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March 27, 2023, Mining, Pampanga, Philippines – With profound joy and gratitude, the Adrian Dominican Sisters of the Our Lady of Remedies Mission Chapter dedicated their new Central House, which serves as a residence and office building. The celebration included Mass; a formal dedication and blessing of the building and its rooms; and a festive dinner.
Nearly 300 people attended the event, including more than two dozen clergy from dioceses where the Sisters minister. The Mass was concelebrated by four bishops, including Florentino Lavarias, DD, Archbishop of San Fernando; Paciano Aniceto, DD, Archbishop Emeritus of the Archdiocese of San Fernando, Pampanga; Bishop Roberto Calara Mallari of the Diocese of San Jose (Neuva Ecija); and the Bishop of the Diocese of Caloocan (near Manila), Pablo Virgilio David, who is President of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines. Also attending were members of the Pampanga Association of Women Religious and of the Dominican Sisters International from the Philippines; Adrian Dominican Sisters from the United States, including former Prioress Patricia Siemen, OP, current Prioress Elise D. García, OP, former General Councilor and Administrator Frances Nadolny, OP, and current General Councilor and Vicaress Lorraine Réaume, OP; local officials; lay Dominicans; and students, co-workers, and friends of the Our Lady of Remedies Sisters.
The Central House replaces the original Motherhouse of the Our Lady of Remedies Dominican Congregation, founded in the 1960s with support in the formation process from the Adrian Dominican Congregation. In 2011, the Our Lady of Remedies Congregation merged with the Adrian Dominican Congregation.
Left: A happy crowd gathers for the ribbon cutting of the stairs leading to another floor of the Central House. Right: Sisters process through the corridors of the new Central House, named the Adrian Dominican House of Remedies.
In 2022, the Sisters in the Philippines were asked to vacate their Motherhouse – located on land owned by the Archdiocese of San Fernando – so the Archdiocese could use the space to expand its seminary.
The three-story Central House, named the Adrian Dominican House of Remedies, is on the campus of the Dominican School of Angeles City, a mission of the Sisters, in the barangay or neighborhood of Mining, Province of Pampanga, Philippines. The building includes nearly 40 bedrooms, offices for the Chapter Prioress and the Treasurer, a chapel, a conference room, archives, refectories (dining rooms) for Sisters and guests; a kitchen; a community room; and outdoor areas, such as a labyrinth, grotto in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and a greenhouse. It also will include solar panels and improved Internet and Wi-Fi.
Left: Long view of the chapel. Right: The dining room.
In an earlier interview, Sister Maria Yolanda G. Manapsal, OP, Chapter Prioress of Our Lady of Remedies Mission Chapter, spoke of the Adrian Dominican House of Remedies as a place that can serve the people of Mining. “We are planning to extend our ministry to the street children of Mining,” she said. “It will be a great opportunity to work with people who are poor.”
In her address to the assembly toward the end of Mass, Sister Yolanda expressed deep gratitude for the Adrian Dominican House of Remedies. “Our hearts are filled with joy and gladness with this dream come true,” Sister Yolanda said. “After saying good-bye to our Motherhouse where we lived for almost 50 years, God has surprised us with this edifice.” She described the Adrian Dominican House of Remedies as a “beautiful home we can call our very own,” and credited the “grace; divine providence; and the outpouring love, mercy, and compassion of our God.”
Sister Yolanda thanked all who helped in the funding and construction of the Adrian Dominican House of Remedies: the 2016-2022 General Council of the Adrian Dominican Sisters; other benefactors, sponsors, friends, and family whose donations made the building’s construction possible; local government officials; the construction company and the landscaper; Sisters in the Mission Chapter who solicited donations and helped in the preparation of seedlings for the garden; members of the previous Mission Council, headed by former Chapter Prioress Sister Rosita Yaya, OP; members of the Construction Committee; and other Adrian Dominican Sisters.
“God will surely bestow upon you hundredfold blessings,” Sister Yolanda said. She concluded by asking God to “make us worthy of this place by being blessings to others, too, and give us the grace to become the best version of ourselves for others.”
Sister Elise D. García, OP, Prioress of the Congregation, offered her own words of encouragement to the Sisters of Our Lady of Remedies Mission Chapter and to all who were involved in the construction of the Adrian Dominican House of Remedies.
“The construction of this convent is a sign of hope in our world – not just here in Mining, not just here in Pampanga or the Philippines, but truly a sign of hope for our entire world that there is a presence of our beautiful Dominican community here – a witness to the love of God that is within us and that is manifested by each and every one of the Sisters who will call this Dominican house home from this day forward,” she said.
February 24, 2023, Lviv, Ukraine – Riding trains overnight in a warzone, attending meetings in bomb shelters and the funeral of young soldiers slain in war, talking to war victims and to the people who reach out to them in service. These are some of the highlights that Sister Donna Markham, OP, PhD, shared in a webinar about her mid-February solidarity visit to Ukraine.
As President and CEO of Catholic Charities USA (CCUSA), Sister Donna traveled to Ukraine for her week-long visit to “get a sense of the reality” of the women and children coming to the United States from Ukraine. The visit is a follow-up to a meeting about a year ago between Sister Donna, senior staff members of CCUSA, and Ukrainian bishops to discuss how CCUSA could reach out and support refugees from Ukraine.
In addition, Sister Donna said, she made the dangerous journey to Ukraine to meet with her counterparts – staff members of Caritas Ukraine – to learn about their experiences and to engage with the Church leaders about the “severe, massive trauma” inflicted on the Ukrainian people during the war with Russia.
Sister Donna’s journey took her and her traveling companions – Archbishop Borys Gudziak; Father Roman Oliinyk, a Ukrainian priest from Pennsylvania; and Bishop John Barres of the Diocese of Rockville Centre, New York – from Warsaw, Poland, to Lviv to attend a funeral of two young Ukrainian soldiers killed that week. While there, they also visited a military rehabilitation hospital for patients suffering from war injuries.
In Kyiv, Sister Donna and her companions met with her counterparts in Caritas Ukraine, who serve in a center that ministers to “literally tens of thousands of people who have been internally displaced” by the war. “Caritas Ukraine is providing the same kinds of things that Catholic Charities is providing at our border with our migrants – the blankets, clean clothing, bedding, [and] toiletries,” she said. “And they’re doing that with thousands of people every day.”
Sister Donna’s time in Kyiv also gave her the opportunity to hear about other issues the Ukrainian people have faced during the ongoing war:
the massacre by Russian soldiers of the citizens of the town of Bucha in the early period of the war,
a woman medic’s account of her 94-days of imprisonment and torture by Russians.
Back in Lviv, she met with the students at the Ukrainian Catholic University, had breakfast with special needs young adults living in Emmaus House on the university campus, and experienced meetings in a bomb shelter during attacks on the city.
As a follow up to her visit, Sister Donna said she plans to develop materials that can be used in training in “managing trauma, largely for the leaders and for students so that they will have some tools in the healing process once they’re in their own communities.” In turn, she said, Catholic Charities will “do everything possible to help the women and children [refugees in the United States] to heal from the trauma.”
Sister Donna concluded by suggesting ways that people in the United States can help the people of Ukraine. “Mostly, they need our friendship,” she said. “They need to know that they are not standing alone. They need to know that we care about them and that we’ll do whatever is possible for us to help them.”
Sister Donna also suggested the concerned people send donations – to Catholic Charities under the umbrella of refugees to help Ukrainian refugees in the United States and to Catholic Relief Services, the U.S. Catholic Church’s relief organization for the rest of the world.
Watch a recording of Sister Donna’s webinar.
Feature photo: Sister Donna Markham, OP, PhD, right, examines the many donations made to the people of Ukraine through Caritas Ukraine in Kyiv. Screenshot from Solidarity Visit to Ukraine Webinar