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September 28, 2023, Adrian, Michigan – Sister Frances Nadolny, OP, former Administrator and General Councilor of the Adrian Dominican Sisters, was named a member of the General Council on September 14, 2023, and will serve in that role through 2028. The General Council unanimously elected her to fill a vacancy left by General Councilor Janice Brown, OP, who resigned in August due to health issues. The Adrian Dominican Sister General Council is “the governmental unit that provides for and directs the life in mission of the Congregation,” according to the Congregation’s Constitution and Statutes. Members of the General Council are generally elected by Sisters serving as Delegates at a General Chapter convened every six years. However, the Constitution further calls for the General Council to elect a successor to fill a vacancy left by a member before her term is completed. Sister Frances took office on September 18, 2023. She was formally called forth into leadership by Prioress Elise D. García, OP, during a brief ritual at the beginning of Mass on Sunday, September 24, 2023. Sister Elise asked Sister Frances about her willingness to accept the responsibility of General Councilor to minister in collaboration with the rest of the General Council “by providing for and directing the life in mission of the Congregation and carrying forward the decisions and directions of General Chapter 2022.” Sister Frances accepted “willingly and happily.” “We see in Fran a host of gifts and experience to bring to the table of leadership,” Sister Elise wrote in a September 14, 2023, letter to Adrian Dominican Sisters and Associates, announcing the election. “She is someone who can hit the ground running and assume most any responsibility in our collective portfolio with great skill, dedication, and insight.” Fran said that her previous service as a General Councilor was a privilege. “I’m very honored that the Congregation would put its trust in me once again to be of service in this ministry,” she added. Sister Frances comes to the General Council with broad experience in Congregational leadership. From 2008 to 2014, she served as Chapter Prioress (Provincial) of the Sisters in the Congregation’s Great Lakes Dominican Mission Chapter based in Detroit. For the next two years, she directed the Congregation’s Ministry Trust Office, which provides grants to organizations in which Sisters are involved. Sister Frances was elected Administrator and General Councilor during General Chapter 2016 to serve on the 2016-2022 General Council. The Archdiocese of Detroit also benefited from Sister Frances’ leadership and dedication. She served as Associate Superintendent and then Superintendent of Schools for a total of 11 years. She also ministered for five years as the archdiocese’s Director of the Department of Education, overseeing several offices, including Schools, Catechetics, Family Life, Youth, and Young Adults. Sister Frances was principal twice: four years at St. Mary School in Royal Oak, Michigan, and five years at St. Thaddeus School in Chicago. Serving on the 2022-2028 General Council with Sister Frances are Sister Elise; Sister Lorraine Réaume, OP, Vicaress and General Councilor; and Sisters Bibiana Colasito, OP, and Corinne Sanders, OP, General Councilors. They will serve in leadership through June 30, 2028.
September 11, 2023, Adrian, Michigan – “I desire to live with you in community as I actively discern my call to vowed Dominican life.”
Those were the words of Jamie Caporizo as she declared her intention to enter the Adrian Dominican Sisters as a Candidate – the first formal step in the formation process that could ultimately lead to perpetual profession of vows with the Congregation.
Jamie was welcomed into the formation process – and into St. Catherine Chapel – on September 8, 2023, for the formal Rite of Entrance into Candidacy. The Rite was celebrated in the context of Vespers, the evening prayer of psalms observed by priests, religious, and cloistered monks and nuns.
As a symbol of her entrance, Jamie knocked on the door of St. Catherine Chapel and was admitted by Sister Tarianne DeYonker, OP, of the Vocations Team, to join the assembly of Adrian Dominican Sisters, Associates, Co-workers, and members of her family and circle of friends.
Sister Lorraine Réaume, OP, Vicaress and General Council Liaison to Vocations and Formation, reflected on a passage from Paul’s Second Letter to Timothy (1:3-14). “Jamie, like Timothy, you have come with a sincere faith from a family and life experiences that made you who you are,” she said. “You now generously bring yourself, in response to God’s call, to say, ‘Yes, I will take this step.’”
Sister Lorraine encouraged Jamie to tune into Holy Spirit FM – to the “spirit of power and love” – rather than to Ego FM. “You are joining us in that spirit of love in a very special way this day,” she said.
The brief ritual included the affirmation of Jamie’s readiness to begin Candidacy with the Adrian Dominican Sisters, provided by Sister Tarianne and Katherine Frazier, OP, members of the Vocations team who walked with Jamie during her discernment to enter the Adrian Dominican Congregation. Sister Patricia Walter, OP, Formation Director, presented Jamie with the Mission Statement of the Adrian Dominican Sisters.
“I can’t believe this day has arrived,” Jamie said. “After working for several years to plan the professions of Sisters of the Holy Cross, I can’t believe it is now time for me to focus my efforts and desires toward my own journey in religious life. I am very excited and grateful to the community and my family and friends for their support. Please pray for me.”
General Councilors Bibiana “Bless” Colasito, OP, left, and Corinne Sanders, OP, join the rest of the assembly in praying the Dominican Blessing over Jamie Caporizo.
As a candidate, Jamie will minister in the food pantry and the Dire Needs Office at the St. Mary campus of Holy Family Parish in Adrian. In addition, she will work with Sister Mary E. Jones, OP, in coordinating programs at Siena Heights University, a sponsored institution of the Adrian Dominican Sisters. Jamie’s studies this year will include Spanish, Hebrew Scripture, and the history of the Adrian Dominican Sisters.
A native of Stamford, Connecticut, and the middle of the three children of James and Sheila Caporizo, she felt an early interest in both music and religious life. Jamie holds a bachelor’s degree in music education and choral conducting from the University of North Carolina-Charlotte and a master’s degree in sacred music from the University of Notre Dame.
Jamie’s first job took her back to Stamford, where she taught music for five years at her alma mater, Rippowam School. While earning her master’s degree, she worked as a liturgy intern with the Sisters of the Holy Cross and, after graduation, worked for the Sisters for five years as Director of Music and Liturgy. While discerning her call to enter the Adrian Dominican Sisters, Jamie began serving as Director of Campus Ministry and then as Senior Director of Mission and Ministry at Alvernia University in Reading, Pennsylvania, founded by the Bernadine Franciscan Sisters. She continued to feel her call to religious life with the Adrian Dominican Sisters and applied for entrance in December 2022.
“I’m always a musician because that’s how I most identify, but I’ve always kept this thread of education: teaching at a Bernadine Franciscan University, serving as a musician, still involved in planning campus ministry and training cantors,” Jamie said. She looks forward to her year as a Candidate with the Adrian Dominican Sisters.
View the recording of the Rite of Entrance below or in our video library.