Dominican Associates Stories

Arlene Bachanov

October 7, 2025, Adrian, Michigan – “I’m one of the keepers of the legacy. I don’t just preserve the history; I tell [the Sisters’] story. It is very important to me that that story be kept alive, and the wider world knows that this Congregation was here and what this Congregation did.”

That’s Adrian Dominican Associate Arlene Bachanov’s description of her mission as a Co-worker in the Congregation’s History Office, drawing on her long-time experience as a journalist and a student of history.

Arlene’s story is as interesting as those she writes of individual Adrian Dominican Sisters. A native of Detroit, she came to Adrian to attend Adrian College, majoring in English and Journalism. Through a friend at Siena Heights College (now University), she met Sister Eileen Rice, OP, who became her friend and mentor.

Arlene worked at the local newspaper, the Daily Telegram, and in 1986 was assigned to interview Sister Nadine Foley, OP, who was Prioress at the time. “The Sisters were very active in a lot of things in the community, and I decided that they needed to be written about,” Arlene said. “I took that on as one of my beats at the Telegram.”

She left the Daily Telegram in 1992 and eventually moved to Lansing, where she found work. She continued to freelance for the Telegram and, after losing her job in Lansing, told the editor that she would take all the assignments she could get. She was assigned to write stories about the 125th anniversary in 2009 of the Sisters’ arrival in Adrian. “It was like old home week” as she resumed her connection with the Sisters.

Arlene heard about the Congregation’s Associate Life program and the fact that they did not have to be Catholic. During a long drive to visit her mother, Arlene contemplated becoming an Associate. “In the course of three hours there and three hours back, I decided I felt called to be an Associate,” Arlene recalled. “I wanted that connection that I thought being an Associate would offer me – connection with God and other people.”

She asked Sister Nadine to be her mentor in the discernment process – but she got more. Sister Nadine needed an assistant in her work in the History Department. “In 2010, I became an Associate in July and a Co-worker in September of that year,” she said. “This was all because of Nadine.” In 2013, through the RCIA process at St. Mary Parish in Adrian, Arlene became Catholic as well. “I was drawn to the richness of the faith,” she said.

Although a journalist by training, Arlene also studied history in college. Both fields help her in her work in the History Office. She spoke of the variety of work in her ministry. “You come in one day expecting to do something, and you wind up doing something else,” she said. “A lot of what I do isn’t involved with writing, but it ends up involving a lot of research to support other departments in what they’re doing.”

In her 15 years in the History Office, Arlene has written profiles of Sisters who died, co-written a volume of the Congregation’s history with Sister Nadine, edited another history volume, and recently wrote a book on the 50-year history of the congregation’s Portfolio Advisory Board. But her work has also involved updating the congregation’s chronology, giving tours to visitors and new Co-workers, and writing a column on the history of the Congregation for the Human Resources department’s quarterly newsletter.

Arlene also works with Lisa Schell, Congregation Archivist, in researching topics requested by others, such as the history of the Adrian Dominican Sisters in a particular diocese. “We’ll brainstorm places where we can find information,” Arlene explained. “Sometimes looking up one thing sends you down a rabbit hole, so you never know where the research is going to take you.”

Arlene believes that in her ministry, she is truly living out the Dominican Charism through her “commitment to truth, to Veritas; to telling the story accurately; a commitment to showing how these women preach with their lives. I’m disseminating that story, how they do their preaching.”

She sees every day as a highlight, “getting to come here every day and work with this amazing group of people. This truly is not a job. The highlight is getting to live my life around these women. They inspire me all the time.”

But Arlene is also inspired by her fellow Associates and by the role they play in the Dominican family. “We Associates are among the keepers of the flame,” she said. “I take very seriously the role of keeping this charism alive. We as Associates have a very distinct call. I’m very glad that we are now exploring ways to carry out that mission as Associates in ways that have not been done before.”

Adrian Dominican Associate Arlene Bachanov, right, stands with Sister Mary Louise Putrow, OP, during the book launch of Sister Mary Louise’s history book, Seeds of Change, covering the history of the Dominican Sisters of Adrian from 1962 to 1986. Arlene was the editor.

James Mallare

“I couldn’t be anything else but Dominican.”

That was the conclusion that Adrian Dominican Associate James Mallare came to during a recent time of reflection. That would most likely be the same conclusion of Sisters and Associates who work with and have come to know him. 

James first met the Adrian Dominican Sisters through the “gentle nudgings” of Sister Mariane Fahlman, OP, a professor who taught him during his undergraduate and graduate years and as a member of his dissertation committee. James earned a bachelor’s degree in education with a focus on community health education; a master’s degree in community health education; and a doctorate in kinesiology, with a specialty in community and school health, all at Wayne State University in Detroit.

Between his undergraduate and graduate programs, James helped Sister Mariane with her research on the effects of exercise on aging Catholic Sisters. “I was popping in and out of Weber Center,” the Congregation’s retreat center, during his work with Sister Mariane. “It was during that summer that I really fell in love with the charism,” he recalled. He became an Associate in August 2022, mentored by Sister Carol Jean Kesterke, OP.

Now in his first year as Assistant Professor of Public Health at Wayne State University, James had spent 3 ½ years after receiving his doctorate working on a research study with the Department of Psychology at Wayne State, studying the effects of asthma on children. These days “we’re occupied with working with underserved people and traditionally underserved communities, especially children who suffer from asthma,” he said. A certified health educator, he instructed parents about their children’s asthma and tested the children for asthma.

While he is still adjusting to his new role in the classroom, James said he truly loves his new job. “What gets me up in the morning [is] being with students who are naturally curious, who are really passionate about the intersection of social justice and public health,” he said. “I really get to see students come into blossom into who the Creator has created them to be.”

In addition to his formal ministry, James and some of his colleagues work with the immigrant population of Metro Detroit. He collects some necessary housewares, helping the immigrants to set up and furnish their new homes. As an immigrant himself from Windsor, Ontario, Canada, James realizes the challenges of moving into a new country. “Helping these families find a pocket of peace in their new country really means a lot to me,” he said. 

James also carves out a Saturday every month to volunteer with a shelter in downtown Detroit, driving people to doctor’s appointments and other places.
Active as an Adrian Dominican Associate, James co-chairs the Associates’ Social Justice Circle, established under the auspices of the Adrian Dominican Office of Dominican Charism, and serves on the Advisory Board for the Office of Dominican Charism. 

As busy as he is, James is learning to slow down for prayer and contemplation, particularly in monthly contemplation sessions with Adrian Dominican Sisters, another Associate, and a Franciscan Sister from Sylvania, Ohio. “We sit for 30 minutes one Sunday a month in just quiet,” he said. “I invite God into the space. After the half-hour, we share the fruits of our contemplation – a really Dominican practice.”

For James, contemplation also means seeing Christ in everyone he meets. “How do I find the aching, the poor, the hurt, the lonely Christ in my neighbor?” he asked. He was especially inspired by a colleague at Wayne State, the daughter of a Baptist minister, who challenged him: “Has anyone told you to adore the hidden Christ in your students? You really have to try to find the God who is hidden in your students.” This practice, he said, enables him to pray throughout the day.

James believes his ministry in education also aligns with the Dominican Charism. “Being an educator, you have to be a lifelong learner,” he said. “It’s part of my ministry now and part of my life as a Dominican to really, purposefully set some time aside to study, to read about the new things happening in public health … That really goes hand-in-hand with the Dominican Charism.”

James summed up his vision of being a Dominican: “For me, to be a Dominican means to be someone who is completely in love with the Creator and completely in love with the world around them, so much so that you are taking every opportunity to lead everyone to the Creator in this joyful symphony we call life.” 
 

Associate James Mallare, center, and two of his students from Wayne State University take part in community outreach.