What's Happening

February 3, 2025, Adrian, Michigan – Ever since the Dominican Sisters of the Our Lady of Remedies Congregation, based in Pampanga, the Philippines, merged with the Adrian Dominican Sisters in November 2011, the Sisters in both countries have sought ways to get to know one another and to experience one another’s culture and country. Recently, an exchange was initiated in which Sister Nancy Jurecki, OP, was to spend about eight months in the Philippines and Sister Abegail Santos, OP, was to spend about three months in the United States. Below is Sister Abegail’s story.

Thanksgiving, snow, U.S. football – these are some novelties that Sister Abegail Santos, OP, has experienced since she came to the United States on November 25, 2024, to integrate with Adrian Dominican Sisters at the Motherhouse in Adrian, Michigan, and in Chicago. She reflected on her experiences, ways of being involved at the Motherhouse, and love for the Sisters as she prepared to return to the Philippines on February 19, 2025.

During her time in Adrian, Sister Abegail has been living in community in the Regina Residence with Sisters Lorraine Brennan, OP, and Victoria Dalesandro, OP. The small community has helped her to feel at home, making sure among other things that she has rice, a staple in the Philippines. 

Back home in Mining, Angeles City, Pampanga, Philippines, Sister Abegail ministers as the treasurer and auditor of the Dominican School of Angeles City. She has used those skills in volunteer work with the Motherhouse’s Finance Office. She has also expanded her skills, serving as sacristan during Mass and helping the Resident Services Department present activities for the resident Sisters. “When they have activities like a birthday celebration, I join the staff in serving the Sisters,” she said. “I really appreciate being with the Sisters, knowing them a little bit. I’m so grateful for that.”

Sister Abegail also joins the Sisters in daily prayer – Mass in St. Catherine Chapel and the Divine Office, Dominican Praise, and the rosary in a small group every afternoon in the Regina Residence Hall. “What I like and really appreciate with our Rosary is, we pray it bilingually,” she said. “When it’s my turn to lead the mysteries, I pray in my dialect [Kapampangan] and they respond in English.” Other Sisters lead the rosary in Spanish and German.  

Highlights of her time in Adrian have included the Christmas liturgy. “It was sad missing my family and my Sisters [in the Philippines], but the Liturgy was so beautiful” in Adrian, she said. She particularly appreciated events she had never experienced in her home country: from Thanksgiving to snow. “We don’t have the experience of winter in the Philippines,” she said. “The snow made me thrilled. During my first snow experience, I took a picture and sent it to my family.”

Sister Abegail has also been exposed to a U.S. ritual – watching football. “I watch it with the Sisters and am starting to learn about it,” she said.

Sister Abegail has also taken the opportunity to visit other parts of the United States. Before arriving in Adrian, she spent time with family in Haywood, California. She also traveled to Chicago with Sisters Kathleen Nolan, OP, and Bibiana “Bless” Colasito, OP, General Councilor who is also from the Philippines, to visit Sisters Mary Priniski, OP, and Mary Soher, OP.

“Sister Kathy toured us around the City of Chicago, particularly Navy Pier,” Sister Abegail recalled. “When we were there, it was raining, but we were able to see the city, the downtown. It’s a big place, with a lot of beautiful buildings.” 

Sister Abegail said her greatest challenge in the United States has been the difference in language. Although she speaks English well, it is not her first language. “You can’t spontaneously express yourself, what’s on your mind” in English, she said. “When I don’t know how to say something, I just keep quiet. It’s not as spontaneous as speaking in your own language.” She is grateful for the time she can spend with Sister Bless, speaking in her dialect, she said.

Still, Sister Abegail said, she has been inspired by the Sisters at the Motherhouse. “I love our liturgy – the Sisters sharing and preaching,” as well as the remembrances of the Sisters who have died. “They were so inspiring,” she said. “You want to be good and kind and holy. I love how our Sisters take care of our [elder] Sisters, and also the staff – so kind with the Sisters.”
 

Caption for above feature photo: Sister Abegail Santos, OP, serving as acolyte and sacristan, accepts a ciborium of hosts from Sister Lenore Boivin, OP, after Communion during the 2024 Christmas Liturgy at St. Catherine Chapel at the Adrian Dominican Sisters Motherhouse.

By Sister Nancy Jurecki, OP

February 12, 2025, Angeles City, Pampanga, the Philippines – Ever since the Dominican Sisters of the Our Lady of Remedies Congregation, based in Pampanga, the Philippines, merged with the Adrian Dominican Sisters in November 2011, the Sisters in both countries have sought ways to get to know one another and to experience one another’s culture and country. Recently, an exchange was initiated in which Sister Nancy Jurecki, OP, was to spend about eight months in the Philippines and Sister Abegail Santos, OP, was to spend about three months in the United States. Below is Sister Nancy’s reflection on her time in the Philippines. 

Since having met the late Sister Zenaida “Zenny” Nacpil, OP, 20 or more years ago, I have wanted to meet the good Sisters she spoke so lovingly about. My dream was fulfilled with the opportunity I have been afforded to spend time with our Sisters in the Philippines.

I left for the Philippines on the Feast of the Holy Rosary, October 7, 2024, having received a blessing from our Sisters at the Motherhouse in Adrian, Michigan. For the past several months, I have been living with 13 of our Sisters who reside at the Adrian Dominican House of Remedies, the Chapter House in Angeles City. Another 21 Sisters are scattered throughout San Fernando and San Jose Dioceses, sharing faith and life with the people through, essentially, teaching and social action ministries. I have already visited a number of our Sisters in their ministries and hope to be with them all before returning home in early June.

My days are fairly routine. I wake early for a morning walk to beat the heat. Sister Marlene Villar, OP, is faithful in walking with me. Prayer begins in the community chapel at 6:00 a.m. Through the miracle of technology, the Sisters join our Dominican brothers at the Minor Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary of Manaoag for office and morning Mass. 

After breakfast, I walk to the Dominican School, comprised of two well-kept buildings. A covered court in the process of construction separates the convent from the school. I am tasked with helping Sister Arsenia Marie “Seny” Puno, OP, in the Guidance Office in the morning. At 80-plus years, Sister Seny serves as both Head of School and guidance counselor. After lunch, I tutor a second grader who has learning disabilities. The day ends with dinner and prayer.

The Sisters have been very good to me in introducing me to their country and their culture. I am not tied to my little ministries but am encouraged to respond to invitations that open me to numerous locations and experiences. I have attended ordinations, festivals, parties, and funerals. To date, I have visited several of the Sisters in their communities and/or ministry sites.

I will have many stories to share by the time I go home. A thrill for me, early on, was visiting Holy Rosary School in Tala, near Manila. This school was started by a Dominican priest more than 70 years ago with much support from our Sisters over the past 50 or so years. Originally, the school served impoverished children and families affected by Hansen’s disease. 

Thanks be to God, the scourge of leprosy no longer affects the community, but poverty certainly does. While at an anniversary celebration there, I met with “scholars” attending college on scholarships provided by monies we collect during Mission Appeals at parishes in the United States. The Holy Rosary School students gifted me with a box of individually written thank you notes and presented me with a necklace they had created from dried leaves, shells, and the emblem of their school.

Another memory planted deep within my soul was spending New Year’s Day with Sister Seny’s family in Lubao. Sister Seny’s family now resides in a resettlement village, having lost everything under the ashes of Mount Pinatubo in 1991. The openness, hospitality, and generosity of people who have virtually nothing was humbling. Sister Seny’s family truly welcomed the stranger and allowed me insight into the truly important “things” in life: faith, family, and fun.

I’ve told the Sisters that, as I see it, they do two things very well: play and pray. Christmas was a perfect example. Advent is briefly interrupted in the Philippines by a tradition of Simbang Gabi. Nine days before Christmas, culminating on Christmas Eve, a Mass with all the songs, smells, bells, and prayers associated with Christmas is celebrated in the evening or during the early hours of the morning. No matter the hour, each day, the churches are packed.

The playfulness of the Sisters was on display, at its finest, during the visit by some of our leadership early in December and again on Christmas Eve when, each time, all the Sisters gathered to party ... and parties they were! The Sisters shared their customs, good food, and lots of laughter.

Church is central to the lives of the Filipino people. Our Sisters have done a marvelous job embedding themselves into the life of the Church both during worship and in the streets. The Adrian Dominican Sisters are well recognized and very much respected by the people. The support that the Sisters receive locally for their various projects is a testimony to the regard in which they are held. For example, outreach to indigenous and marginalized people is made possible, certainly by help from the Congregation, but equally as important through the assistance they receive from friendships that they have cultivated locally. 

One of my pleasures has been reading and rereading A Journey of Faith: Walking with God’s People. The book is a history of the foundation and works of the Sisters of Our Lady of Remedies, written for their 50th Anniversary. The people and places in the book take on life as I read about them, having first-hand experiences with which to relate. 

Now, as the Sisters approach the 60th anniversary of their founding, I can affirm words noted in that book as having been written by Sister Carol Johannes, OP, after a visit in 1981. Sister Carol was impressed by the “simplicity, warmth, intelligence, ministerial proficiency, and profound commitment to the mission of Jesus” by the Sisters – as am I.
 

Caption for above feature photo: Sister Nancy Jurecki, OP, center, and Sisters from Our Lady of Remedies Mission Chapter serve in a Christmas outreach to children with disabilities.