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(1935-2024)
My desire to enter grows from the realization that no matter what I find good and true and just in the world, it seems to be only a small part of a greater Goodness, a greater Truth, and a greater Justice. When I tried to explain this feeling to one of the Sisters she told me, “It is God whom you are seeking.”
Mercedes Luisa Campos of Puerto Plata, the Dominican Republic, wrote these words as part of the letter she sent to Mother Gerald in 1961 seeking entrance to the Congregation with which she was already acquainted through the Sisters who taught at the Colegio Santo Domingo.
Luisa, as she known, was born on February 24, 1935, in Puerto Plata to Francisco Campos Perez, who was a merchant, and Dolores “Lolín” Villalón. She was one of four children born to the couple, along with two more girls – Lourdes and Maria Teresa – and a boy, Francisco.
She attended grade school and high school in Puerto Plata, graduating from Jose Dubeau High School in 1954. While attending the University of Santo Domingo, she studied law and earned a certificate in journalism. She was first introduced to Adrian Dominican Sisters when she joined a Catholic Action group at the university that taught catechism alongside Sisters from the Colegio, and she began taking classes at the Colegio in order to learn English.
She entered the Congregation on September 8, 1961, and spent the next two years in Adrian as a postulant and novice. When she was received as a novice in August 1962, she was given the religious name Sister Marie Lolín after her mother’s nickname.
Read more about Sister Luisa (PDF)
Memorial gifts may be made to Adrian Dominican Sisters, 1257 East Siena Heights Drive, Adrian, MI, 49221. Funeral arrangements are being handled by Anderson-Marry Funeral Home, Adrian.
Sister's Memorial Card (PDF)
Recording of Sister Luisa's Vigil Service - After clicking the link, download the recording by clicking on the three dots at the bottom right corner of the screen and choosing "Download." Worship Aid (PDF)
Recording of Sister Luisa's Funeral Mass - After clicking the link, download the recording by clicking on the three dots at the bottom right corner of the screen and choosing "Download." Worship Aid (PDF)
Leave your comments and remembrances – if you don't see the comment box below, click on the "Read More" link.
(1939-2024)
Before Mary Katherine came to live in Adrian, I did not know her. Our paths had never crossed. Who I came to know was a quiet, lovely woman who did not just read the Bible, she LIVED it. We heard last evening about a woman who spent her life doing what Jesus has asked ALL of us to do: feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, shelter the homeless …
Sister Maria Goretti Browne’s funeral homily for Sister Mary Katherine Dolan honored a woman whose service to others spanned the classroom, community organizing, pastoral ministry, and helping formerly incarcerated women make a new start in their lives.
Mary Kay, as she was known, was born in Chicago on October 20, 1939, to John and Marie (Haley) Dolan. She was the oldest child and the only girl, and when it came to her brothers – John, Lawrence, and Thomas – “I ruled the roost,” she said in her 2015 “A Sister’s Story” video.
Her father John was a city bus driver and, apparently, quintessentially Irish. “My mother and father were very good,” Sister Mary Kay said in the video. “We had a happy childhood, but I wouldn’t say it was calm and peaceful. It was kind of tumultuous. Our postulant mistress [Sister Kathleen O’Connell] was kind of bombastic, but I thought she was just normal. She never bothered me; she reminded me of my father: Irish!”
Read more about Sister Mary Katherine (PDF)
Memorial gifts may be made to Adrian Dominican Sisters, 1257 East Siena Heights Drive, Adrian, MI, 49221.
Recording of Sister Mary Katherine's Vigil Service - After clicking the link, download the recording by right-clicking on the video choosing "Save video as." Worship Aid (PDF)
Recording of Sister Mary Katherine's Funeral Mass - After clicking the link, download the recording by right-clicking on the video choosing "Save video as." Worship Aid (PDF)
(1923-2024)
When and where my life is over, I hope and pray that I will be ready for that last appointment.
For Sister Miriam Joseph Lekan, who put that sentence in her autobiography, her “last appointment” came on November 23, 2024, at the age of 101 and after a rich, joy-filled life full of ministry to others.
Josephine Bernadette Lekan was born on April 10, 1923, in Cleveland, Ohio, to Joseph and Frances (Perko) Lekan. Joseph and Frances were both born in a region of Austria which later became part of Yugoslavia and is now the country of Slovenia. They emigrated to America in the early part of the 20th Century and settled in Cleveland, where they met. Joseph worked in a steel mill, while Frances was a domestic worker.
The couple married in 1908, and two years later welcomed their first child, Joseph Jr. Eleven more children followed: twins Cy and Matt, Frank, Frances, John, Marie, Rosalie, Josephine, Louis, Angela (known as Pat), and Anthony.
Read more about Sister Miriam (PDF)
Recording of Sister Miriam Joseph's Vigil Service - After clicking the link, download the recording by right-clicking on the video choosing "Save video as." Worship Aid (PDF)
Recording of Sister Miriam Joseph's Funeral Mass - After clicking the link, download the recording by right-clicking on the video choosing "Save video as." Worship Aid (PDF)
(1930-2024)
When she retired from St. Peter the Apostle School in Harper Woods, Michigan, in 1995, the school declared May 17 of that year as “Sister Shirley Day.” After all, considering that she taught there for twenty-three years, she had certainly made her mark on the school, its staff, and its students.
In the tributes published in the school newsletter that week, the staff’s remembrances of her included these:
“Sister Shirley is a teacher who stops at nothing when it comes to motivating her students. She’s even been known to dance on the table for her fourth grade students.”
“Sister Shirley exemplifies what it means to be a fair but firm teacher. As her former student and now colleague, I have nothing but the utmost respect and admiration for her.”
“Sister Shirley has been an exemplary role model, as well as a dedicated religious woman to the teaching profession and to the hundreds of students she has taught.”
Read more about Sister Shirley (PDF)
Recording of Sister Shirley's Vigil Service - After clicking the link, download the recording by right-clicking on the video choosing "Save video as." Worship Aid (PDF)
Recording of Sister Shirley's Funeral Mass - After clicking the link, download the recording by right-clicking on the video choosing "Save video as." Worship Aid (PDF)
Our Adrian Dominican cemetery with its circular headstones is a beautiful place of rest for women who gave their lives in service to God — and a peaceful place for contemplation and remembrance.
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