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August 13, 2024, Adrian, Michigan – The Adrian Dominican Sisters formally received Sister Jamie Caporizo as a novice on August 10, 2024, during a special ritual held in the context of Vespers, Evening Prayers. 

Sister Jamie will begin the first of her two years as a novice later this August, when she travels to Chicago to participate in the Inter-Congregational Collaborative Novitiate (ICCN). During this year, Sister Jamie and novices from other congregations of Catholic Sisters will live in community and focus on the elements of religious life, such as prayer, theological study at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, formal weekly meetings with other novices, and spiritual direction. Each novice will also learn about the spirituality of her own congregation.  

“I’m grateful for all the opportunities for growth that I’ve been given this year,” Sister Jamie said. As a Candidate, she learned about the Congregation through various experiences, often visiting Sisters in ministries from Adrian and Flint, Michigan, to the Dominican Republic. “Each of our Sisters and our Associates has varied gifts and varied talents, and yet at the heart of it all was our mission,” she said.

Sister Jamie, a native of Stamford, Connecticut, began her formal discernment process with the Adrian Dominican Sisters a year ago with her entrance as a Candidate. After earning a bachelor's degree in music education and choral conducting from the University of North Carolina-Charlotte, she taught music at her alma mater, Rippowam School in Stamford, Connecticut. 

While earning her master’s degree in sacred music from the University of Notre Dame, Sister Jamie served as a liturgy intern with the Sisters of the Holy Cross. She continued working for the Sisters for five years as Director of Music and Liturgy. While discerning her call to enter the Adrian Dominican Sisters, she began a new ministry at Alvernia University in Reading, Pennsylvania, first as a campus minister and then as Senior Director of Mission and Ministry.

Sister Patricia Walter, OP, Sister Jamie’s mentor and Dominican Charism Formator, welcomed the assembly to the Rite of Reception and affirmed Sister Jamie’s readiness to begin the next step of her initial formation. “From the very first week, she has said ‘we’ when talking about this Congregation and offered her considerable gifts to us,” Sister Patricia noted. “She has wholeheartedly embraced community life with Sisters in Siena House and here on campus. She has warm-heartedly responded to needs in a variety of places, ministering creatively and effectively.”

Sister Patricia Harvat, OP, in her reflection during the service, agreed. “You are ready, Jamie, for God to write the next chapter in your life,” she said. “The margins are clean and space open for the unfolding words of love, mercy, and hope. Your desire to continue this Dominican journey is bold.” 

During the Rite of Reception, Prioress Elise D. García, OP, formally examined Sister Jamie on her desire to be “received into the Congregation of the Dominican Sisters of Adrian as a Novice, and to experience more fully our way of life in faithful observance of our Rule and Constitution.” 

Sister Jamie received a copy of the Congregation’s Constitution with the instruction to study and reflect upon the document as she continues to discern her call to religious life. She was also presented with and clothed in a preaching garment, with the words of Sister Elise: “Receive this garment, sign of your desire to preach God’s word.”

Sister Jamie will travel to the Inter-Congregational Collaborative Novitiate in Chicago on August 24, 2024, accompanied by Sister Sara Fairbanks, OP, Novice Director.  

The Adrian Dominican Sisters encourage single Catholic women, ages 19 to 35, to consider whether God is calling them to vowed Dominican life. A weekend retreat, “Come and See for Yourself,” is at Weber Retreat and Conference Center September 20-22, 2024. For information, contact Sister Katherine Frazier, OP, at [email protected] or register online at https://tinyurl.com/ADSDiscern.

August 14, 2024, Adrian, Michigan – In a spirit of joy and a celebration of community, Adrian Dominican Sisters, Associates, family members, and friends witnessed the Perpetual Profession of Vows of Sister Katherine Frazier, OP. The Rite of Perpetual Profession was held on August 11, 2024, during liturgy in St. Catherine Chapel at the Adrian Dominican Sisters Motherhouse Campus in Adrian.

“I am so grateful for this opportunity to make my perpetual vows with the Adrian Dominican Sisters,” Sister Katherine said. “Throughout my formation, I have been rooted in an 800-year Dominican tradition, and I know that those roots will sustain me as I continue to discover where God is drawing us in the future. At this same time, I see my commitment not only to being with the Adrian Dominican Sisters, but to my Dominican family all around the world, and my desire to preach a message of love and mercy to the world.”

The older of the two daughters of Lee and Lynne (McKenna) Frazier, Katherine is native to the Fort Wayne, Indiana, area and formally entered the Adrian Dominican Congregation in 2015. She holds a bachelor’s degree in medieval studies from St. Mary’s of Notre Dame, Indiana; a master’s degree in world archeology from the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England; and a Master of Arts in Pastoral Studies (MAPS) from Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. 

Sister Katherine has spent much of her adult life working with youth. At the time of her entrance, she was Director of the Bishop Donald Trautman House at Gannon University in Erie, Pennsylvania. After her First Profession in 2018, she served in Mission Integration at Regina Dominican High School, an all-girls school in Wilmette, Illinois, formerly a sponsored institution of the Adrian Dominican Sisters. She spent a year working in refugee resettlement in New Haven, Connecticut, helping refugees to find their way in the United States. 

In June 2022, Sister Katherine became Executive Director of the Dominican Youth Movement USA, overseeing youth outreach programs such as the Dominican High Schools Preaching Conference, the Dominican Colleges Preaching in Action Conference, and Dominican Young Adults USA. Through the years, she has served on the Vocations Team, reaching out to young Catholic women who are considering a call to vowed religious life.

Sister Patricia Walter, OP, Sister Katherine’s mentor and Dominican Charism Formator, and Sister Mary Priniski, OP, Chapter Prioress, both testified as to Sister Katherine’s readiness for perpetual vows. 

“Through the years, I have seen Katherine’s commitment to prayer and her delight in leading groups of young people in reflection,” Sister Patricia said. “She has developed insights and skills which serve her well in meeting the challenges of community life and ministry …. She has discerned her call to religious life prayerfully and faithfully, fully aware that religious life is undergoing significant transformation.”

As Chapter Prioress, Sister Mary has worked with Katherine for several years. “Her creativity in those ministries has been evident,” she said, adding that she also experienced Sister Katherine leading prayer, preaching, serving as cantor, and using the creation of art in her contemplation. “I can enthusiastically attest to the readiness of Sister Katherine for perpetual profession.”

Sister Lorraine Réaume, OP, Vicaress and General Councilor, reflected on the Sunday readings: the prophet Elijah’s rest and refreshment on hearth cakes before beginning a nonstop 40-day walk and Jesus’ treatise on the Eucharist, food that brings eternal life. She noted the “mysterious journey” that Sister Katherine is committing to at a time when the future of religious life is unknown. “But she knows, and we know, that the sustenance and love needed will be provided,” Sister Lorraine added. “We trust in the God who calls us from the future.

“Katherine, today is a stopping point on the way of your journey,” Sister Lorraine said. “This commitment you and we are making to each other will feed and nourish you so that you can go forward and fully live the Dominican religious life you have begun with such fidelity.”

During the Rite of Profession, Sister Elise D. García, OP, Prioress of the Congregation, formally questioned Sister Katherine on her willingness to unite herself more closely to God by a bond of religious profession, to live a life of charity, and to center her ministerial activity in contemplation. 

Sister Katherine professed her vow of obedience to God, the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Dominic, Sister Elise, and her lawful successors “according to the Rule of St. Augustine and the Constitution of the Sisters of St. Dominic of the Most Holy Rosary until death.”

Sister Elise presented Sister Katherine with a ring, symbolizing her perpetual fidelity to Jesus Christ. The ritual concluded with the signing of the profession documents by Sister Katherine and Sister Elise; Sister Katherine’s two witnesses, Sisters Emmy Chelagat Choge, OP, and Carol Gross, OP; Sister Mary Priniski, OP; and Father Dennis Woerter, OP, celebrant, a Dominican Friar of the U.S. Central Province.

On behalf of the Dominican family – and particularly the Dominican Sisters of Adrian – Sister Elise affirmed Sister Katherine in her perpetual profession. “We joyfully congratulate you and pray that God continues to inspire you to enter into each day with a generous heart.”