What's Happening

August 25, 2022, St. Louis, Missouri – As Sister Elise García, OP, completed her three-year leadership commitment to the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), Executive Director Sister Carol Zinn, SSJ, praised her for the extraordinary spirit she brought to the organization during the challenging times of COVID-19 and other global crises. She described Sister Elise as a “manifestation of global sisterhood” with “an incredible capacity to create integrative partnerships, and clearly the Gospel message in the public square is what your life is about.”

The words of praise came during the LCWR’s general assembly, held August 9-12, 2022, in St. Louis, Missouri. This was the first time since the pandemic that the annual assembly was held in person.

Sister Elise, a General Councilor for the Adrian Dominican Sisters, was elected President-elect of the LCWR during the 2019 general assembly in Scottsdale, Arizona. She served as President-Elect, 2019-2020; President, 2020-2021; and Past President, 2021-2022. Before her election, she served on the LCWR National Board.

The LCWR is comprised of the elected leadership of Catholic Sisters, representing about 80% of women religious in the United States.

Sister Elise was elected to the Adrian Dominican Sisters’ General Council during its General Chapter in 2016. During the 2022 General Chapter held in late June, she was elected to serve as Prioress, succeeding Sister Patricia Siemen, OP. Sister Elise and the newly elected General Council – Sisters Lorraine Réaume, OP, Vicaress and General Councilor, and Sisters Janice Brown, OP, Bibiana “Bless” Colasito, OP, and Corinne Sanders, OP – will take office on October 8, 2022.

Read the full article about the 2022 LCWR general assembly, written by Soli Salgado and published by the National Catholic Reporter’s Global Sisters Report.

August 18, 2022, Adrian, Michigan – The Adrian Dominican Sisters have signed an agreement to endow $500,000 for a scholarship to the Institute for Black Catholic Studies (IBCS) at Xavier University in New Orleans. The Sister Jamie Phelps, OP, Endowed Scholarship will provide financial assistance to students enrolled in advance degree or continuing education programs offered by the IBCS.

An Adrian Dominican Sister, Sister Jamie was instrumental in the establishment of the IBCS, the only institute dedicated to the Catholic Church’s mission of forming disciples for more effective ministry in the Black Catholic community, the Church, and the community at large. She served from 2003 to 2011 as the Director of the IBCS and as the Katherine Drexel Professor of Systemic Theology at Xavier University.

A psychiatric social worker, community organizer, and parish pastoral associate, Sister Jamie has also written and lectured extensively on topics such as African American Catholics, the mission of the Church, religion and human rights, evangelization, religious life, and Christology.

In addition to honoring Sister Jamie, the endowment is “an act of reparation for [the Congregation’s] complicity in racism and to advance racial equality and transformative justice,” said Prioress Patricia Siemen, OP. 

For more information, read the Global Sisters’ Reports’ Monday Starter article by Chris Herlinger. The endowed scholarship is covered in the second article.