What's Happening

May 7, 2020, Adrian, Michigan – Sister Sharon Spanbauer, OP, a nurse practitioner who served retired Sisters at the Adrian Dominican Congregation’s Dominican Life center (DLC) from 2001 to 2014, has been appointed Mission Prioress to work with the Sisters in the Holy Rosary Mission Chapter. Sister Patricia Siemen, OP, Prioress of the Congregation, made the announcement May 4, 2020.

Sister Sharon will begin a four-year term on July 1, 2020, and will share collaborative leadership with Sister Patricia Dulka, OP, Chapter Prioress of Holy Rosary Mission Chapter. She succeeds Sister Joanne Peters, OP, who on June 30, 2020, completes her three-year term as Co-Chapter Prioress. The Holy Rosary Mission Chapter is comprised of retired Sisters residing at the DLC.

The Mission Prioress works as an equal with the Chapter Prioress as canonical major superiors to the Sisters in their Chapter. Only in the areas of formation and exclaustration – release from religious life – do Chapter Prioresses have full responsibility. 

“I’m looking forward to getting to know the Chapter members as individuals and to accompany them and facilitate their life in ministry,” Sister Sharon said. “I hope that together we might find a way to best follow the Vision of the Congregation and to live the best of life as Adrian Dominican Sisters individually and communally.”

Sister Sharon hopes to bring to her new ministry her background in health care – which can help her to advocate for the Sisters’ medical care – as well as her teaching and listening skills, her care and compassion, and a leadership style in which she “works with others and can help organize and facilitate their goals.”

A native of Rockford, Illinois, Sister Sharon graduated from Bishop Muldoon High School and entered the Adrian Dominican Congregation in September 1967. She loved her early years as a teacher but yearned for a one-on-one ministry. In 1989, she left her ministry as a chemistry teacher at Bishop Foley High School in Madison Heights, Michigan, to earn her Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) from Wayne State University in Detroit. 

After earning a Nurse Practitioner degree from Michigan State University, Sister Sharon ministered at Dillon Family Medicine, a large clinic in Dillon, South Carolina, sponsored by the Franciscan Sisters of Mercy. She went on to become the first nurse practitioner to serve at the Dominican Life Center and, beginning in 2015, ministered as the Director of Health Services at Siena Heights University, sponsored by the Adrian Dominican Sisters. She ran a free, one-woman clinic for students, faculty, and staff members.

Her appointment as Mission Prioress brings her back to the DLC, to the retired Sisters and the Co-workers she has come to love. “I’m very delighted,” she said. “I loved my time at the Dominican Life Center and my ministry there, and I deeply respect all of our Co-workers and what they do to make life comfortable and productive for our Sisters. I’m really joyfully looking forward to this new ministry.” 

March 23, 2020, Adrian, Michigan – Sister Margaret “Peggy” Coyne, OP, a nurse who currently serves as Health and Wellness Director for the Adrian Dominican Sisters, was elected on March 14, 2020, to a four-year term as Chapter Prioress of the Adrian Crossroads Mission Chapter of the Adrian Dominican Sisters.

The Mission Chapter is based in Lenawee County, Michigan, which includes Adrian. Mission Chapters, part of the government structure of the Congregation, are made up of Mission Groups, Sisters and Associates who meet regularly for Congregation business and community. Each Mission Group elects a delegate, a Sister who serves on the Mission Council with the Chapter Prioress to focus on living out the mission in their particular geographical area.

Sister Peggy will begins her term on July 1, 2020. She succeeds Sister Mary Jane Lubinski, OP.

In a message to Adrian Dominican Sisters and Associates, Prioress Patricia Siemen, OP, affirmed the election, promised and encouraged prayers for Sister Peggy, and thanked Sister Mary Jane for her years of service.

As Chapter Prioress of Adrian Crossroads Mission Chapter, Sister Peggy’s responsibilities include promoting the unity of the Mission Chapter, inspiring the Sisters to fidelity in their life of mission, and discerning life decisions with the Sisters in the Chapter. Sister Peggy will also serve on the Congregation’s Leadership Council with the Prioress, General Council, and other Chapter Prioresses.

“I was awestruck,” Sister Peggy said after the election. “I’m still humbled by this, by the opportunity to work with all those wisdom figures in Adrian Crossroads Mission Chapter.”

Born in 1952 in New York City to Irish immigrants, Sister Peggy studied at St. Clare’s School of Nursing and became a registered nurse. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) degree from Siena Heights University in Adrian and a Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) degree from Regis University in Denver.

'Sister Peggy worked for 15 years as a nurse in the intensive care unit at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, New York, and then at Blythedale Children’s Hospital in Valhalla, New York. She joined the Hastings (New York) Franciscan Sisters in 1984, and left that congregation in 1995.

Through a friend, Sister Peggy met a group of Adrian Dominican Sisters in Chicago.  Through their encouragement, she entered the Adrian Dominican Congregation in 1999. After professing her vows as an Adrian Dominican Sister, she ministered as Director of Behavioral Health at Mercy Hospital Chicago, overseeing the inpatient unit, the day hospital and outpatient programs, and four outpatient satellite units. Since 2015, she has been Director of Health and Wellness for the Adrian Dominican Congregation.

Sister Peggy brings into her new position the gifts of patience, fairness, common sense, wisdom, active listening, and a sense of humor. “I understand the challenges of gracefully aging and the limitations associated with doing so,” she told Sisters before her election. “I desire the very best for each Sister as I journey with you.”

She is also willing to meet the demands of being on call for ailing Sisters at all times of the day. Another challenge for Chapter Prioresses, she said, is working with people in difficult situations. “I know that I bring a calm and empathetic presence to such times, as well as the ability to be direct, which helps all those involved come to a peaceful resolution.”

“I’m honored to be working with you,” Sister Peggy told the Sisters. “It gives me great pleasure to walk into the future, into the unknown, with you."