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July 30, 2026, Adrian, Michigan – About 25 Dominican artists – sisters, Associates, and friars – gathered at the Weber Retreat and Conference Center July 20-23, 2026, for the annual gathering of the Dominican Institute for the Arts (DIA). 

Participants had the opportunity to be inspired by the keynote speaker, honor and support the award recipients, share their artistic gifts, and learn from one another. The theme for the gathering was “Entering the Threshold of the Cosmic Christ.”

Members of the DIA include visual artists, such as painters and sculptors; musicians and composers; dancers; actors; writers and poets; photographers; appreciators of art; and artists working in a variety of media. 

“We are a unique organization,” said John Mascazine, President of the DIA and an Associate with the Dominican Sisters of Peace. “We are not only artists and Dominicans, but we bring in our preaching.”

John opened the 2026 gathering with awards presentations. Sister Maryanna Euring, OP (Amityville), a painter, received the Fra Angelico Award, the highest honor bestowed by the DIA. This award is given to a DIA member whose work is “of high quality in their discipline and highly valued in artistic ideals,” John explained. 
Sister Maryanna’s work in painting, photography, and Chinese brush drawing is “acclaimed by many,” he said. “Her works encourage us to take responsibility for our community and our planet.”

Accepting the award on Zoom, Sister Maryanna said she was “totally shocked and ... honored. I thank you for this great honor.” A native of Yonkers, New York, Sister Maryanna moved with her family to East Rockaway, New York, as a child. She attended Dominican Commercial High School, where she met the Amityville Dominican Sisters and entered the Congregation in 1956. 

After ministering as a teacher, administrator, hospital chaplain, and counselor, she is now expressing herself through the arts. “It is my hope and prayer that my art will continue to be a source of peace, inspiration, and healing to others,” she said.

Adrian Dominican Sister Joella Miller, OP, received the Spirit Award. “This year’s recipient has served in various capacities, even when called on in different situations and difficult questions,” John said in making the announcement. “She has guided us with a steady hand and has a wealth of pastoral knowledge and skills. She would always offer her support of artists.” 

Sister Joella, a photographer, has been a member of the DIA for 26 years and has served on the DIA Board. “This organization has meant everything in the world to me,” Sister Joella said in accepting the award. “I am more than thrilled and support each one of you.” 

A native of Elgin, Illinois, Sister Joella has ministered as teacher and principal. She was elected Chapter Prioress of the Adrian Dominican Sisters’ Midwest Dominican Mission Chapter in 1993, serving a six-year term. She serves on the board of the Community Action Agency, a nonprofit organization in Adrian.

During the first full day, participants heard a keynote address by Sister Gabi Williams, OP (Oakford, South Africa), who ministers in the United States. In her inspiring and challenging talk, she focused on humanity’s relationship with the cosmos, the universe, and the Cosmic Christ. She invited her listeners to “see creation not as scenery but as sacrament, a meeting place of two realities: ourselves and God; to see ourselves not as owners but as participants; and to see Christ not only as redeemer of souls but as the radiant center of a living, evolving universe.”

The participants had the opportunity to attend a variety of workshops, including Psalms and Creative Spirit, recorders, iconography, and mosaics. Workshops on metal smithing, clay creations, and glass fusion were offered at the nearby Adrian Center for the Arts. 

DIA members also elected two new Board members: Sister Cheryl Liske, OP (Adrian), and Sister Gabi Williams, OP (Oakford). They join John Mascazine, OPA (Peace Associate), President; Sister Nancy Murray, OP (Adrian), Vice President; Sister Elizabeth Slenker, OP (Sparkill), Treasurer; and Sister Rosemary Asaro, OP (Adrian), Secretary; and Mark Hanes, OPA (Peace Associate), Sister Xiomara Méndez Hernández, OP (Adrian), Father Rudolf Lowenstein, OP (England Province), members at large. 
The gathering concluded with a Liturgy in celebration of the Feast of St. Mary Magdalene, the very first witness to the risen Christ, the one sent to proclaim the good news to the other disciples; and Patroness of the Dominican Order. Father Rudolf Lowenstein, OP (England Province), presided over the Mass and Sister Xiomara Méndez Hernández, OP (Adrian), Dominican Sisters Conference Executive Director, preached. 

The celebration continued with a Gala, a coffee house-style sharing of talent. Beginning on the next day, July 23, some of the participants attended the first artists’ retreat offered by the DIA.

Feature photo at top: Sister Joella Miller, OP, (Adrian), receives the Spirit Award from John Mascazine, President of the Dominican Institute of the Arts.

 

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.