, associates, and laity minister in more than 100 countries around the world. Visit our website at www.sinsinawa.org.

Columbus, OH – April 25, 2022 – The Dominican Sisters of Peace convened their Third General Chapter at the Hyatt Regency Hotel April 19-25. The Chapter was delayed for one year because of the COVID pandemic.

The congregation elected new leaders for the term 2022-2028. Sr. Pat Twohill, OP, was elected for a second term as Prioress. Sr. Anne Lythgoe, OP, was elected for a second term as First Councilor. Sister Carol Davis, OP, as elected as Second Councilor, Sr. Cathy Arnold, OP, as Third Councilor, and Sr. Susan Leslie, OP, as Fourth Councilor. To learn more about the new Leadership team, visit our website at oppeace.org.

Sisters Therese Leckert, OP, Gemma Doll, OP, and Gene Poore, OP,  will complete their terms August 7, 2022.

A highlight of the first day of the meeting was a webcast launching a year-long celebration of the 200^th anniversary of Dominican women religious in the United States. On Easter Sunday, April 7, 1822, four women answered the call to serve God’s people in what was then the frontier community of Springfield, Kentucky. From those four women grew the Dominican Sisters of St. Mary Magdalen, eventually known as the Kentucky Dominicans. The Kentucky Dominicans was part of the union that created the Dominican Sisters of Peace in 2009. 

Kerry Robinson, Global Ambassador and former executive director of the Leadership Roundtable, author of Imagining Abundance and a well-known speaker on the topics of philanthropy, development, and faith, spoke on those topics in relationship to the Chapter theme.

Kerry’s exceptional presentation, “Love Impels: Toward a New Culture of Leadership in the Church,” acknowledged the human flaws of the Church, but also the Church’s power to touch the vulnerable of the world and heal the wounded. Her affirmation of the contribution of women, and in particular women religious, to the Church was inspiring. 

As part of the business of the Chapter, the members approved Direction Statements for the next six years. These commitments, corresponding to the Chapter theme of Love Impels Our Journey, will be used as a framework for the ways in which the sisters live and carry out their work.  

• Love impels us to foster and create cultures of inclusion by examining the reasons for and history of racism, with the goal of eradicating this sin against God’s people and engaging in restorative justice. 

• Love impels us to treasure and reverence the Earth by following the precepts of Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si, On Care for our Common Home; acting to reduce of our carbon footprint individually and communally and acting in solidarity with others in caring for the Earth. 

• Love impels us to foster lives of prayer and contemplation by growing in and demonstrating the transformative power of Gospel living, promoting peace-making and reconciliation, and working with others to heal the wounded Body of Christ in our world. 

• Love impels us to Prophetic Preaching of the Gospel message by using the lens of Truth to discern reality, speaking Truth in our words, actions and lives, and confronting injustice. 

• Love impels us toward the future of Dominican Life by emerging forms of Dominican Life and Mission with our Dominican Sisters around the world, by working to sustain our own congregation and by promoting the call to Dominican life as vowed members and associates. 

To read the full text of the new Direction Statements, please visit OPPeace.org.

The mission of the Dominican Sisters of Peace is to bring the Gospel to the world by being peace, building peace, and preaching peace. They number more than 350 Sisters and 700 Associates. They minister in 22 states, 29 Catholic Dioceses and in Nigeria, serving God’s people in ministerial areas including education, health care, spirituality, pastoral care, prison ministry, and care of creation.

The Dominican Sisters of Sinsinawa held an 11 a.m. Mass March 20 in honor of their 175^th yearlong anniversary celebration of the congregation with Diocese of Madison Bishop Donald J. Hying presiding in Queen of the Rosary Chapel at Sinsinawa Mound. Those present included sisters of the congregation and the leadership councils of neighboring congregations of sisters, coworkers, Dominican Associates of Sinsinawa, and invited guests. Due to continued COVID restrictions, the Mass was livestreamed for others to attend virtually.

The mood, music, and liturgy matched the beauty of the illuminated slab glass windows of Queen of the Rosary Chapel. Sister Toni Harris, OP, who serves as the 14^th prioress of the congregation, gave a welcome, beginning with the congregation’s land acknowledgment statement. She described how the Congregation’s Motherhouse at Sinsinawa started out in the Milwaukee Archdiocese, was part of the La Crosse Diocese for a time, and is now in the Madison Diocese, “but we never moved!”

Father Samuel Mazzuchelli, OP, established the congregation in 1847 with a small group of immigrant women. “Since, nearly 3,400 women have made vows as Dominican Sisters of Sinsinawa. Two more will make perpetual vows in May,” said Sister Toni. The sisters are celebrating their history and looking forward to their future. She acknowledged that Lent is not ordinarily the season of celebration and ended with, “Lives can be miraculously reborn if we find the courage to live them in accordance with the Gospel. Holding this hope, let us fully embrace the challenge of Father Samuel that we have heard thousands of times, embrace it in a new way, and set out into the years ahead for ‘any place where the work is great and difficult, but where also with the help of the one who sends us we shall open the way for the Gospel.’”

Bishop Hying gave thanks to God for the congregation and their rich spiritual legacy. “Before Wisconsin even became a state, your community was here. None of you look that old, by the way,” he joked. “So many of you have given your entire lives to this work, this mission, this community, and to your charism.” He reflected on the sisters’ call to enter religious life, the places they have ministered, and “the people whose lives that have been touched and enriched and informed because of your wisdom, your holiness, your prayer, your consecration. Only God can measure the ultimate impact of nearly 3,400 women radically consecrated to Christ and the service of the Gospel. None of us can ever fully measure or weigh the glory of that impact. This is a beautiful moment to celebrate your legacy.”

Bishop Hying brought forth the gospel message of surrendering to God, “who is in charge and working out the purpose of salvation.” He spoke of Father Mazzuchelli’s trust in divine providence and the legacy the sisters and others have continued. Bishop Hying closed with, “For all that has transpired and has been completely a blessing to the world and to the Church because of your community, we give thanks and praise.”

The Mass can be viewed online at www.sinsinawa.org/live by clicking on the “on demand” tab. To recognize the 175^th anniversary of the Dominican Sisters of Sinsinawa, send a donation to Sinsinawa Dominicans, 585 County Road Z, Sinsinawa, WI, 53824-9701 or go to www.sinsinawa.org/donate online.

The Sinsinawa Dominicans invite you to learn more about our worldwide Dominican family, the Order of Preachers. For over 800 years, Dominicans have continued to preach the Gospel in word and deed. Today, thousands of sisters, nuns, priests, brothers, associates, and laity minister in more than 100 countries around the world. Visit our website at www.sinsinawa.org.

Kristen Wolf Enters the Dominican Sisters of Peace

In the book of Corinthians, the Apostle Paul reminds the people of God that the Holy Spirit empowers all gifts. 

For Dominican Sisters of Peace Candidate Kristen M. Wolf, known as Kristie, those gifts include intelligence, compassion, and physical gifts like athleticism and strength. After coaching young gymnasts for many years, Kristie’s ministry for the past 15 years has been as a physical therapist, working with stroke survivors and other persons with physical challenges. She will continue to serve the people of God in this capacity as she discerns her call to become a Dominican Sister of Peace. Wolf will officially enter the Congregation as a candidate on Sunday, February 13 in Columbus, OH.

Kristie earned her Bachelor of Arts in Elementary Education from the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, VA. She went on to earn a Master of Science and Clinical Doctorate in Physical Therapy at Walsh University in North Canton, OH. 

Kristie was drawn to religious life by a search for a deeper, more personal walk with God. She saw an article in her parish bulletin that asked the question, ‘Are you feeling called to a deeper spirituality?’ “It’s like they were speaking directly to me,” Kristie says. 

When she read further to see that the article was inviting adults to discern joining the Associates’ Program of the Dominican Sisters of Peace, she knew she had found the answer. Kristie had attended Our Lady of the Elms High School, a founded ministry of the Congregation, and was familiar with the Sisters and their spirituality.

Kristie had already integrated three of The Four Pillars of Dominican Life into her own life – prayer, study, and ministry – and was looking for the fourth pillar – community. Celebrating Mass at The Elms and attending Come and See retreats at several different Motherhouses gave her the opportunity to experience that community life. “Everywhere I have gone, I have been welcomed with love and joy. This gave me the courage to move from exploration to application and entrance. I will continue to learn, grow, and discern as I pray, study, and live with these strong and compassionate women dedicated to serving the needs of others, as Jesus modelled.”

Kristie found the place of women in the Dominican family attractive. “Women have been essential to the mission of the Dominican order from the beginning of Dominic’s leadership,” Kristie says. “The Dominican mission and the commitments of the Dominican Sisters of Peace – especially work for social and ecological justice – also resonate strongly with my own convictions.”

Kristie Wolf is the daughter of Leland (Lee) and Diane Wolf of Cuyahoga Falls, OH. She has a one sister, Jacqueline. She is a member of the Immaculate Heart of Mary parish in Cuyahoga Falls.

Kristie moved into the Dominican Sisters of Peace House of Welcome in January 2022. She will continue her ministry in Physical Therapy in Columbus, OH, during her candidacy. The Dominican Sisters of Peace have an active Vocations and Formation ministry, with three Sisters in the Novitiate and three having taken Temporary Vows.