Sister M. Stephanie’s Services Because of the COVID19 outbreak no visitation or funeral mass is planned. Private burial services will be held at Calvary Cemetery on Thursday, March 26. A memorial mass will be celebrated at Sacred Heart Convent on a date to be determined. In lieu of flowers, or visits, donations may be made …
In which Sister Mary Paul allows a need to change the course of her life “I had an opportunity to become a clinical psychologist,” says Sister Mary Paul McCaughey. “I was really almost ready to make that jump, when I was called to become a principal of another high school.” In fact, she had completed …
Where God closes a door, a window opens. Sometimes, almost literally. Cor Unum House, a ministry of the Dominican Sisters of Springfield, is meant to be a house of hospitality, where guests are welcome into the sisters’ lives in tangible ways. Except, not now. While the Coronavirus lockdown has closed the sisters’ front door for …
Live-streamed Evening Prayer:
Welcome in a Time of Crisis Read More »
In which a veteran educator makes a difference in the lives of future leaders. After three years teaching 7th graders at Holy Angels School in Aurora, Ill., Sister Mary Paul moved a few miles west to Rosary High school to teach religion at the all-girls college prep school. In 1975, the old convent dining room …
In which a young teacher learns and grows Young Sister Mary Paul McCaughey may have thought she had this teaching thing down pat… though she never says this directly. She was fresh off her big success with the fifth graders at St. Dominic School in Quincy, Ill., and heading to a 7th grade classroom at …
The youngest sister on St. Dominic Mission in 1970 was Sister Mary Paul McCaughey. She was vivacious, intelligent, energetic, and tackled any opportunity to get a job DONE. One of the first stories I recall her sharing at the convent dinner table was about her Marian Catholic High School 1967prom night. Seems that after the …
Sister Sara Koch remembers:
The Adventures of a young Sister Mary Paul McCaughey Read More »
In which a 17-year-old makes a radical response to God’s call. “I didn’t really decide to be a sister,” Sister Mary Paul McCaughey says. “I was just called to be a sister.” Like many teens who struggled with identity and purpose, as a high school senior, Mina McCaughey always went to Mass and “did the …
(About the photo: Undated photo of Sister Rachel Conway and two children at Sacred Heart Convent, Springfield, Ill.) Springfield Dominicans thought they knew the story. A new reading of old documents raises an intriguing mystery. It may be that a beautiful story about the synchronicity of the death of one of the Springfield Dominican founders …
“Almost all of the people I know don’t have papers,’ Rosaria said. “I wanted to drive safe, have insurance, live legally here.’ The young Mexican immigrant came to central Illinois on a short-term tourist visa, desperate for work she couldn’t find at home. She found a factory job, began studying English, and applied for permanent …
Dominicans in Ministry Feel the Heat of Immigration Reform Debate Read More »
“The people called forth the preaching charism in me,” Sister Charlotte Rebbe said, “They expected me to be a preacher.” That, in a nutshell, is how one Springfield Dominican sister came to understand a life she’s committed herself to decades earlier. Sister Charlotte served as parish director in a rural Wisconsin diocese when she experienced …
The Preaching Life: Women in the Order of Preachers Read More »
Somewhere in the United States there is a Coca-Cola employee with HIV who has the life-saving drugs she needs because of action taken by the Dominican Sisters of Springfield. Throughout Asia, factory managers are receiving the training they need to implement safe labor practices, protecting the lives and dignity of thousands of workers, because the …
Socially Responsible Investing:
“Touching the Lives of People We can’t Count” Read More »
In 2004, the authors, Sister Elise Bocke, OP and Sister Alverna Hollis, OP, lived at St. Edward Convent and welcomed the Nigerian Dominican Sisters. August 15 was a happy day for the sisters of St. Edward Convent in Chicago. Sisters Perpetua Chime and Cecilia Madu from Dusau, Nigeria, finally arrived at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport. …
Long Journey Brings Nigerian Sisters to St. Edwards Read More »
By Dana Hinton IN 2004, Dana Hinton was communication director for the Dominicans of St. Catharine Kentucky. She prepared this story as part of a collaborative effort of the Dominican Alliance congregations. In December 1992, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution declaring March 22 of each year as the World Day of Water. …
When facilitators from Crossroads Ministry told the Dominican Sisters of Springfield that becoming an anti-racist institution is a twenty-year struggle, many people found that difficult to imagine, Sister Beverly Jean Howe among them. “I must admit I’m somewhat overwhelmed that the organizers say this is a twenty-year process,” said the Rockford, Ill.-based canon lawyer. “But …
Walking to the Crossroads:
Springfield Dominicans Engage in
Anti-Racism Process Read More »
“I worked down at the school board as a reading specialist, but that wasn’t as much fun as this.” That is Sister Elise Bocke’s assessment of her latest ministry assignment. After sixty-three years in education, Sister Elise finds herself happily on the frontier of computer-assisted learning at St. Edward School on Chicago’s north side. “A …
