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September 19, 2024, Caleruega, Spain – Four Adrian Dominican Sisters were among 48 Dominican Sisters from throughout the world who spent a week in St. Dominic de Guzman’s birthplace, Caleruega, Spain, sponsored by the Dominican Sisters International Confederation (DSIC).
The Sisters participating in the program were finally professed for less than 20 years. DSIC was established to enhance the communication and collaboration of apostolic Dominican Sisters throughout the world. Adrian Dominican Sister Patricia Siemen, OP, also attended as a member of the DSIC Coordinating Council
Other Adrian Dominican Sisters who attended were Katherine Frazier, OP, Executive Director of Dominican Youth Movement USA, Xiomara Mendez-Hernandez, OP, Executive Director of the Dominican Sisters Conference, and Salvacion “Salve” Valenzuela, OP, and Alma Zapanta, OP, Co-directors of the Dominicans in Bodø, Norway, Mission.
“It was a spiritual Dominican pilgrimage … where all and each of us represented our congregations and each of us was a manifestation of the larger Dominican Charism, said Sister Xiomara.
Sister Pat said the gathering was a response to one of the priorities set by the Dominican Prioresses throughout the world during a 2022 online DSIC meeting: to focus on younger Dominican Sisters. The purpose of the gathering was to “bring a representative group together to build relationships, to explore our call as women preachers in light of the times, and to experience a global Dominican Sisterhood within the five continents where we have Dominican Sisters,” Sister Pat explained.
The program involved talks by Barbara Reid, OP (Grand Rapids, Michigan), on women prophets in Scripture and the prophetic call of consecrated women; Ana Francisca Vergara, OP (Colombia), on theological study and contemplation in the service of our preaching; and Sabine Schratz, OP (Cabra Dominicans, Ireland), on the history of communities of apostolic women.
The participants also visited various areas that were central to the life of St. Dominic: from his birthplace in Caleruega, the well where he was baptized, and his family’s watchtower to the neighboring Benedictine monastery where Blessed Jane’s dream about St. Dominic was interpreted, and the cathedral in Osma. While she was pregnant with Dominic, Blessed Jane dreamed that she gave birth to a dog that carried a lit torch around the world, signifying St. Dominic’s mission of preaching the Word of God.
The tour was coordinated by Pilar del Barrio, OP, representing Europe on the DSIC Coordinating Council.
During the last two days, Sisters met in continental and language groups to discuss “what they can do to build up Dominican Sisters International so as to complete God’s dream for us as we move into a future committed to being women preachers,” Sister Pat said. She was pleased by the engagement of the Sisters and the quality of the presentations. The participants strongly recommended that this assembly be repeated for other younger Sisters, she said.
In reflecting on the experience, the Adrian Dominican participants spoke of being moved by the connection to St. Dominic and to one another – and by their hopes for the future.
“Visiting the birthplace of our founder, St. Dominic, was an incredibly moving experience,” Sisters Alma and Salve wrote in a joint reflection. “From the well to the tower, and our travels to the Silos and the Cathedral of Osma, we felt an incredible connection to our roots.”
Sisters Alma and Salve were especially moved by Sister Ana Francisca’s presentation on study. “We consecrated women are entrusted with the demanding task of infusing our lives with the spiritual and contemplative aspects of study,” they wrote. “Study is not a personal endeavor – rather communal and powerfully meant so to evangelize one another in the community and transform all members into evangelizers.” Read the entire reflection by Sisters Alma and Salve.
Sister Alma is one of five Sisters elected to represent the group of younger Sisters during the DSIC assembly in Rome in May 2025. They will present the fruits of the discussions in Caleruega.
“We have started the creation of the document, how we see ourselves into the future,” Sister Xiomara explained. “I see a great movement toward collaboration and radical inclusion and a sense of globalizing our mission with a preferential option for relationship.” Sister Xiomara has been invited to attend the May assembly as a liturgist.
Sister Katherine said one of the highlights for her “was the opportunity to see the place where Dominic was born and where he knew his family of origin, to hear the stories of his mother Juana and his father and his brothers – and to do so when I was surrounded by all of these Sisters from all over the world. In a way, I was learning about his family surrounded by my chosen family.”
Sister Katherine appreciated the “unexpected gift” of being invited to attend the assembly in Caleruega. This gift has given her hope and the feeling of connection. “There was a sense of strengthening bonds to the international aspect of the Dominican Order – broadening horizons,” she said. She came away appreciating “how amazing the work that our Sisters are doing all over the world and the ways that they’re meeting the needs in their particular context. What a gift to be able to witness that!”
Caption for above photo: Nearly 50 Dominican Sisters finally professed for less than 20 years participated in the DSIC gathering in Caleruega, Spain.
June 15, 2023, Santiago, Spain – Many Sisters make an annual retreat during the summer, and some even participate in a 30-day retreat. But Sister Mariane Fahlman, OP, made a special retreat this year: a three-week, 241-mile trek on the Camino de Santiago, the famous pilgrimage to Santiago, Spain.
“The Camino for me was like a retreat, an internal journey,” Sister Mariane said in an interview after her adventure in May. “The Camino is the closest I will come to a 30-day retreat.”
Active and athletic, Sister Mariane is Professor of Kinesiology, Health, and Sports Studies at Wayne State University in Detroit. Given her background, walking the El Camino seemed to be a natural fit.
“I’ve been a backpacker all my life,” Sister Mariane said. “I did a lot of the Appalachian Trail from Maine to Pennsylvania and almost all the peaks in the Adirondack Mountains. I’ve always found backpacking and hiking to be a reflective and peaceful experience, so when I heard about the Camino, I was immediately intrigued.”
Sister Mariane reconnected with a friend for 45 years, Cindy, and heard she also wanted to walk El Camino so they decided to take the pilgrimage together. “We actually had plane tickets for April of 2020,” she said – but their plans were thwarted by the COVID-19 pandemic. “So now, three years later, we were finally able to do it.”
The Route Sister Mariane said she was surprised to learn that there was not just one El Camino del Santiago, but several. “The most famous one is the Camino from France to Santiago,” a 500-mile walk that would take six to seven weeks to complete, she said. “I didn’t feel comfortable being out of the country that long and it would be irresponsible of me to ignore my ministry e-mail for six weeks, so we elected to do the second most popular route – Porto, Portugal, to Santiago.” The 154-mile route can easily be accomplished in 10-14 days, she said, but they added the “spiritual route” to allow them to stay at a monastery. The extra route – and the trip to Finisterre (“the end of the Earth”), recommended by Sister Durstyne Farnan, OP, brought their journey to 241 miles in three weeks. Like a conventional retreat, El Camino involved a certain rhythm to the day, Sister Mariane recalled. “Every day you get up, you eat a light breakfast, and you start walking,” she said. “Stop along the way for rest, water, and the occasional chocolate croissant, arrive at your hotel, shower, wash your clothes, find dinner, go to bed, wash, rinse, repeat. One foot in front of the other for hours every day.” Sister Mariane especially appreciated the lack of distractions – “no phone, no news, nothing but you and the trail.” The route itself gave the two pilgrims much time for reflection. The first three days were on the coastal route along the Atlantic Ocean, and much of the rest, on the Central Route, took them through farmlands, eucalyptus forests, and woods with streams. “No matter where we were, it was beautiful and perfect for reflection,” Sister Mariane recalled.
Surprises, Challenges, and Lessons Though the rhythm sounds pleasant, Sister Mariane said she also found surprises and challenges along the way. She was surprised to discover that her fitness and training did not prepare her for the rigors of El Camino. “I was not ready for the terrain,” she said. “Every step had the potential for you to fall.” Her back foot often got caught on a cobblestone or on roots. “After a while I slowed down and started to pay attention to the ground,” she said. She became acutely aware that she wasn’t fully prepared for the pilgrimage four days in, when one of her students, Heather, and her boyfriend, John, joined them for the walk. “Day four was when we had the boulder climb,” Sister Mariane recalled. “I watched Heather scamper up the boulders like a chipmunk, while I stood below, surveying them and trying to decide the safest way to ascend without risking my life. At that point, it occurred to me that Heather turns 50 this year, and when I was 50, I was still running marathons. … I can mitigate the impacts of aging a bit, but I cannot stop it.” The experience of the walk taught Sister Mariane and Cindy other important spiritual lessons. On the third day, Sister Mariane recalled she and Cindy realized that carrying their 20-pound backpacks all day was a hindrance: they were too heavy and often threw them off balance. Following the example of Cindy’s experience with AA, they changed their thinking, and, for two days, shipped their packs ahead of them to a designated hotel. “This was helpful, but the one thing we both wanted was the ability to be spontaneous – to stay in a town if we liked it and to walk until we either couldn’t walk anymore or found a town we wanted to stay in,” Sister Mariane explained. “Shipping our packs ahead daily made this not possible.” They emptied their packs of anything they wouldn’t need for the journey and shipped them to the hotel where they would stay on the final day. “My pack was now close to 10 pounds and I could easily walk 20 or more miles with it,” Sister Mariane said. “Lesson learned: get rid of the baggage and you’ll walk easier and lighter.” She took it a step further: “Take only what you need, not what you think you might need. The trail may turn me into a mendicant yet.”
Along with the physical load of her backpack, Sister Mariane also carried with her the intentions of Adrian Dominican Sisters. “All along the route, there are places where people have left prayer intentions, and I carried the intentions of our Adrian Dominican family with me at all times,” she explained. “Cindy brought a bunch of shells with her, and we placed them at every prayer spot.” Highlights Along with the scenery and the time for reflection, Sister Mariane counted the people she met in the cities and towns along the way as a highlight of her El Camino experience. “One of the things that was very dear to me was how proud the people were of their history,” she said. “If I spoke any Spanish at all, they would go to great lengths to explain all the wonderful things about their history.” The people were also proud of the Camino route and solicitous of the pilgrims, always pointing the way to Santiago when Sister Mariane and Cindy took the wrong path. “One woman said to us in English, ‘Always, someone to help you.’”
Another highlight was Sister Mariane’s experience of Finisterre (End of the Earth), the cape on the coast of Spain so named by the ancient Romans because, at that point, they could walk no further and saw only the ocean. “The End of the Earth was well worth the extra walk,” she said. She and Cindy followed the tradition of leaving something behind as a symbol of starting a new life. They left the last shells, “our final tribute to all those we carried with us on the journey.” But to Sister Mariane, finally arriving at Santiago was less of a highlight. By the time they arrived in the city, the square was crowded and the cathedral – site of the daily Pilgrim Mass – was too full for them to enter. However, Sister Mariane said, they attended the Pilgrim Mass the next day and heard their names announced as pilgrims who had completed their journey. Sister Mariane encouraged anybody who is so inclined to make the El Camino pilgrimage. “Everyone’s Camino is their own and there is no right way,” she said. “The Camino will tell you what you need. You just have to listen.”