Annual Report 2023

RESPONDING TO THE NEEDS OF THE DAY

200 Years of Answering God's Call

Annual Report 2022

FROM THE PRIORESS

What a year 2022 was!

The COVID-19 pandemic caused our Congregation to postpone our General Chapter, an important event where we elect our new leadership team and adopt new congregational commitments to guide our work for the next six years. That meant that our chapter would coincide with another milestone event, the celebration of 200 years of Dominican women religious in the United States. The first congregation of Dominican Sisters was founded in 1822 by our Sisters in St. Catharine, Kentucky.

This unintended confluence of events caused some late nights and adjusted workloads for many of us – but it was also a blessing. We found ourselves celebrating the past and planning our future at the same time. As we looked back on the faith, bravery, and resilience of our foremothers, we found ourselves challenged to live up to their legacy as we planned for the future.

It's this parallel vision – the work of the past and the challenges of the future – that we want to share in this year’s annual report.

Like our Sisters in Kentucky in 1822, in New Orleans in the 1860’s, and indeed, even our Father Dominic in 1216, we depend upon the prayers and the donations of you, our generous supporters, as we serve the people of God and God’s church. In this annual report, we not only recognize the work of our Sisters, we recognize your generosity, and how that impacts our ministries every day.

Please know that we carry your needs and intentions in our prayers daily, just as we pray in gratitude for your abiding friendship.

Gratefully,

Sr. Patricia Twohill, OP Prioress

CARE FOR COMMUNITY

offering prayer, care and comfort to the sick and elderly

In 1874 New York, a young Dominican Sister, Sr. Salesia Fischer, died of tuberculosis. Sadly, this was a common occurrence in those days in the damp climate. In fact, Sr. Salesia’s blood sister, then Mother Antonina of the Holy Cross Convent, founded a sanatorium in Sullivan County, NY, to offer a place of rest and healing for those suffering from the dreaded disease.

Although Mother Antonina’s heart lay with educating young people to grow the Dominican Order, she responded to the needs of the day, and along with a small group of pioneering Sisters, founded the first hospital in Great Bend, KS. That hospital was an original member of CommonSpirit Health, the largest Catholic health system in the United States today.

Health care has been an important part of our Dominican ministry since our beginnings in St. Catharine, KY, 200 years ago.

There, in 1833, barely a decade after our founding, a cholera epidemic broke out in Springfield, KY. As always, responding to the needs of the day, the Sisters cared not only for their own Sisters that contracted cholera, but for the entire community. Later they converted St. Catharine Academy to a hospital to care for soldiers from both sides of the Civil War and went on to found hospitals in Kentucky and Nebraska.

In Memphis, TN, the Kentucky Sisters who founded our schools served heroically in the periodic epidemics of yellow fever.

Upon arriving at their first foreign mission in China in 1936, the first action of the Dominican Sisters from Columbus, OH, was to begin vaccinating the local children. By 1944, ministry through health care was written into the Congregation’s constitutions, and at the request of then Cincinnati Archbishop John T. McNicholas, the sisters assumed management of a

Dominican Sisters nursed soldiers at Camp Zachary Taylor, Louisville, KY, during the 1918 influenza outbreak.

Sr. Gene Poore, OP, works with Jamaica Collaborative, which assists young people in that island nation. Here, Farnoosh Droodgar of the Jamaica Collaborative talks with Keemo Birthwright, who lives at the Matthew 25 home for boys in Jamaica.

hospital in Cincinnati. In 1957, Mohun Hall, a long-term care center for aging priests and religious, opened in Columbus, and Mohun has been named one of the best long-term care facilities in Ohio.

Our Sisters in Oxford, MI, entered health care ministry in the late 1940’s, and founded the Lourdes Nursing Home in 1965. Today, Lourdes Senior Community provides a continum of care from independent living to skilled care and rehabilitation to compassionate memory care. US News and World Report rates it 4 out of 5 for overall care.

Thanks to the generosity of CommonSpirit Health and the SCN Ministry Fund, we are helping young people in Jamaica gain certification as nurses, phlebotomists, and other medical professions. This is a double blessing, as it helps these young people find good jobs and helps lessen the nursing shortage in the island nation. Importantly, we send these students to schools accredited by the Caribbean Accreditation Authority for Education and other Health Professional (CAAM-HP) so they can use their skills in their home country.

1903 3

in Springfield, KY.

Dominican Sisters nurse Union and Confederate soldiers in Kentucky and Tennessee.

1861-65

St. Rose Hospital in Great Bend, KS, founded by Mother Antonina Fischer.

Lourdes Senior Community opens in Waterford, MI.

Many of our Sisters have ministered as frontline and administrative healthcare professionals over the years, and some are still nurses, physical therapists, and caregivers in hospitals and healthcare facilities across the country.

In the long-standing tradition of the Dominican order, our healthcare facilities have been responding to the needs of the day both in how they care for our Sisters and how they staff our facilities.

More than 85% of hospitals and healthcare facilities are experiencing a shortage of healthcare professionals.

Thanks to a generous grant from SOAR! (Serving our Aging Religions), Sansbury Care

HOW CAN I HELP?

Center in St. Catharine, KY, has been able to create an in-house training program that allows non-certified care staff to earn their Nursing Aide Certification (CNA). Six Sansbury employees have already passed the Kentucky state exam. We look forward to offering this opportunity to more employees.

In the Book of James, the Apostle says, “Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord.” The Dominican Sisters of Peace have offered prayer, care and comfort to the sick and elderly for 200 years and will continue to share Christ’s peace and healing into the future.

Every ministry has ongoing expenses –from rent and utilities at our learning centers to medical and nursing care at our health centers. Your gifts ensure that God’s work will continue.

ADAPTING TO THOSE WE SERVE

When I first came to Lourdes in 1981, it had been open for a few years and was doing well. But in true Dominican fashion, we found ourselves making changes to our ministry to better serve those around us.

The apartments at Fox Manor were conceived as a home for people who were capable of living on their own but could no longer take care of things like snow removal and yard work.

Clauson Manor was an outgrowth of our realization that some of our residents needed a different environment to care for issues of dementia and Alzheimer’s.

A generous benefactor helped us realize the construction of Mendelson Assisted Living, to better accommodate residents who were

The Dominican Sisters of Peace are grateful to the many Sisters and Associates who assisted with the planning and implementation of our 200th Anniversary Celebration Events.

STEERING COMMITTEE

Mark Butler, OPA

Donna Medley, OPA

Dot Trosclair, OP

NATIONAL COMMITTEE

Laura Grove (Houston)

LOCAL COMMITTEE

Joye Gros, OP (Chair)

Joan Scanlon, OP

Pat Twohill, OP

†Christine Loughlin, OP (Peace)

Patricia Hanvey, OP (Amityville)

Anne Lythgoe, OP (Peace)

Judith Hilbing, OP (Springfield)

Mary Ellen O’Grady, OP (Chair) ( Sinsinawa)

Anne Keenan, OP (Peace)

Joan Scanlon, OP (Peace)

Carla Kovack, OP (San Rafael)

Mark Butler, OPA

Mary Louise Edwards, OP

Blaise Flynn, OP

Marlene Kasama, OP

†Christine Loughlin, OP

Claire McGowan, OP

(Chair) Donna Medley, OPA

CONGREGATIONAL COMMITTEE

Alice Black, OPA (Chair)

Ana Gonzalez, OP

Barbara Kane, OP

Catharine Mahady, OP

Judy Morris, OP

Marilyn Rhodes, OPA

Rosemary Rule, OP

Joan Scanlon, OP

Jan Schlichting,OP

Barbara Sullivan, OP

Tricia Wimberg, OPA

Dot Trosclair, OP

Teresa Tuite, OP Lisa Zuccarelli, OP

Phuong Vu, OP

Our thanks to all of the Committees, and to the countless individuals too numerous to name who assisted in this joyous year of celebration.

Sr. Frances Mary Kernasovich, OP, former director of the Lourdes Senior Community, Waterford, MI.

FROM THE FRONTIER TO THE FUTURE

fostering the tradition of quality Catholic education

On a summer day in 1823, fifteen students were welcomed to a new school in rural Kentucky.

The school was a rehabilitated still house, formerly used to make bourbon.

The teachers were religious sisters who had answered the call of Father Thomas Wilson to serve the Church and God’s people. These nine women were the Congregation of St. Mary Magdalene, later the Dominican Sisters of Peace - the first congregation of Dominican women religious in the United States.

In the two hundred years since that day, the Dominican Sisters of Peace continued their ministry of education. In Ohio, Tennessee, and Nebraska, they served frontier families as the United States expanded across the continent. In New York, New Orleans and Boston, they taught the children of immigrants coming to America. These schools offered education to the marginalized... girls in Tennessee and Ohio, black children in segregated areas of the South, and Mexican-American children in the American west. Colleges were founded to provide higher education for women in a nation that did not yet recognize the value that an educated woman could bring to the world. Schools in Cuba, China, Vietnam, Nigeria, Jamaica and Peru brought education and the hope of a brighter future.

Today, the schools we founded continue to preach truth – Veritas – across the United States. Just as our Sisters 200 years ago found new and innovative ways to continue their educational ministries in spite of the challenges of frontier life, the Dominican Sisters of Peace are finding new ways to continue their tradition of quality Catholic education even as more lay people step up as teachers and leaders in our schools.

St. Mary's Dominican High School founded in New Orleans.

1861 3 Holy Rosary school in Springfield, KY, opens to educate African-American students. 4 Annual Report 2022 8

1823 St. Agnes Academy founded in Memphis by three sisters from Kentucky and three from Somerset. 2

1851 1

In November 2022, after five years of work, study, and organization, approval was received from the Vatican to form a new Pontifical Public Juridic Person (PJP), which will serve as the sponsor of our schools.

In the future, this new PJP, named Dominican Veritas Ministries (DVM), will work with leaders of our sponsored schools, including Dominican Academy in New York, NY; Our Lady of the Elms School in Akron, OH; St. Agnes Academy and St. Dominic School in Memphis, TN, and St. Mary’s Dominican High School in New Orleans, LA, to ensure their commitment to embody the preaching and teaching mission of Jesus and Saint Dominic. The PJP will assure that the schools operate in a manner consistent with the religious principles and social teaching of the Catholic Church. DVM will also support each school’s efforts to thrive as separate civil corporations with their local school boards, and to honor the heritage of the Dominican congregations who founded them.

1877

1899 4

College of St. Mary of the Springs (now Ohio Dominican University) in Columbus, OH, opens with 10 students. 5

1932

WHERE WE HAVE TAUGHT

US Schools:

Louisiana

Massachuse tts

At this time our partners in Dominican Veritas Ministries include the Dominican Sisters of Adrian, Houston, Sinsinawa, and Springfield.

Sr. Therese Leckert, OP, has helped to lead this effort. She explains it like this:

“With the creation of Dominican Veritas Ministries, we are providing support for Catholic identity and Dominican values in our Dominican schools – not just for today, but for the next two hundred years.”

Education and study are essential to Dominican life. We are blessed to take this major step to ensure that the quality education and spiritual development provided by Dominican educators since 1823 will continue to be a part of our cherished system of Catholic education.

SHAPING THE FUTURE

caring for our home with The Laudato Si Action Plan

As we celebrated the 200th anniversary of Dominican Women in the United States over the last months, we have spent a great deal of time looking back at the bravery, resilience, and spiritual strength of the women who came before us in our Dominican family.

But it is also important that we look to the future – a future that we, as people of faith, can shape to leave a better world for those who come after us. That is the goal of the Laudato Si Action Plan.

This Vatican-driven initiative is a seven-year cycle designed to to bring to life seven goals expressed in the Holy Father’s Laudato Si encyclical. The Vatican has asked for participation from seven sectors within the Church, including lay people like you, and religious congregations like the Dominican Sisters of Peace.

The overarching purpose of the Laudato Si Action Platform is for everyone in the human community to come together, forming a critical mass to impact the damage of global warming.

In the first year of the Laudato Si Action Platform, we are blessed to share our Congregation's progress toward its goals.

We have converted more than half of the lighting in our Motherhouses to LED and installed low-flow plumbing fixtures. That’s an energy savings of more than 20%. By converting 10% of the Congregation fleet, used by Sisters to commute to work or ministry, to hybrid or electric vehicles, we have reduced our energy consumption by another 10%. The original home of Dominican Women Religious in the United States,

Sisters pick strawberries at St. Catharine Farm in St. Catharine, KY.

St. Catharine Farm in Kentucky, has been placed into perpetual protection in a Conservation Trust. Our former ecology center in Massachusetts, Crystal Springs, has also placed 35 acres into a protective trust. Finally, the congregation has several investments designed to ensure that we can care for our elderly Sisters. We have divested those investments from all extractive fossil fuel investment.

In addition to these actions, the Dominican Sisters of Peace and our Congregational associates participate in conferences, webinars, and local organizations to advocate for environmental justice.

HOW CAN I HELP?

In his encyclical Laudato Si, Pope Francis writes,

The Dominican Sisters of Peace continue to preach the Gospel of Jesus, which makes us all one.

By

Laudato Si' calls for all people of faith to support the goals of the Holy Father in our care for our common home. You can help by recycling, by carpooling, or by supporting the work of our ecological ministries with your donation.

Sister Gemma Doll, OP, Justice Promoter

"Our relationship with the environment can never be isolated from our relationship with others and with God. "

IMPROVED WELLNESS

supporting our aging religious in creative new ways

Support Our Aging Religious, known as SOAR!, is a non-profit organization which raises funds and provides grants to help Catholic religious congregations in the United States care for their elderly and infirm members. In the last days of 2021, the Dominican Sisters of Peace learned that SOAR! had granted the Congregation a twopart grant. While the Congregation had benefitted from gifts from SOAR! in the past, this grant was unique.

Typical SOAR! grants, which are distributed twice a year, have helped the Congregation improve the environments in our care centers and infirmaries, replacing beds and recliner chairs or installing new therapy tubs. When COVID hit in 2020, SOAR! asked how they could help manage this new crisis.

Sr. Charlene Moser, OP, of the Mission Advancement team, polled our four Motherhouses and two Care Centers to discover what they needed to keep our

Sisters and front-line staff safe from the virus. The Congregation applied for a grant to purchase gloves, masks, thermometers, and other PPE, and SOAR! granted that request.

Later that year, the Congregation made an unusual request. St. Catharine Motherhouse in Kentucky was in lock-down because of a serious COVID outbreak. The sisters were quarantined and had to eat meals in their rooms – but the food got cold on the way. Would SOAR! help us purchase hot food carts for transporting meals up to the resident floors?

We are grateful that SOAR! was willing to try new things during the COVID crisis, and awarded us the grant. Sisters were blessed to enjoy hot meals during the worst of the pandemic, and the carts are still used during periodic lockdowns, or to serve sisters who are ill or unable to leave their rooms.

Sisters from Kentucky founded St. Catherine of Sienna Hospital in McCook, NE, in 1923. The Hospital is now part of a healthcare system serving Nebraska and Kansas.

NOW

Sister delivers lunch to a St. Catharine Motherhouse resident using a hot food cart.

Recognizing the importance of “slowing the spread” of all viruses among our senior Sisters, SOAR! invited us to a conversation about how to prevent the spread of disease in care centers. The SOAR! team inquired about other technology or equipment that could help religious congregations provide better care for the Sisters.

Again, Sr. Charlene went to the Sisters in our care centers and Motherhouses, and together, they created a new narrative for supporting our aging religious in body and in spirit.

Part one of this grant served directly to control and prevent infections of all kinds. Sansbury Care Center in Kentucky piloted the use of a mobile disinfecting lamp to sanitize patient rooms, and Mohun Health Care Center in Columbus, Ohio was able to purchase a new wheelchair/medical equipment washer.

Part two of the plan was designed to improve the Sisters’ physical wellness and emotional and spiritual well-being. A new therapy chair allowed our healthcare workers at Sansbury Care Center to administer more care in-house, reducing the risk of infection created by going to a doctor’s office. The therapy chair also helps to reduce costs of routine care like nail trims and foot care for Sisters who suffer from diabetes.

New life-size manikins were purchased for both Sansbury and Mohun. These new mannikins allow training and skills testing of our Care Center staff to be done without exposing our Sisters to additional risk of infection. This has turned out to be a benefit for our staff as well, as a number of them have been able to obtain their Nursing Aide Certification (CNA) because of the additional training they have received.

HOW CAN I HELP?

Our new therapy chair enables our healthcare workers to provide in-house medical treatments, reducing the risk of infection created by going to a doctor’s office and reducing costs.

If you were blessed by a religious Sister as a teacher, pastoral leader, or a friend, please consider a monthly gift to our Sisters' Retirement Fund.

Annual Report 2022

IN THE WORDS OF OUR SISTERS.....

“We are grateful to have such a high-tech disinfection device! Especially after dealing with the COVID pandemic, we know we must do everything we can to help protect the Sisters and all of the residents at Sansbury Care Center."

“Thanks so much to the

fantastic SOAR! grant for giving Sansbury Care Center the opportunity to purchase this state-of-theart manikin to use with training our nursing and care staff. It will improve our already excellent level of care for our residents.”

Janie Keenoy Pastoral Care Coordinator, Sansbury Care Center

“Thank you for enabling Sansbury to further improve the infection control program with this sanitizing device.”

Sr. Marina Gibbons Sansbury resident

The isolation of COVID 19 was difficult on the spiritual and emotional health of our Sisters. Community is an important part of Dominican life, and Sisters missed their interactions in the community, the church, and Congregational staff. Grants from SOAR! allowed Sisters to enjoy local art events, reconnect with their local parishes, and celebrate with local staff.

Our Congregational leadership, our care center leadership and our staff are thrilled with the opportunities this latest grant offers us to pilot new techniques designed to address current and future health challenges, and to improve the physical and emotional health of our aging Sisters.

We are grateful to SOAR! and their donors – as well as to the many friends of the Congregation who give to our fund for retired Sisters.

As we continue to lead in the care of retired religious, we hope to offer insights gained from this generous grant to help other congregations as well.

Sr.

Sr. Susan Leslie Former Mission Group Coordinator, Sansbury Care Center

NOURISHING THE SOUL

Dominican Sisters pioneer a new American ministry

While the Dominican Order was not “officially” accepted as an order by the Church until 1216, St. Dominic began to build a new order in 1206 on the foundation of spiritual women. That was the year that he opened a convent in Prouille, where 12 women became the first members of the Order and eventually supported the men of the Preaching Order with prayer.

Centuries later, Dominican women religious left the cloister, and our Sisters helped to build the Church in the United States, ministering as teachers, nurses, or in other services to the Church.

In 1872, Lucy Eaton Smith, later Mother Catherine de' Ricci, founded a congregation of Sisters whose mission was to support the spiritual health of women not only through prayer but through catechism and retreats –and a new American ministry was born.

The Dominican Sisters of Peace have offered the people of God places of refreshment and contemplation since 1883. In the past, our Sisters served in retreat ministry from New York to Florida. Today we welcome God’s people in retreat centers in Niskayuna, NY, Great Bend, KS, and Columbus, OH. Several of our ecological centers, including Shepherd’s Corner in Columbus, OH, and Heartland Farm in Pawnee Rock, KS, also share retreat experiences to those seeking a place of quiet to reconnect with God and God’s creation.

Both inside and beyond our centers, the Dominican Sisters of Peace offer spiritual support in many ways. We conduct interfaith services and educational opportunities, offer various retreats to help people draw closer to God, and walk with those recovering from addiction through 12-step programs. We teach self-discovery skills like journaling or

Left: St. Catherine de'Ricci sisters prepare a young girl to make her first communion.

Sisters serve as spiritual directors, trusted guides to a walk with Jesus. They minister in faith formation at the parish and diocesan level, helping young Catholics prepare for the sacraments of our faith. They are also parish counselors, helping the faithful navigate their own trials in faith, marriage, careers and parenthood.

Thanks to your support, we can accompany people on their spiritual journey not just in

HOW CAN I HELP?

person, but also through webinars and online discussion groups. We even conduct a monthly prayer and sharing video call for women discerning their path to religious life!

As in the early days of the Order of Preachers, the Dominican Sisters of Peace are blessed to walk with the people of God, physically and spiritually. We are grateful for your support as we help build the kingdom of God – one spirit at a time.

Our founder, St. Dominic, taught that there are nine ways to pray. Your donation for our retreat centers can help strengthen a soul’s walk with God – however they pray.

Sisters and discerners in the Akron Motherhouse Chapel during a recent Vocations event.

WHERE WE RECONNECT WHAT OUR RETREATANTS SAY...

"So well done – going forward with resolve to implement my care plan."

"Being recognized and cared for as a nurse was so meaningful after a tough few years for everyone."

"I needed this! In the right place at the right time!"

"This has truly offered me a Spiritual Oasis for my Soul. Through Spiritual Direction and God's love, I found healing, spiritual growth and myself."

PREACHING IN ACTION

advocating for the principles of Catholic social justice

Many people believe that the involvement of Catholic Sisters in social justice work is a “post-Vatican II” development. But just as the early American Dominican Sisters answered the call to religious life, they lived by the words of the prophet Micah, “To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with ...God.” Justice was part of our work from the beginning, and today the Dominican Sisters of Peace continue to work for justice.

The first ministry of our Sisters in Kentucky and Ohio was education. The Sisters offered a quality education to girls and boys of all faiths, and also taught the children of the enslaved persons who worked at St. Catharine and St. Rose – a practice illegal in many states. Even as early as the 1820s, we knew that education changes lives.

Our Sisters also knew the value of their service to the Order and to the Church. When, in 1828, a new Bishop planned to dissolve the nascent Dominican Congregation, founder and prioress Sr. Angela Sansbury replied:

“We will not agree to such a tragedy, as we know it was God who called us to religious life… the community cannot be disbanded without the consent of the same community.”

This determination served our Sisters well for the next 190+ years – even when they were targets of prejudice themselves. Sisters cared for orphans of all races in 1850’s Memphis, TN. They nursed soldiers on both

sides of the Civil War, and even refused to teach in a parish that would not de-segregate its schools. As the modern Civil Rights movement began, we walked with our brothers and sisters for equality and justice. Our sisters opened homes in New York, Philadelphia, and Dayton to give women entering the workforce for the first time a safe place to live. Our Sisters in New Orleans founded a school for the deaf, while our Sisters from Kansas started a Dominican congregation for Nigerian women in the face of that country's political and religious strife in the mid-20th century.

Today, the Dominican Sisters of Peace and our associates are active in social justice causes that mirror the social justice teachings of the Church, including ecology, violence prevention, poverty alleviation in many forms, immigration, sensible gun control and more.

This “preaching in action” takes many forms. Our learning centers in Ohio and Connecticut help new immigrants and asylees learn English and earn American citizenship. Our ministries of presence in Kansas, New Orleans, and across the nation work with the economically poor, helping them access assistance and gain the skills they need to be selfsufficient. Youth ministries in Ohio, Kansas, New Orleans, and Connecticut serve the spiritual, academic, and physical needs of young people, helping them learn to live peaceful lives and become leaders in their communities. Our Peace and Justice Committee advocates for the principles of Catholic social justice teachings from city council meetings to the halls of Congress, working to build a world that reflects Christ’s peace.

At our Third General Chapter in 2022, we adopted a new set of Congregational Commitments that include creating cultures of inclusion, caring for Earth, fostering lives of prayer and contemplation and promoting peace-making and reconciliation, preaching the Gospel message of Christ, and

contributing to the future of Dominican Life, including by welcoming new women to our multi-generational, multi-cultural congregation. While we may be celebrating 200 years of history, we are looking forward to the future, and toward creating peace through prayer and action.

Our learning centers welcome learners from around the world. These asylum seekers from Ukraine study at the Dominican Learning Center in Ohio.

Sr. Annunciata Chen (1919-2020) ministered as an educator in the Southwest US and in Peru.

SISTERS IN FORMATION

Welcoming our newest sisters

Candidates

Candidates

Novices

Novices

Temporary Professed

Temporary Professed

Cathy Buchanan

Phuong Vu Ellen Coates

Annie Killian

Paula Danforth Terri Schell

Shingai Chigwedere

MEET OUR LEADERSHIP

elected at the Third General Chapter, April 2022

Sr. Patricia Twohill, OP Prioress

Sr. Pat served as the Prioress of the Congregation from 2015-2022. Sr. Pat also served in Vocations and Formation ministries, in pastoral ministry, in campus ministry, and as an educator.

First Councilor

Sr. Cathy Arnold, OP Third Councilor

Sr. Anne is in her second term of Congregational leadership with Peace. Presently, she is also President of the Dominican Sisters Conference (DSC) and served six years as President of the Dominican Leadership Conference (DLC). Sr. Anne has worked in retreat ministry as a communicator.

Sr. Carol Davis, OP Second Councilor

Sr. Carol has extensive experience in spiritual direction and counseling, and has ministered as a credentialed alcoholism and substance abuse counselor. She has also held leadership positions with US Catholic Sisters Against Human Trafficking and the Interfaith Community of Schenectady, NY.

Sr. Cathy has ministered in Vocations and Formation for many years, most recently as Co-Director of the Collaborative Dominican Novitiate. Sr. Cathy also served as an educator and as a program coordinator for persons with intellectual and physical disabilities.

Sr. Susan Leslie, OP Fourth Councilor

Sr. Susan served most recently as Mission Group Coordinator of the Sansbury Care Center in St. Catharine, KY. Sr. Susan has also served as a physical therapist, a hospital Vice-President of System Mission, a missionary in Peru, and in parish, prison, and retreat ministry.

CELEBRATING 50 YEARS

serving God’s people with compassion and joy

The Dominican Sisters of Peace are blessed with a multicultural membership, partly because our missionary work helped bring Sisters from around the world to join our founding Congregations.

Sr. Mary Phuc Nguyen came to Kentucky Dominicans after the fall of Saigon in 1975. She celebrated her Golden Jubilee in 2022.

Despite the hardships she experienced, Sr. Mary Phuc has served God’s people with compassion and joy. After studying Human Services at Spalding University and Jefferson Community College in Louisville, KY, she began her ministry in Memphis, TN. She served with Catholic Charities of West Tennessee as a pastoral minister and with the Memphis Community Family Stabilization project. She later taught religion and worked in multicultural ministry at Sacred Heart Church in Memphis.

After moving to Boston in 2002, Sr. Mary Phuc ministered as a Social Worker at the Vietnamese American Civic Association, helping immigrants integrate into the community. She also served as a social worker for New Community Services, serving seniors in the Boston area.

She ministered to the elderly for more than a decade as a social worker and caregiver at Windsor House Adult Day Health.

Today, Sr. Mary Phuc ministers at the Dominican Sisters of Peace Motherhouse in Akron, OH. She volunteers and serves as a Convent Sacristan.

“I love our Dominican life,” Sr. Mary Phuc says. “I am blessed that my preaching can be my work with the elderly and the poor, and by our congregation’s dedication to justice, peace, and love.”

Sr. Mary Phuc Nguyen (center, in white) celebrating her Golden Jubilee in a Mass at the Akron Motherhouse.

1822

1830 Within a month of moving into their convent in Somerset, OH, the Dominican Sisters of St. Mary opened a school for 40 students in a converted carpenter shop. When they moved to Columbus, OH, they became the Dominican Sisters of St. Mary of the Springs.

The first Dominican women religious in the United States were in Kentucky, where they answered the call of a local Biship to run schools for frontier children.

1860

Mother Mary John Flanagan traveled from Ireland to serve Irish immigrants in New Orleans. She founded the Congregation of St. Mary in New Orleans, as well as its namesake school, St. Mary’s Dominican High School. The Congregation also founded Chinchuba Deaf Mute Institute, the first school of its kind in the southern United States.

ministry of spiritual care to women. We continue this tradition of spirituality today.

1902

Mother Antonina Fischer was a woman of determination who founded schools and hospitals. Later, the Dominican Sisters Great Bend Sisters founded a nursing school, a center for spirituality, and an organic farm.

1950

The Oxford Dominicans of Michigan took advantage of their beautiful home to create a retreat center that was in operation until 2020. Their ministry at the Lourdes Senior Community offers compassionate care to those in their later years.

2009

The Dominican Sisters of Peace were founded on Easter Sunday, 2009. The Dominican Sisters of St. Catherine de' Ricci merged with the Dominican Sisters of Peace in 2012.

1935

Sixty-seven Sisters originally from the Dominican Sisters of Caldwell, NJ, formed The Sisters of St. Dominic of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in Akron, OH. Our Akron Sisters have been active in the development of our Associate program as well as in racial justice and care for the elderly.

1956

The Missionary Servants of the Most Holy Eucharist were dedicated to the physical and spiritual care of the marginalized, originally in rural Louisiana and later in the Southwest United States.

OUR HOMES THROUGH THE YEARS

Shortly after the merger of our founding congregations to form the Dominican Sisters of Peace, Sr. Elaine DesRosiers, OP, (1930-2020) created a series of paintings depicting the Motherhouses where our Sisters lived in 2009.

St. Catharine Motherhouse SPRINGFIELD, KY

Our Lady of the Elms AKRON, OH

St. Mary of the Springs COLUMBUS, OH

St. Mary's Motherhouse NEW ORLEANS, LA

Eucharistic Missionaries NEW ORLEANS, LA

Dominican Retreat House ELKINS PARK, PA

Oxford Motherhouse OXFORD, MI

Great Bend Motherhouse GREAT BEND, KS

FINANCIAL REPORT

Fiscal Year 2022 | July 30, 2021 - June 30, 2022

Financial donations given to the Dominican Sisters of Peace can be directed for use in any of four areas: Sisters' Ministries, Overseas Missions, Retirement, or the General Fund (to be used as needed). We are grateful for all contributions, which enable us to continue our mission of preaching the Gospel in word and deed to those in need. The Dominican Sisters of Peace, Inc., is a nonprofit, charitable, faith-based organization that is exempt from federal and state taxes under section 501(c)(3) of the United States Internal Revenue Code.

DONOR GIFTS

General Fund - 43%

Sisters' Ministries - 39%

Overseas Missions -9%

Retirement Needs - 9%

INCOME

Sisters Compensation - 57%

Gift Income - 31%

Property Rentals - 6%

Gain on Sale of Assets - 2%

Other Income - 4%

EXPENSES

$1,251,204 $1,135,402 $274,334 $277,998

Total Gift Income - $2,938,938

As of June 30, 2022, Sisters Compensation includes income from 42 Sisters compensated for full-time employment outside the Congregation. Other income includes sale of products, capital goods and royalities.

Motherhouse/Assisted Living/Skilled Care - 71%

Administrative Costs - 10%

Supported Ministries - 16%

Formation, Vocation, Justice - 1%

Fundraising Expenses - 2% There are 346 vowed members.