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July 2, 2025, Rome – Five Adrian Dominican Sisters attended the Hope/Esperanza 2025 gathering of Catholic Sisters from throughout the world. Sisters Xiomara Méndez-Hernández, OP, Executive Director of the Dominican Sisters Conference (DSC), Ruby Lumanlan, OP, Liberty Mendoza, OP, Maria Eneida Santiago, OP, and Nery “Luchy” Sori, OP, were among nearly 200 sisters who gathered in Rome June 3-6, 2025.  

“Religious life is alive. Religious life is exciting. Religious life is intentional. Religious life is so diverse and so committed – committed to the present and to the future,” said Sister Xiomara upon her return from the gathering.

Hope/Esperanza 2025 brought together 191 Catholic Sisters under the age of 65 from six continents for the event at the Fraterna Domus Sacrafono Retreat Center. More than 100 Sisters also participated virtually. The event was coordinated by the Leadership Collaborative, a U.S.-based leadership development program for Catholic women religious. 

Sister Xiomara, who served for 10 months on the Program Committee, described the event as a gathering and an encuentro (encounter) rather than a conference. “We had conversations of the Spirit,” she said. “It was deep dialogue in hope.” The conversations contemplative, joyful, and honest, she added. “We were our most authentic selves.”

The gathering was also inclusive, focusing on drawing out the voices of all participants. They received spontaneous interpretation in their choice of five languages: Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, and English. “The Sisters on Zoom were as engaged as the Sisters who were present,” Sister Xiomara added.

Sister Liberty explained the flow of Hope/Esperanza 2025. The Sisters spoke of their first love, their calling to religious life, and told stories “of what sustained us in difficult moments, of baring our vulnerabilities when we shared our lamentations.” Participants moved from lamentation to celebration, she said. “The assembly illuminated the profound spiritual wisdom in acknowledging and celebrating even small victories …. The Spirit reminded us that these small victories are precious blessings, vital glimmers of God’s providence.”

Finally, Sister Liberty said, the assembly moved from celebration to leadership. “Hope 2025 was a sacred and safe place where the Holy Spirit unveiled a pathway to deeper well-being for those entrusted with leadership, which we actually all are …. Whenever we are called to lead, we know that it will be a continuous process of self-emptying and allowing, awaiting, and accepting God’s movement of filling us with the graces that sustain us through all seasons of leadership ministry.” 

Attending via Zoom were Adrian Dominican Sisters Jenny Fajardo, OP, Marilín Llanes, OP, Lorraine Réaume, OP, and Mary Soher, OP.

“I feel grateful and blessed for being able to attend Hope 2025 via Zoom,” Sister Jenny said. “It was a beautiful experience to be immersed in our global sisterhood … and bringing our own cultural differences and beautifully sharing this culture.” 

Sister Jenny said she felt blessed to hear the “heart-tugging” sharing of other sisters, as well as “the call we all receive to be at the foot of the cross and be sent to minister to God’s little ones amidst our own vulnerabilities and pains.” The call to collaborative leadership “will enable us to serve as one global sisterhood in this wounded world,” she said. “We become bearers of hope to all we encounter on the journey of life.”  

Sister Marilín said “the experience was truly a deepening of the global sisterhood reality. The diversity of cultures and languages was amazing. As a virtual participant, I felt very much a part of the process. The facilitators did a fantastic job in keeping us all informed – truly a synodal experience as we journeyed through the different movement themes each day … Together we explored the heart and soul of the hope that dwells in our communal desire and expectation of good things to come.”   

Both Sisters Liberty and Xiomara expressed gratitude for their experience in Rome. “Please allow me to express my sincerest gratitude to our leadership and to our Congregation for the blessed opportunity to grow in faith and be in such a profound solidarity with our sisters from across the globe,” Sister Liberty said.

Sister Xiomara spoke of the “blessing and honor” she experienced in being part of the Program Committee. 

Sister Xiomara came away from her time in Rome with hope. “My biggest hope is that people continue to be engaged in this kind of encuentro,” she said. “We need to find these places to reconnect to our vocation and to be ready to continue to listen to the voice of God.” She spoke of the importance of the global sisterhood represented by Hope 2025. “I want it to continue,” she said. “The Church needs it. The world needs it. Our congregations need it.”

Read more about Hope 2025 in this Global Sisters Report article, written by Dan Stockman.

May 28, 2025, Adrian, Michigan – Like many other people throughout the world, Adrian Dominican Sisters expressed joy, hope, and a sense of connection after the election on May 8, 2025, of Pope Leo XIV, a native of Chicago and the first U.S.-born pope. He has ministered largely in Peru and has dual U.S.-Peruvian citizenship.

Sister Xiomara Méndez-Hernández, Executive Director of the Dominican Sisters Conference (DSC), an organization of U.S.-based congregations of Dominican Sisters, happened to be in Rome during the conclave of Cardinals who elected the pope. 

“It was truly a remarkable experience for me to be in Rome during the election of Pope Leo XIV,” wrote Sister Xiomara. “Receiving his blessing in person at St. Peter’s Square was such a special moment.” She said the election of the Augustinian also “deeply resonates with our Dominican Order’s spirituality, especially as we follow the Rule of St. Augustine, just like the Augustinians.”

Sister Xiomara also has a special connection to Pope Leo XIV: both are graduates of Catholic Theological Union (CTU) in Chicago. She said the name of Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, sounded familiar. “Later that night, I reached out to an Augustinian friend and classmate from CTU who immediately confirmed my suspicion. It was indeed the same Bishop Robert Francis Prevost who came from Peru to preside over [her friend’s] ordination nine years ago.” She added that she had been impressed at the time by his “gentle presence, simplicity, and his ever-present smile.”

A native of the Dominican Republic, Sister Xiomara noted that “hearing him ask for permission to speak in Spanish brought me immense joy. His call for peace, justice, unity, and love has truly renewed my hope, not only for the Church but for the entire world.”

Some 4,765 miles away, several Adrian Dominican Sisters and Co-workers gathered in the lobby of the Dominican Life Center at the Motherhouse in Adrian to await the revelation of the new pope. They also responded to this revelation with great joy.

Sister Linda Bevilacqua, OP, who attended this watch party, found the election of a cardinal from the United States to be “very exciting and extraordinarily surprising.” She described Pope Leo XIV as a “highly educated Friar … a global citizen, having traveled broadly, linguistically gifted … a missionary to the core, a citizen of the U.S. and Peru and a proponent of Pope Francis’ environmental agenda.”

Sister Linda also saw particular significance in his name. “The name he chose speaks clearly to the importance and relevance he has and will continue to place on Catholic social teaching.” Pope Leo XIII, in his 1891 encyclical (document) Rerum Novarum, is credited with beginning the modern tradition of Catholic social teaching by addressing the social issues arising from changes brought about by the Industrial Revolution. Some of the principles of Catholic social teaching include the dignity of the human person; call to family, community, and participation; option for the poor and vulnerable; the dignity of work; solidarity; and care for creation.
   
“I trust that our pope will guide and encourage us by his living, teaching, and preaching, so that, with our focused engagement, all persons will live in just and peaceful societies, and all creation will flourish,” Sister Linda concluded.

Some Sisters spoke to their connection to Pope Leo XIV through their own roots or involvement in Chicago. “Not only is he the first pope from the United States but also someone with whom I share common roots in Chicago,” Sister Mary Flan Fleischaker, OP, said. “In addition, Pope Leo XIV seems to have the heart of a shepherd and holds many of the same priorities as Pope Francis. All of this gives me great hope.”

In her response to the election of the pope, Sister Jean Tobin, OP, reflected on her own background in Chicago, growing up in a middle-class neighborhood where neighbors looked out for one another. She described a similar spirit in Pope Leo XIV. “I loved seeing him on that balcony, taking it all in and waving and accepting the love and joy emanating from the crowd,” she said. “I can also appreciate his missionary spirit, love of people, willingness to learn their languages and sense of justice.”

Perhaps one comment by Sister Mary Fran sums up the feelings of many of the Sisters and of many people throughout the world: “We have been given a surprising and timely gift in Leo XIV.” 
 

Caption for above feature photo: Sisters and Co-workers gather in the Dominican Life Center lobby to watch the announcement of the new pope.