What's Happening

August 10, 2026, Atlantic City, New Jersey – “Women liturgical preachers are a gift of the Holy Spirit, a fire in the church that enkindles faith. These women, called by the living Christ who dwells within them, have the right and duty to serve in collaboration with their brothers as equal partners in the church’s mission of liturgical preaching at the Eucharist.”

Those words come from an introduction written by Sister Sara Fairbanks, OP, in Lay Liturgical Preaching in a Synodal Church. The book took first place in the Catholic Media Association’s (CMA) Liturgy or Worship Category in its Book Awards. The award was announced during the CMA’s annual conference, held in June 2026 in Atlantic
City, New Jersey.

“This collection of extremely well written essays uses the lens of the Synodal imperative to uncover the fruitful and positive impact that lay preaching would impart for the church today,” the award judges wrote in their commentary on the book. “The theological and ministerial implications are solid, practical and necessary.”

“It was a great honor to have that book receive that kind of recognition,” Sister Sara said. “I was very pleased.” 

Edited by Gregory Heille, OP, the book is the result of a symposium of theologians and preachers, held at Aquinas Institute of Theology in St. Louis, Missouri, during spring break in March 2024. At the time, Sister Sara ministered with Dr. Heille in the Doctorate in Ministry (DMin) program at Aquinas Institute. She is currently the Mission Prioress of the Adrian Dominican Sisters’ Holy Rosary Mission Chapter, based in Adrian. 

The symposium, “The Pastoral Charge for Lay Catholic Eucharistic Preaching,” drew 27 participants to explore the topic of lay preaching at liturgies. Many of the presentations are included in the book. 

Sister Sara’s introduction, preached during the symposium, focused on the parable of the Good Samaritan in the light of women doing liturgical preaching. She compared women who seek to preach at liturgies to the man who fell victim to robbers.  

“[T]he sight of women preaching the Gospel when most of the faithful gather for Sunday worship is extremely rare, especially with the pushback against the Second Vatican Council,” Sister Sara wrote. “While laymen can take the diaconal road to the pulpit, women are left in the ditch, half-dead. Like the priest and the Levite, many of the church’s clergy pass us by, blind and indifferent to our plight.”  

"The whole point is to raise the idea for trained lay ministers to be able to preach the Word as equal disciples of Christ,” Sister Sara said. “Since Vatican II, the Church wanted to open its doors to the whole people of God, and if they have the skills to preach, why not let the lay people? There are so many talented, gifted people out there from all walks of life who can inspire the congregation.”

The book also contains the formal “Proposal for Lay Eucharistic Preaching to Further a Synodal Church in Mission,” submitted to the October 2024 assembly of Catholic Church members, the end of the Synod on Synodality, a three-year process called by Pope Francis to enable the Church to listen to the perspectives of Catholics around the world.

 

August 10, 2026, St. Catharine, Kentucky – Some 22 Dominican sisters under the age of 60 from seven U.S.-based congregations gathered for a retreat in mid-July at the St. Catharine, Kentucky, Motherhouse of the Dominican Sisters of Peace.

Adrian Dominicans who attended were Sisters Nery “Luchy” Sori, OP, Katherine Frazier, OP, and Xiomara Méndez Hernández, OP; Sister Jamie Caporizo, a novice who will profess her first vows on August 8, 2026; Elizabeth Guerrero, a candidate who will be received into the novitiate on August 7, 2026; and Sister Lorraine Réaume, OP, General Councilor, who served as support staff during the gathering. 

Other congregations represented were the Dominican Sisters of Houston, Mission San Jose, Peace, Racine, Sinsinawa, and Springfield. All are among the congregations that are part of the Dominican Sisters Conference (DSC).  

“Back in September, we had a Zoom with the Under 60s in particular, and they expressed a desire to get together in person,” Sister Lorraine explained. Sister Pat Connick, OP, a Dominican Sister of Peace, offered to host the gathering at the St. Catharine Motherhouse and to provide some input. 

“We on the planning team went back often to say, ‘Is this a meeting? Is this a retreat? Or is this a futuring conversation?’,” Sister Jamie explained. “We tried very hard to make it all three. We wanted to pray together, talk together, and play together.”

The week-long gathering included a retreat, focused on three input sessions by Sister Pat on “The Universe Story and Models of Living Community”; conversations in the Spirit, in which participants spoke from the heart about topics such as their call as a Dominican sister and their hopes for Dominican life in the future; prayer; optional outings; and informal time together.

  
Left: Sister Katherine Frazier, OP, speaks to the large group during one of the conversations of heart during the gathering. Right: Sister Xiomara Méndez Hernández, OP, offers a reflection.

“The DSC Under 60 Retreat was such a blessing,” Sister Katherine said. “I had so many conversations where I got to know the other sisters better, whether we were taking walks on the property together, or through our time in synodal conversations.”

Sister Jamie said one of the highlights for her was being with women in her age group. “This was an opportunity to get to know our sisters on a deeper level, to talk about the future and the present, and to talk about the past – our home community, how we entered it.”

Sister Jamie said she has become even more excited about professing her vows since the gathering. During the gathering’s closing ritual, she said, “I looked around the table of women and all I could do was smile. I thought, ‘My vows made to God through my Adrian congregation are my vows to all the women sitting with me, because we will live our vows together.’”

Elizabeth, who had been a member of a smaller congregation for years, said she has felt overwhelmed by the size of the Dominican community. Still, she said, they feel like family. “Everybody brings a gift, but there was so much gift in the room – talents, skills, beauty, hope ... laughter for sure, and a joy about being together. I saw that as well.”

Sister Lorraine said there was heartfelt sharing and a sense of our common Dominican identity among the group. “That was probably one of the biggest gifts of [the gathering], the connectedness of Dominicans.... We recognized that we’re all different people and our congregations are different, but there’s a resonance among us.”

Sister Xiomara, Executive Director of the DSC, had a similar response. Even with a variety of congregations, she said, “it felt like we were speaking the same language. We created a brave space. It was a space that we made our own.”

In particular, Sister Xiomara said she was pleased with the engagement of the sisters in the conversations involving the future of Dominican life. Fourteen of the DSC congregations are exploring whether to become a union of U.S.-based Dominican congregations. “We were living union right there,” she said. “Some said if it looks like this and feels like this, we’re ready.”

Sister Luchy said the idea of forming a union didn’t seem to be too frightening for the younger sisters, many of whom had formed friendships with Dominicans in other congregations at the Collaborative Dominican Novitiate (CDN), first in St. Louis and recently in Chicago. Others who came later attended the Inter-Congregational Collaborative Novitiate (ICCR) in Chicago with novices from other women’s religious congregations. 

Regardless of the governmental structure, Elizabeth is confident in the future of Dominican life. “These women love being Dominican and they also love religious life, and they are on fire for the mission of Jesus Christ, that they’re going to do this together,” she said. 

But the sense of Dominican community extended beyond sisters in the under 60 cohort to all the sisters they encountered. “One of the greatest blessings was that we got to know the sisters who live at the Motherhouse in St. Catharine, Kentucky, better, and I know that they also enjoyed the opportunity to get to know us better,” Sister Katherine said. “One of them said that she was less apprehensive about the future because she had gotten to know all of us throughout the week.”

Sister Xiomara also feels confident. “As long as we are led by the Spirit, I am confident that all will be well,” she said. “I hope that we will listen to the Spirit. What is God’s dream for us?”

Feature photo at top: From left, Sister Nery “Luchy” Sori, OP; Gregoria Bueno-Rodriguez, transferring into the Dominican Sisters of Peace; Sister Jamie Caporizo; and Sister Lorraine Réaume, OP, General Councilor.