What's Happening

January 29, 2020, Adrian, Michigan – Sister Magdalena Ezoe, OP, Professor Emerita of Music at Siena Heights University, will perform her next First Sunday Concert at 1:30 p.m. on February 2, 2020, in St. Catherine Chapel. 

The program consists of waltzes by Fryderyk Chopin (1810-1849), including the popular compositions, Puppy’s Waltz and Kitten’s Waltz. “I knew them by their popular nickname in Japan, but I was surprised to find out that they were also called the same in English,” Sister Magdalena explained. “They both have encircling passages for the right hand.” 

Sister Magdalena will also play a waltz which had been discovered in 1951, which she heard performed in Poland in 1991 during the "In Search of Chopin" tour in Chopin's birth place, Zelazowa Wola, Poland.

Born in Tokyo, Sister Magdalena came to the United States to study at Barry College (now University) in Miami, Florida, where she met and later joined the Adrian Dominican Sisters. She taught music for 37 years at Siena Heights University and has composed parts for the Catholic Mass, hymns, chamber music, and music for the organ and the piano. 

All are welcome to this free concert. St. Catherine Chapel is on the campus of the Adrian Dominican Sisters, 1257 E. Siena Heights Drive, Adrian. Enter the Eastern-most driveway of the complex and follow the signs to the Dominican Life Center.

The next bi-monthly First Sunday Concert – featuring nocturnes by four composers – is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. on April 5, 2020. 

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].