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October 10, 2022, Adrian, Michigan – The new Prioress and General Council of the Adrian Dominican Sisters formally took office October 8, 2022, during a special liturgy, the Celebration of Leadership. The Congregation’s new leadership team is composed of Sister Elise D. García, OP, Prioress of the Congregation; Sister Lorraine Réaume, OP, Vicaress and General Councilor; and Sisters Janice Brown, OP, Corinne Sanders, OP, and Bibiana “Bless” Colasito, OP, General Councilors. They will hold office through June 30, 2028.
The new Prioress and General Council were elected during the Adrian Dominican Sisters’ 2022 General Chapter, held June 27, 2022, through July 2, 2022, in Chicago. Normally held at the Adrian Dominican Sisters’ Motherhouse in February, the 2022 General Chapter was delayed until June in response to the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sister Patricia Siemen, OP, the outgoing Prioress, welcomed the assembly of Sisters, Associates, Co-workers, family members and friends, and representatives of the Congregation’s sponsored and legacy institutions and explained the significance of the ritual.
The Transfer of Leadership “is a significant moment in the life and history of the Congregation,” Sister Patricia explained. “It marks a new chapter … a tradition where the former leadership team serves and then returns to the circle of members, as the new leaders rightly mark their place.” She encouraged the Sisters, Associates, and partners in mission to “boldly, joyfully, and in great trust in God’s presence commit our love, our support, and gratitude to our new General Council as they lead us into a more richly diverse, expansive community.”
Preparing for the Transfer of Leadership Ritual are Father James Hug, SJ and Sister Judith Benkert, OP, and, clockwise from right, Sisters Mary Margaret Pachucki, OP, Frances Nadolny, OP, Patricia Harvat, OP, Bibiana “Bless” Colasito, OP, Corinne Sanders, OP, Janice Brown, OP, Lorraine Réaume, OP, Elise García, OP, and Patricia Siemen, OP, at the ambo.
After reading a proclamation from the Adrian Dominican Sisters’ Constitution, spelling out the role of leadership in the Congregation’s governance, Sister Patricia called forth her successor, Sister Elise, asking if she accepts “the responsibility as Prioress of the Congregation to carry forward the decisions and directions of the General Chapter 2022 and to care for the common life and ordinary governance of the Congregation.” Sister Elise declared her willingness.
In turn each member of the outgoing General Council – Sisters Mary Margaret Pachucki, OP, Frances Nadolny, OP, Patricia Harvat, OP, and Elise García, OP – called forth her successor and formally questioned her about her own willingness to take on the responsibilities of General Councilor.
In her reflection on the readings, Sister Elise expressed her gratitude to the 2016-2022 General Council for the love they poured out during the past six years in a very difficult time, and for their predecessors since 1923, when the Adrian Dominican Sisters were established as a separate Dominican Congregation. She also acknowledged the contributions of “more than five dozen” General Councilors over the years; more than 3,000 women “who have given their lives in extraordinary service as Adrian Dominican Sisters,” and the many who led dedicated lives – before their mergers – as Edmonds Dominican Sisters, based in the Seattle area, and Sisters of the Our Lady of Remedies Dominican Congregation, based in Pampanga, the Philippines. The Congregation has also been blessed by the lives and gifts of Associates, Co-workers, Partners in Mission in sponsored institutions and legacy institutions, and bold spiritual seekers, she said.
“We make this transition of leadership at a hinge moment in the life of our Congregation and the life of our Earth community,” Sister Elise said. “Religious life is undergoing epochal change. It is a painful gift to be living through this now as we [complete] one form of religious life and give birth to another.” She noted the grief of burying 240 Sisters in the past six years, as well as the personal sorrows and losses carried individually by those involved in the Congregation.
Still, Sister Elise said, “we come to this table as a people of faith in God and in each other – in the goodness of life and its miraculous unfolding over billions of years to this moment, in the power of finding purpose and meaning in this brief sojourn.” She noted the “ever ancient, ever new” call of Jesus to love one another as he has loved each of us – a call illustrated in the Enactments of General Chapter 2022.
Jesus’ call to love one another “is nothing less than turning the world in a new direction,” Sister Elise said. “It is the gift of being alive at this transformative time when how we are and what we do makes all the difference. So, let us go forth into our new chapter.”
The joyful Liturgy concluded after Communion with profound expressions of thanks from the 2022-2028 General Council to the General Council of 2016-2022 for their creative and faithful leadership during difficult times.
Read more about the new General Council and about the 2022 General Chapter Enactments.
A recording of the Eucharistic Liturgy with the Celebration of Leadership is available below. Additional photos of the event are available for viewing on the Congregation's Facebook page.
Feature photo (top): Members of the 2022-2028 General Council are, from left, Sisters Janice Brown, OP, and Bibiana “Bless” Colasito, OP, General Councilors; Sister Lorraine Réaume, OP, Vicaress and General Councilor; Sister Elise García, OP, Prioress; and Sister Corinne Sanders, OP, General Councilor.
October 4, 2022, Adrian, Michigan – The Permaculture site on the Adrian Dominican Sisters’ Motherhouse Campus includes numerous wonders – sunflowers, an edible food forest, rain gardens to prevent storm run-off and erosion, and even bins of worms involved in composting. But a new addition – an outdoor sink – could lead onlookers to wonder, “What is this doing here?”
Sister Corinne Sanders, OP, Director of the Office of Sustainability, and Jared Aslakson, Permaculture Specialist, explained the practical use of the sink: to provide water to clean produce from the Permaculture site before it’s used in the Motherhouse kitchens.
“It was a way to streamline the process,” Jared explained. “We would deliver huge amounts of potatoes to the kitchen,” leaving it up to the kitchen staff to wash them. But that was too much for the kitchen staff to handle on top of their other duties, he said. Permaculture harvests typically include more than 200 pounds of potatoes, 250 pounds of apples, and a variety of other crops.
Jared, Sister Corinne, and other Permaculture Co-workers began to wash the produce in a bucket of water. “It worked but it was cold and got dirty – and you had to crouch at a weird angle,” Jared explained. Afterward, they washed the produce in the Madden Hall kitchen.
Providentially, Joel Henricks, Director of Facilities and Grounds, was replacing the water main of the Motherhouse and had considered adding a spigot to the Permaculture site. “They were doing this once-in-a-lifetime work,” Jared said. “It was now or never to put the spigot in Permaculture.”
The sink – designed and built by Jeff Mackey, of the Facilities and Grounds Department – incorporates the water spigot and includes protection from the elements, storage space for rags, and shelves for the produce. The water comes from the City of Adrian and is potable – safe to drink and to wash produce.
By contrast, the plants in the Permaculture site are irrigated by rainwater catchment – allowing the Motherhouse to re-use water that comes to Earth naturally, Sister Corinne said.
Jared said it took Jeff about a month to complete the sink – in between the many other projects in which Facilities and Grounds Co-workers are involved. But his work drew attention from many other Co-workers who saw the project and even tried to place orders for their own outdoor sinks.
The sink will come in handy this semester as honor students from neighboring Siena Heights University come on Friday mornings to learn about Permaculture and the environment and to provide hands-on service. At the end of September, the students were involved in a potato harvest – requiring extensive use of the new sink.
Sister Corinne said another positive aspect of the sink is that it could involve some creative gatherings – perhaps tea-tasting or soup making. “How it ends up getting used will unfold as it does,” Jared added.
If you have any creative ideas of how the kitchen sink could be used for gatherings, please include them in the comment section below.
Feature photo: Jared Aslakson, Permaculture Specialist, washes potatoes in a new sink created by Jeff Mackey, of the Facilities and Grounds team, to provide a convenient place to wash produce from the Permaculture site with potable water.