Dominican Associates Stories

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.

“You are God’s Work of Art”

By Judi Engel
Adrian Dominican Associate

Each year, the Dominican Youth Movement USA sponsors two preaching conferences for young people: college/university students and high school students. Both are directed toward introducing young people to Dominican life and traditions, including the Dominican Charism of preaching.

The purpose statement for the high school conference is to “empower students to discover and deepen the preacher within themselves through prayer, study, community, and interaction with members of the Dominican family.” 

Over several very full days in the high school preaching conference, workshops are presented under broad titles such as Gathering in the Dominican Tradition, Prayer in the Dominican Tradition, and Preaching in the Dominican Tradition. The students are divided into groups of 12 to 15, called “Home Groups,” which meet each day after the sessions for reflection, discussion, and prayer.

Under the heading of Preaching, various workshops and presentations cover areas such as Preaching the Signs of the Times (social justice) and Preaching through the Arts. As an artist and a Dominican, I have always seen my work in the visual arts as my personal “language” for preaching. So when I saw the call for presenters in the arts, I volunteered. 

Part of discovering “the preacher within” is the realization of just how much we are loved, how much our God truly delights in us as “the work of God’s hands,” so I chose the quotation, “You are God’s Word of Art” (Eph 2:10, Jerusalem Bible) as the theme and clay as the medium.

Over the course of the day, I worked with three groups. I began each session by introducing myself as a Dominican Associate and artist. I added a bit about how and why I believe the arts – all of them – are compelling languages for preaching.

What the young people didn’t anticipate was that I would ask them to follow me in a guided process, working with their eyes closed! I gave them a focus and then led them through the initial steps in the process before leaving them to work in silence, eyes closed the whole time. As students seemed to be finished, I spoke quietly with them, letting them add finishing touches (eyes open) and clean up their workplace.

When everyone was finished, I invited them to say anything they wished about the experience and asked why they had worked with their eyes closed. My reason was that they had to trust the process, and they couldn’t see what anyone else was doing and start comparing their work. 

 

Then we gathered in a circle as they held their work in their hands. I asked them to exchange their pieces with the person on their right, then quietly pray for a few moments for that other person whose work of art they were holding and who, like themselves, was God’s work of art.

To conclude, I asked them to recall the creation story in Genesis and how God, after each step in creation, said, “That’s good!” I reminded them that each of them is “God’s work of art” and that they are incredibly loved, a source of delight to God just as their clay piece – or any other accomplishment – is a source of delight.

As teenagers, they were naturally often shy in their sharing, but they clearly were engaged. I hope that each one will remember that they are a beautiful and beloved creation, a “work of art,” and that this helps them discover, strengthen, nourish, and trust “the preacher within.”