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July 6, 2026, Adrian, Michigan – In a spirit of joy and gratitude, Adrian Dominican Sisters, Associates, relatives, and friends gathered to honor the witness and dedicated lives of 47 Sisters celebrating their Jubilees, their milestone anniversaries of religious life. The 2026 Jubilee celebration brought the Sisters to the Motherhouse for special activities June 25-27.

Sisters who celebrated these milestone anniversaries included three 80-year Jubilarians, two 75-year Jubilarians, 22 70-year (Double-Diamond) Jubilarians, 14 60-year (Diamond) Jubilarians, five 40-year (Ruby) Jubilarians, and one 25-year (Silver) Jubilarian. Together, the Jubilarians generously have given 2,995 years of religious life to God, God’s people, and the Adrian Dominican Congregation.

The celebration opened with a meeting of the Jubilarians with the General Council, followed by supper and a reception for the Jubilarians and their invited guests. 

The event took on a contemplative tone on June 26, when Jubilarians and other Adrian Dominican Sisters gathered for a Mass to celebrate nearly 160 deceased Sisters who would have celebrated their Jubilee this year. The name of each was read solemnly, while a handbell tolled after every 10 names that had been proclaimed. 

“We honor the memory of these women and remember their strong dedication to the Gospel,” Sister Carol Weber, OP, a 60-year Jubilarian, said in a reflection. “They went where God called them …. Their lives were steeped in prayer,” and their relationship with Jesus was “their very foundation.” 

Sister Carol also reflected on the group of women who followed Jesus and who came to his tomb early to anoint his body only to discover that he was alive. They announced Jesus’ resurrection to the apostles. “These women had a deep relationship with Jesus,” Sister Carol said. “They walked with him, they cried with him. They listened to him, and they loved him.

“I believe the women of the Gospel and our deceased Jubilarians leave us with a challenge,” Sister Carol said. “No matter our age or physical ability, we are still called to a deep relationship with Jesus, and to share that with everyone who crosses our path.”

The 47 living Jubilarians were celebrated during the Jubilee Mass on June 27. Father James Hug, SJ, presider, thanked the Jubilarians “for all the occasions, in good times and in hard times, in which you responded to God’s call to live in the light, to be the light, to show mercy and hope, conscious of those you have touched and blessed through the years, and of those who touched and blessed you.”

Sister Elise D. García, OP, Prioress of the Congregation, noted that the readings for the day focused on the call to abiding love. “They speak of the heart of the call, so vibrantly alive in each of you. Jesus makes that call clear to his disciples in this Gospel: ‘This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.’”

Sister Elise described the “incredibly rich and diverse ways” in which that call had borne fruit in the lives of the Jubilarians: as educators at all levels, from elementary school to college, university, and seminary education, and in various aspects of ministry in hospitals and healthcare, parishes, dioceses, leadership, nonprofit organizations, justice advocacy, social work, accompaniment with people at the margins, and vocation and formation. The Jubilarians also served in nearly every state and in the Dominican Republic, the Philippines, Taiwan, Kenya, and South Africa.

“You have lived your lives, entering into the communion of life and love that is God’s gift to all people,” Sister Elise said to the Jubilarians. “Through your loving ministry, you have invited countless children, women, men, and people of faith or no faith into the community of life and love.”

The Jubilarians demonstrated their continued commitment to God, God’s people, and the Congregation as they renewed their vows. The celebration continued after the Liturgy with a festive dinner for the Jubilarians and their invited guests. Even after the formal celebration, Jubilarians continued to celebrate with other Adrian Dominican Sisters, their invited guests, family members, and friends.
 

Caption for above feature photo: Awaiting the procession for the Jubilee Mass are, front row, from left, Sisters Durstyne Farnan, OP, Carol Weber, OP, and Theresa Mayrand, OP, all 60-year Jubilarians; and back row, from left, Sister Elise D. García, OP, Prioress of the Congregation, and Father James Hug, SJ, presider.

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.