What's Happening

June 30, 2026, Nogales, Arizona – For Elizabeth Guerrero, this past year has been one of learning. This May, she was one of seven women who learned more about the experience of immigrants at the U.S.-Mexico border.

As a Candidate with the Adrian Dominican Sisters, Elizabeth is completing her first year of formation. During this time, she has learned about the history of the Adrian Dominican Sisters and the Charism of the Dominican Order, improved her Spanish skills, ministered as a literacy tutor and a team member with Holy Family Parish’s food pantry, and come to know many of the Adrian Dominican Sisters.

The experience at the border was with Catholic Sisters Walking with Migrants, a program offered through the Kino Border Initiative (KBI) in Nogales, Arizona. Elizabeth was among seven women who participated in a week-long program in which, through various experiences, encounters, talks, and group discussions, they learned and experienced the plight of immigrants at the border.  

Early during the program, Elizabeth noticed a contrast between the experiences of different people. In downtown Nogales on the Arizona side, people were enjoying a pre-Cinco de Mayo celebration. “In the U.S., it’s celebrated and kind of commercialized – a parade of queens and princesses, some food booths, [and a choir] singing traditional ballads in Spanish. “We walked two blocks down and there we saw the border. We saw the wall, 20 feet tall with wire around it and another barrier so you can’t even get close to the border. It was a strange juxtaposition to see the pre-Cinco de Mayo festival and, just around the corner, a horrible scar between the two cities.”

Throughout the program, Elizabeth continued to see the differences in experiences – particularly the plight of migrants struggling to find a new life in the United States. The group spent one of the first mornings on a hike in the desert that simulated the kind of walking that migrants had through the desert of the United States until they passed the check points patrolled by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). 

“We walked through various parts of the desert – dried out river beds, through thorny brush and overhang of branches, and up to the top of hills that were rocky and had no cover whatsoever,” Elizabeth recalled. The journey could take five to seven days, and migrants frequently travel by night, often climbing a mountain without the help of a light to gauge where they are. 

Many migrants don’t survive the trek through the desert, and their bodies – and often the items they left behind – are discovered by KBI staff members or others on search and rescue trips. Staff members call the authorities and, if they find any identification, KBI keeps it in their records in case a family member calls about them. 

Elizabeth particularly resonated with a story she heard from a young husband who lost his wife in the desert. They were traveling with a group when his wife became dehydrated and could not go on, but the group had to continue. The husband was picked up by Border Patrol and he had to beg them to let him go back to his wife. By the time they finally allowed it, his wife was dead.

“That was a powerful experience of knowing that if I had been crossing, I would have been left behind long ago,” Elizabeth said. Because of recent knee surgery, she had trouble keeping up with the group. “The group slowed down for me or rested,” she said. “That was a powerful experience of knowing that if I had been crossing [as a migrant], I would have been left behind a long time ago.”

Participants also had several opportunities to prepare and serve meals to migrants staying up to 20 days at the Kino Center in Nogales, Mexico, a shelter for migrants.  The center offers “holistic, wrap-around services,” including an attorney who can work with them on their case and another who helps them navigate the U.S. and Mexican immigration systems, as well as a teacher who can work with the children, Elizabeth said. 

“What we learned from Kino is before this current administration [in the United States], the facilities were full and the Kino Center was serving 300 people every day,” Elizabeth said. “Now maybe 20 people are coming. The flow is going South now because people are trying to self-deport …. Even if you’re trying to leave the country, they could arrest you and put you in detention.”

Participants also heard from Judge Eric Markovich who hears about 50 cases in the morning in his Special Proceedings Courtroom in Federal District Court in Tucson, Arizona. Many have been in detention centers, and the judge often sentences them to time already served. 

Elizabeth learned that the migrants are given 20 days to decide if they will pay a fine to stay in the United States or if they will accept a bus ticket to return to the country they came from. She noted that some people have decided to stay in Mexico, possibly until a new U.S. administration takes office. 

Elizabeth, a third-generation U.S. citizen of Mexican descent, said the stories she heard during the experience reminded her of people she ministered with – people who were trying to rebuild their lives in the United States but were deported. The stories she heard “led to a realization for me,” she said. “The stories she heard “made me reflect on how much I take for granted because I was born in the United States … I started to see family members in the faces I was looking at.”    

 

Caption for above feature photo: Serving lunch to the migrants at the Kino Center in Nogales, Mexico, are, from left, Elizabeth Guerrero, a Candidate with the Adrian Dominican Sisters; Sister Theresa “Terri” Ann Schell, OP, a Dominican Sister of Peace; and Gregoria Bueno-Rodriguez, a sister who is transferring to the Dominican Sisters of Peace. 

September 11, 2025, Adrian, Michigan – The Adrian Dominican Congregation welcomed a new candidate during a prayer service at the Adrian Motherhouse September 8, 2025.

“I desire to grow in authenticity, speak my truth, share my gifts in service and prayer. I ask to walk together in community, in challenge that is mutual, caridad amistad, and to find friendships along the way,” said Elizabeth Guerrero during the Rite of Entrance into Candidacy. The rite is the first step in a formation process that could lead Elizabeth to taking her first profession of vows with the Adrian Dominican Sisters. 

As a symbol of her desire for entrance, Elizabeth knocked on the door of St. Catherine Chapel and was admitted by Sister Tarianne DeYonker, OP, Director of Candidacy. During a formal examination by Prioress Elise D. García, OP, Sister Tarianne attested to Elizabeth’s readiness to begin a year of discernment as a candidate. 

“In faithfulness you have listened to God’s call and have responded with a ‘yes’ to continue with us in a relationship of mutual discernment for vowed membership,” Sister Elise said to Elizabeth. “We welcome you into our midst to share faith and life in the mission of Jesus.” After accepting a copy of the Adrian Dominican Sisters’ Mission Statement from Sister Elise, Elizabeth joined the assembled Sisters in proclaiming the Mission Statement.

Elizabeth will spend her candidacy year volunteering at the St. Mary Food Pantry and Dire Needs program of Holy Family Parish in Adrian, tutoring at the Adrian Rea Literacy Center, helping set up new art displays for the art gallery in Madden Hall at the Motherhouse, visiting Sisters living at the Dominican Life Center, and studying Spanish and the history of the Adrian Dominican Sisters.

The fifth of the six children of Jesus L. and Élida C. Guerrero, Elizabeth was raised in Crystal City, Texas. There, she attended school during the school year and, in the summers, was a migrant worker with her family, working on farms in Minnesota, North Dakota, Wisconsin, and Indiana. She attended junior college and transferred to Minnesota State University in Moorhead, where she studied commercial art.

Elizabeth began her career working at a small boutique publishing agency; an advertising agency in San Antonio, Texas; as a freelance graphic designer and publisher; and for a small newspaper in her hometown. 

Eventually, that work “wasn’t fulfilling anymore,” Elizabeth said. “I was looking for something more.” She entered the Missionary Catechists of Divine Providence, a small congregation based in San Antonio. She was received into the novitiate in 2011 and made her first profession of vows in 2012. Her ministries included teaching, social services, and parish ministry.

Desiring a different expression of community life, Elizabeth left the Missionary Catechists and sought another congregation of Catholic Sisters. She visited several congregations before discerning her call to enter the Adrian Dominican Sisters.

Shortly before entering, Elizabeth completed her ministry as a lay woman as Executive Director of the Asociación de Hermanas Latinas Misioneras en América (AHLMA), a national organization, primarily for Sisters coming from Latin America and missioned to the United States. The organization is now open to U.S.-born Latinas and to U.S. Sisters who find themselves the only women of color in their community, Elizabeth said. As a representative of AHLMA, Elizabeth served on the Board of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), nominated by leaders from several congregations, including the Adrian Dominican Sisters, she said. She was involved in administration, but particularly enjoyed developing programs and meeting Sisters.

“I am very happy to be here with the Adrian Dominican Sisters,” Elizabeth said. “The welcome and reception have been warm and inviting, affirming that my gifts and presence matter. I see this community as a place where I can continue to grow in authenticity, service, and faith.”   
 

Caption for above feature photo: Prioress Elise D. García, OP, right, formally examines Elizabeth Guerrero about her intention to enter the Adrian Dominican Congregation.