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September 18, 2026, Adrian, Michigan – September 16, 2026, marked a major milestone for Sister Michael Thomas Watson, OP, as she celebrated 100 years of life while surrounded by Adrian Dominican Sisters and Associates, Co-workers, former colleagues, and friends. Sister Michael Thomas was celebrating a life dedicated to God; the Adrian Dominican Sisters; and the numerous students, colleagues, patients, pastors, and friends.

Sister Michael Thomas was recognized in a special way during the daily Mass celebrated in St. Catherine Chapel on her birthday. At the end of the Mass, Sharon Carelli, an Adrian Dominican Associate who ministered with Sister Michael Thomas at St. Rose Dominican Hospitals in Henderson, Nevada, presented her with special tributes. 

“You are both remembered and celebrated for your years in healing ministry and in the countless hours poured out” at St. Rose Dominican Hospitals, Sharon read from a letter written by Archbishop George Leo Thomas of the Archdiocese of Las Vegas. “You have faithfully reflected the life of Jesus through your life.”

Sharon also read a letter to Sister Michael Thomas from Bishop Gregory W. Gordon, Auxiliary Bishop of Las Vegas. “I was blessed to serve with you in the Archdiocese of Las Vegas and at St. Rose Dominican Hospitals in particular,” he wrote. “You exercised ministry with profound joy…. You inspired me, dear Sister, and I know that I am a better minister of the Lord’s healing thanks to you.”

Sharon also presented Sister Michael Thomas with the apostolic blessing of Pope Leo XIV.

Tributes to Sister Michael Thomas continued during the birthday celebration later that afternoon with letters from Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Bishop Earl Boyea of the Diocese of Lansing. In addition, the assembly of family members, former colleagues, and Adrian Dominican Sisters and Associates shared their own memories and their affection and admiration for Sister Michael Thomas.

Finally, Sister Elise D. García, OP, Prioress of the Congregation, spoke on behalf of the Adrian Dominican Sisters and Associates. “We are so proud of you,” she said. “We love you and we’re so grateful to you for the enormous contribution to so many people.”

In turn, Sister Michael Thomas thanked all who were celebrating her birthday for what they had meant to her during her life.  

“I can truly say I love all the places where I ministered,” Sister Michael Thomas said in an interview before her birthday. “I lived through the problems, and here I am … I never realized what would happen to me, but Christ is with us at all times, and he’s the one who makes decisions for us. To give of ourselves, that’s the important thing.”

The Life of Sister Michael Thomas Watson, OP

Sister Michael Thomas’ generous spirit was evident even before she entered the Adrian Dominican Congregation in 1949. Born on September 16, 1926, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the oldest of the seven children of Edward Bates and Ruth (Mohr) Watson, she was baptized Helen Margaret Watson. At the age of 15, a friend from school invited Helen to attend a Catholic Mass. Ultimately, she asked her parents for permission to convert to Catholicism. 

When her father was stationed in Japan, she took a job as a civilian secretary through Civil Service. She came to know the Charities Sisters, who took in babies whose mothers couldn’t take care of them. Helen worked out a system to make sure that the children had milk and food from the commissary. 

Sister Michael Thomas entered the Adrian Dominican Congregation on November 5, 1949; received her high school diploma from St. Joseph Academy in Adrian in 1950; and professed her first vows on August 9, 1951, and her final vows on August 9, 1956.

During about 75 years of religious life, Sister Michael Thomas has given of herself in numerous ways: as a teacher, assistant principal, and principal at Catholic schools in California and Nevada; as a pastoral minister at parishes in California; and, most recently, as a pastoral care volunteer at St. Rose Dominican Hospitals in Henderson, Nevada. She moved to the Dominican Life Center in Adrian in 2017. 

“I loved teaching the children,” Sister Michael Thomas said. “I had such wonderful experiences with each of the children I worked with.” She taught every elementary school grade except for fourth grade.

She also has fond memories of her 17 years of pastoral ministry at Our Lady of the Valley Parish in Hemet, California. “I was dedicated to giving Communion to the sick,” she said, recalling the times she drove 25 miles in one day to distribute Communion to parishioners who lived in mobile homes at a distance from the parish.

Sister Michael Thomas left Our Lady of the Valley in 1997 and, after a sabbatical, arrived at St. Rose Dominican Hospitals in 1998 to serve as pastoral care volunteer for nearly 20 years. 

The Influence of Sister Michael Thomas

Associate Sharon Carelli, who served as a Chaplain at the St. Rose de Lima campus of St. Rose Dominican Hospitals, recalled Sister Michael Thomas praying in the chapel in the afternoons and working in the gift shop in the evenings. “There was not a day when she wasn’t in the chapel with one of the staff: sitting, listening, praying with that staff member who was going through a challenge,” Sharon recalled. “That was an inspiration to me as a chaplain. I saw such a beautiful, touching, loving sight.”

Associate Shauna Walch recalled meeting Sister Michael Thomas when, at the age of 6, she was a student at St. Francis de Sales School in Las Vegas. Sister Michael Thomas at the time was teaching fifth grade. Years later, Shauna met Sister Michael Thomas when they both attended orientation at St. Rose Dominican Hospitals. Her experiences of Sister Michael Thomas over the years still shape her today, Shauna said. “Just by being herself, she was a gift. Her presence was a gift, and I think that’s something that all of us aspire to.”

Sister Phyllis Sikora, OP, an Adrian Dominican Sister who oversaw the Spiritual Care Department at St. Rose, was also impressed by the presence of Sister Michael Thomas. “Michael Thomas really taught me that it was about being a presence to everyone,” she said. “She made you feel as if you were the only person she was listening to.”
  
Sister Thomas Michael extended that presence to unhoused people who came to St. Rose, often for food in the cafeteria – which Sister Michael Thomas ensured that they received. “Michael got to know them by name and what their stories were,” Sister Phyllis said. “We weren’t just ministering to people who needed help, but we were in relationship with the people who came to the hospital. She would call them by name.”

Sister Beverly Bobola, OP, who also ministered at the hospital, recalled “several instances that I witnessed her going out of her way for the less fortunate…. We all attempt to be Christ-like to everyone that we meet, and in the hospital setting, there is more of an opportunity to be Christ-like people.”

Caption for above feature photo: Sister Michael Thomas Watson, OP, front left, sits with her family, friends, and former colleagues during the Mass celebrated on her 100th birthday.

August 11, 2026 – The celebration of the Feast of St. Dominic took on even greater significance and exuberance as Sister Jamie Caporizo, OP, made her first Profession of Vows before a packed St. Catherine Chapel at the Adrian Dominican Sisters Motherhouse August 8, 2026. 

Her proclamation of faith as she made her temporary vows was witnessed by Adrian Dominican Sisters, Sisters from other Dominican congregations and other congregations of women religious, Associates, Co-workers, family members, and friends.

In First Profession, a woman makes a formal vow of poverty, chastity, and obedience for a certain amount of time. During this continuing time of discernment, the woman and the Adrian Dominican Congregation mutually discern whether the woman’s vocation with the Adrian Dominican Sisters is a good fit for both. Ultimately, the professed Sister could discern that she is called to make Final, or Perpetual, Vows.

The presider of the Mass was Father Michael Driscoll, a priest of the Diocese of Helena, Montana, and a professor emeritus from Notre Dame University, who knew Sister Jamie since her own studies at Notre Dame.

Sister Sara Fairbanks, OP, added inspiration to the liturgy as she reflected on the readings, focusing on the Gospel story of the rich young man who could not give up his wealth to follow Jesus. “Clearly this man had not found his true purpose in life, what Jesus calls the pearl of great price, the prize of people whose lives have changed forever because they have found it,” Sister Sara said. “Jesus challenges the man and all of us to discover what is the treasure, the deep gladness God is inviting us to uncover.” 

Sister Sara, Sister Jamie’s novice director, noted that Sister Jamie has spent her years in initial formation in discernment – discerning the messages and calls of great Dominicans such as St. Dominic, St. Thomas Aquinas, and St. Catherine of Siena. “Today Jamie is beyond thinking about it,” and is ready to profess her vow as a Dominican Sister, Sister Sara said. 

Sister Sara offered Sister Jamie a final piece of advice as her novice director, quoting from Father Pedro Arrupe, SJ, Superior General of the Jesuits during the Second Vatican Council. “What you are in love with, what seizes your imagination, will affect everything. It will decide what gets you out of bed in the mornings, what you do with your evenings, how you spend your weekend, what you read, who you know, and what amazes you with joy and gratitude. Fall in love, stay in love, and it will decide everything.” 

The Rite of Profession 

The Rite of Profession began with a formal examination of Sister Jamie by Prioress of the Congregation Elise D. García, OP, as to Sister Jamie’s willingness and readiness to “unite [herself] more closely to God by a bond of religious profession.” Sister Sara testified as to Sister Jamie’s readiness to profess her first vows. 

Sister Jamie then shared her intent to profess vows with the Adrian Dominican Sisters in response to God’s call. “Today I intend to ask God, our Congregation, and the Church to profess vows as a Dominican Sister,” she said. “I desire to consecrate myself to the truth, who is Christ. I seek to open myself to the transformation of the Spirit and in so doing become the hands, the feet, and the voice of Christ to those to whom I am sent ... May I be a reed of God through whom the music of God is always singing.”

The Rite continued with Sister Jamie lying prostrate as the assembly sang the Litany of Saints, calling down the support and prayers of the Dominican saints as she took this next step in her vocation. She vowed obedience to God, the Blessed Mother Mary, St. Dominic, and Sister Elise and her lawful successors. The Rite continued with the presentation of the Congregation’s logo, and signing formal profession papers by Sister Jamie, Sister Elise, Father Discoll, and Sister Jamie’s two witnesses, Sisters Tarianne DeYonker, OP, and Pat Walter, OP.  

In her affirmation of Sister Jamie’s profession, Sister Elise welcomed her into the worldwide Dominican family, noting that her many gifts – including music and service to others – would help to form that Dominican family in the years ahead.

The First Profession of Vows is a significant step in Sister Jamie’s vocation journey. She entered the Adrian Dominican Congregation in September 2023 as a Candidate, the first year of the formal initial formation process for vowed life, and in August 2024 was received as a Novice. She spent her first year as a Novice at the InterCongregational Collaborative Novitiate (ICCN) in Chicago and her second year with the Dominican Sisters of Peace in New Haven, Connecticut, learning more about the Dominican Charism.  

Ultimately, after years of mutual discernment with the Congregation as a temporary professed Dominican Sister, Sister Jamie could request final, perpetual, vows.

Sister Jamie will move to Miami, Florida, to serve as the Director of Health, Arts and Spirituality (HAS) and Coordinator for Music Ministry at Barry University, founded and sponsored by the Adrian Dominican Sisters. She will live in community with Sisters Lenor Esnard, OP, Xiomara Méndez Hernàndez, OP, and Marílin Llanes, OP.

Sister Jamie’s Background

The middle of the three children of James and Sheila Caporizo, Sister Jamie was born and raised in Stamford, Connecticut, giving her easy access to New York City. The performances she attended sparked her interest in music, leading her to earn a bachelor’s degree in music and choral conducting from the University of North Carolina-Charlotte.

After teaching music at her elementary school alma mater, Rippowam School, she earned a master’s degree in sacred music from the University of Notre Dame, simultaneously serving as a liturgy intern with the Sisters of the Holy Cross and continued working with the sisters after graduation.

During her time of initial discernment with the Adrian Dominican Sisters, Sister Jamie began a new ministry at Alvernia University in Reading, Pennsylvania, sponsored by the Bernardine Franciscan Sisters. Even during a pilgrimage to Assisi, she continued to feel the call to enter the Adrian Dominican Congregation.

Sister Jamie said the next chapter in her life, her ministry at Barry University, “will be a chance for me to grow in a lot of ways.” Over the years, she said, “I have felt the love, the challenge, and the commitment of the Sisters. I’m almost speechless, I’m so grateful.”

 

Caption for above feature photo: Sister Jamie Caporizo, OP, second from left, holds the hand of Prioress Elise D. Garcia, OP, while professing her first vows. Formal witnesses are Sister Tarianne DeYonker, OP, holding microphone, and Sister Patricia Walter, OP.