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January 28, 2020, Oakland, California – Dorothy Ann Fernandes Castillo became an Adrian Dominican Associate December 16, 2019, at the Oakland, California, home of Sisters Marian Castelluccio, OP, and Evelyn Montez, OP – her mentors – and Sister Cecilia Nguyen, OP.

Associates are women and men, at least 18 years of age – married, single, widowed, or divorced – who make a non-vowed commitment to partner with the Adrian Dominican Sisters. While maintaining their own lifestyle and remaining financially independent, they participate in various spiritual, social, and ministerial experiences with the Sisters and live out the Dominican charism in their daily lives.

Attending the Ritual of Acceptance of Associate Dorothy Ann Fernandes Castillo are, from left, Sisters Eileen Johnson, SC, and Marian Castelluccio, OP; Dorothy; and Sisters Cecilia Nguyen, OP, Corinne Florek, OP, and Evelyn Montez, OP.

Dorothy met the Adrian Dominican Sisters when she was a student at All Saints Grade School and Bishop O’Dowd High School in her native Oakland. A member of the Holy Cross Crowd, she entered the Adrian Dominican Congregation and attended Siena Heights College (now University) in Adrian. After teaching, she worked in Human Resources at Dominican Hospital in Santa Cruz, California, in charge of hiring nurses and keeping their records.

After leaving the Congregation, Dorothy met and married Edward Castillo. They have been married for more than 25 years. Dorothy is the stepmother of two adult children and a grandmother.

Dorothy and Edward have been involved in the American Legion, helping veterans and their families. Dorothy serves as the treasurer. She also ministers in several senior centers and in her parish.

As an Associate, Dorothy hopes to develop a closer spiritual relationship with the Adrian Dominican Congregation and Associate Life. She is willing to share her gift of deep spirituality with others. 

If you feel called to be an Adrian Dominican Associate, contact Mary Lach, Director of Associate Life, at 517-266-3531 or [email protected]. If you are a single Catholic woman interested in vowed life as an Adrian Dominican Sister, contact one of the Co-Directors of Vocations: Sister Tarianne DeYonker, OP, at 517-266-3532 or [email protected] or Sister Mariane Fahlman, OP, at 517-266-3537 or [email protected].

November 8, 2018, Buffalo, New York – Adrian Dominican Sister Xiomara Méndez-Hernández, OP, a Chaplain at the Loyola University Medical Center in Chicago, delivered one of the keynote addresses November 4 at the 2018 National Religious Vocation Directors Convocation. Following the theme of the convocation, “Walk with Me: Encounter, Accompaniment, and Invitation,” Sister Xiomara focused on the invitation of communities and vocation directors to women and men who might have a call to religious life. A native of the Dominican Republic, Sister Xiomara professed her perpetual vows in her native land in December 2017 and serves on the Core Team of Giving Voice, a peer network of finally professed Roman Catholic Sisters younger than the age of 50. Watch Sister Xiomara’s keynote address.