Did you hear about the people who decided, in the midst of this extraordinary COVID19 crisis, that they needed to haul down from the attic, up from the basement, or out of the garage rafters—Christmas? Perhaps we aren’t feeling as brave now as we were early in the days of shelter-in-place, before the magnitude of […]
Living the Meaning of Holy Days Read More »
Triduum observance Here are some resources for you if you are at a loss for how to best observe the Triduum, the three day liturgical season that precedes Easter and consists of Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Saturday, including the Easter Vigil. Less is more A bit of advice: less may be better. These
Holy Week at Home: Resources for the Domestic Church Read More »
About the photo: Sister Linda Hayes sews surgical masks at St. Rose Convent in Springfield. You can’t grasp hope “Hope isn’t anything you can grasp,” Sister Kelly said, pausing for a thought then adding “It has to be received.” Then, as she stretched out her hands and looked at them, you could see the insight
Sister M. Stephanie’s ServicesBecause 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 to
Sister Mary Stephanie Kapusta, OP Read More »
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
Episode Four:
“Responding to “the ache” Read More »
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
Episode Three:
“You were a safe place” Read More »
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
Episode Two: “Not a terrific 7th grade teacher” Read More »
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
Episode One: Loving God,
Radical Response Read More »
(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
When did Sister Rachel Conway Die? Read More »
“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 »
