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April 29, 2019, Adrian, Michigan – Sister Magdalena Ezoe, OP, pianist, will offer a medley of compositions by Fryderyk Chopin (1810-1849) during a concert at 1:30 p.m. Sunday, May 5, 2019. Part of the First Sunday Music Series, Sister Magdalena’s concert is at St. Catherine Chapel on the Adrian Dominican Sisters’ Motherhouse Campus, 1257 E. Siena Heights Drive, Adrian. 

The medley includes two Polonaises, three Nocturnes, Fantaisie, one Etude, and a Scherzo. She will pay particular attention to the Scherzo, a unique composition that includes, in the middle section, quotes from the popular Polish Christmas carol, “Lulajze Jeźuniu.” “I will play the original Polish carol and explain how Chopin incorporated it into this Scherzo,” Sister Magdalen said.

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.

April 27, 2019, Santa Cruz, California – Sister Mary Ellen Leciejewski, OP, Vice President of Corporate Responsibility for Dignity Health, notes in a special Earth Day article in National Catholic Reporter that the hospitals in her health care system are focusing on their responsibility to be good stewards of natural resources. Sister Mary Ellen has long been in the forefront of ecological efforts at Dignity Health, now part of CommonSpirit Health since the merger of Dignity Health and Catholic Health Initiatives in February 2019. Under Sister Mary Ellen’s leadership, Dignity Health set a number of specific goals to “reduce its carbon footprint by 2020.” To read the portion of the article on Sister Mary Ellen and her work with Dignity Health, click here and scroll down a bit more than half way through the article.