What's Happening

By Sister Nancy Jurecki, OP

February 12, 2025, Angeles City, Pampanga, the Philippines – Ever since the Dominican Sisters of the Our Lady of Remedies Congregation, based in Pampanga, the Philippines, merged with the Adrian Dominican Sisters in November 2011, the Sisters in both countries have sought ways to get to know one another and to experience one another’s culture and country. Recently, an exchange was initiated in which Sister Nancy Jurecki, OP, was to spend about eight months in the Philippines and Sister Abegail Santos, OP, was to spend about three months in the United States. Below is Sister Nancy’s reflection on her time in the Philippines. 

Since having met the late Sister Zenaida “Zenny” Nacpil, OP, 20 or more years ago, I have wanted to meet the good Sisters she spoke so lovingly about. My dream was fulfilled with the opportunity I have been afforded to spend time with our Sisters in the Philippines.

I left for the Philippines on the Feast of the Holy Rosary, October 7, 2024, having received a blessing from our Sisters at the Motherhouse in Adrian, Michigan. For the past several months, I have been living with 13 of our Sisters who reside at the Adrian Dominican House of Remedies, the Chapter House in Angeles City. Another 21 Sisters are scattered throughout San Fernando and San Jose Dioceses, sharing faith and life with the people through, essentially, teaching and social action ministries. I have already visited a number of our Sisters in their ministries and hope to be with them all before returning home in early June.

My days are fairly routine. I wake early for a morning walk to beat the heat. Sister Marlene Villar, OP, is faithful in walking with me. Prayer begins in the community chapel at 6:00 a.m. Through the miracle of technology, the Sisters join our Dominican brothers at the Minor Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary of Manaoag for office and morning Mass. 

After breakfast, I walk to the Dominican School, comprised of two well-kept buildings. A covered court in the process of construction separates the convent from the school. I am tasked with helping Sister Arsenia Marie “Seny” Puno, OP, in the Guidance Office in the morning. At 80-plus years, Sister Seny serves as both Head of School and guidance counselor. After lunch, I tutor a second grader who has learning disabilities. The day ends with dinner and prayer.

The Sisters have been very good to me in introducing me to their country and their culture. I am not tied to my little ministries but am encouraged to respond to invitations that open me to numerous locations and experiences. I have attended ordinations, festivals, parties, and funerals. To date, I have visited several of the Sisters in their communities and/or ministry sites.

I will have many stories to share by the time I go home. A thrill for me, early on, was visiting Holy Rosary School in Tala, near Manila. This school was started by a Dominican priest more than 70 years ago with much support from our Sisters over the past 50 or so years. Originally, the school served impoverished children and families affected by Hansen’s disease. 

Thanks be to God, the scourge of leprosy no longer affects the community, but poverty certainly does. While at an anniversary celebration there, I met with “scholars” attending college on scholarships provided by monies we collect during Mission Appeals at parishes in the United States. The Holy Rosary School students gifted me with a box of individually written thank you notes and presented me with a necklace they had created from dried leaves, shells, and the emblem of their school.

Another memory planted deep within my soul was spending New Year’s Day with Sister Seny’s family in Lubao. Sister Seny’s family now resides in a resettlement village, having lost everything under the ashes of Mount Pinatubo in 1991. The openness, hospitality, and generosity of people who have virtually nothing was humbling. Sister Seny’s family truly welcomed the stranger and allowed me insight into the truly important “things” in life: faith, family, and fun.

I’ve told the Sisters that, as I see it, they do two things very well: play and pray. Christmas was a perfect example. Advent is briefly interrupted in the Philippines by a tradition of Simbang Gabi. Nine days before Christmas, culminating on Christmas Eve, a Mass with all the songs, smells, bells, and prayers associated with Christmas is celebrated in the evening or during the early hours of the morning. No matter the hour, each day, the churches are packed.

The playfulness of the Sisters was on display, at its finest, during the visit by some of our leadership early in December and again on Christmas Eve when, each time, all the Sisters gathered to party ... and parties they were! The Sisters shared their customs, good food, and lots of laughter.

Church is central to the lives of the Filipino people. Our Sisters have done a marvelous job embedding themselves into the life of the Church both during worship and in the streets. The Adrian Dominican Sisters are well recognized and very much respected by the people. The support that the Sisters receive locally for their various projects is a testimony to the regard in which they are held. For example, outreach to indigenous and marginalized people is made possible, certainly by help from the Congregation, but equally as important through the assistance they receive from friendships that they have cultivated locally. 

One of my pleasures has been reading and rereading A Journey of Faith: Walking with God’s People. The book is a history of the foundation and works of the Sisters of Our Lady of Remedies, written for their 50th Anniversary. The people and places in the book take on life as I read about them, having first-hand experiences with which to relate. 

Now, as the Sisters approach the 60th anniversary of their founding, I can affirm words noted in that book as having been written by Sister Carol Johannes, OP, after a visit in 1981. Sister Carol was impressed by the “simplicity, warmth, intelligence, ministerial proficiency, and profound commitment to the mission of Jesus” by the Sisters – as am I.
 

Caption for above feature photo: Sister Nancy Jurecki, OP, center, and Sisters from Our Lady of Remedies Mission Chapter serve in a Christmas outreach to children with disabilities.

February 5, 2025, Bangalore, Karnataka, India – Adrian Dominican Sister Durstyne Farnan, OP, spoke recently to Dominican Justice Promoters from the Asia-Pacific Region about the importance of partnering with the United Nations. She was invited to speak at the 12th Conference on Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation for the Dominicans’ Asian-Pacific Region, held January 11-15, 2025, at the Montfort Spirituality Center in Bangalore, Karnataka, India.

Sister Durstyne spoke as the Dominicans’ United Nations NGO, as well as the International Dominican Sisters Justice Promoter. She was invited to speak at the conference by Sister Ameline Intia, OP, a Justice Promoter from the Philippines who attended the United Nations’ 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW68), held at the UN March 11-22, 2024. Sister Durstyne hosted 10 Dominicans at the event.

Sister Durstyne said she spoke to the Dominican Justice Promoters about the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), in which participating nations set goals in 17 areas as a “shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and planet, according to the UN website. The inter-related goals cover areas such as hunger, poverty, education, peace, and sustainability.  

Sister Durstyne explained that each nation works on the SDGs separately, setting their own target goals and objectives that must be met to achieve the SDGs. Only 17 percent of the work has been complete, with a target date of 2030. This summer, the UN will host a High Level Political Forum in which representatives of each country gives a review of their status on five of the 17 SDGs. 

Sister Durstyne also spoke to the justice promoters in general about her role as the Dominican UN representative in New York. “This [was] the first time anyone is addressing them about this,” she said. “It was a fabulous opportunity to address them about how we can partner with each other.”

During the conference, the justice promoters also crafted their mission statement and goals for their work in the Asia-Pacific Region for the next three years. Goals included organizing, mobilizing, and strengthening their capacity in justice, peace, and integrity of creation; developing and maintaining common programs in the areas of migration, climate emergency, misinformation, and all forms of violence; partnering with stakeholders; and networking with the Dominican representatives at the UN.

In plenary sessions, justice promoters from each country gave reports on the status of work in their country and listened to talks. The conference also included time for prayer, liturgy, the rosary, meals, and breaks. For Sister Durstyne, one of the highlights was a series of dances performed by the novices of the Dominican Sisters of the Presentation – the largest Dominican congregation in the world.  

“People need to know the Dominicans for Justice and Peace are very active in their countries,” Sister Durstyne said. “They’re really working with the marginalized in their countries.” She gave the example of the Dominican Sisters of the Presentation, whose ministries include a pre-K school for 190 children in the slums. “What they are doing is amazing,” she said. 

She also spoke of Father Praveen Monteiro, OP, of India, whose parish organizes about 56 programs, from awareness for the National Day of the Girl Child, International Women’s Day, and human trafficking to summer camps for the children and a program in which women learn to be tailors.

In Gujarat, in northern India, the Dominican Sisters of the Rosary are helping the women to reclaim some of their traditional embroidery skills to generate some income, she added. 

A sightseeing day during the conference gave Sister Durstyne the opportunity to visit another part of India and to interact with the people. “We went to see palaces and dancing waters in the fountains,” she recalled, but they also experienced the hospitality of the Dominican Sisters of the Presentation. “They gave us each a wreath of chrysanthemums,” she recalled. 

But the Sisters didn’t need to travel far in India to experience the hospitality. Sister Durstyne recalled receiving another wreath of flowers during a meeting in Bangalore, as well as an invitation to join a local family’s celebration of their baby’s baptism. “It was a full moon night,” she said. “People were dancing and [we had] lots of food and sodas … The hospitality of the people is just so striking.”

Looking back on her time in India, Sister Durstyne said, “It was a wonderful experience. We had a great opportunity to talk about the Dominican NGO and why it’s so important for us Dominicans to be part of it.”
 

Caption for above feature photo: Novices of the Dominican Sisters of the Presentation, from India, performed a series of dances during a recent meeting of Dominican Justice and Peace Promoters of the Asian-Pacific Region.