Our Sister Mary Bede DuChene died peacefully this morning, April 19, 2016, at Sacred Heart Convent. She was born in Trenton, Mich., in 1923 and named Veronica Agnes, the tenth of 12 children born to William and Agnes Dubry DuChene. She made her profession of vows in 1944 at Sacred Heart Convent, Springfield. Sister M. Bede gave her life as an educator, school principal, and librarian, sharing her love of learning with children of all ages at schools […]

Sister Josephine Therese Uhll, OP, a Dominican Sister of Springfield for 79 years, died on April 9, 2016. She loved her Dominican life and labored tirelessly and with great love in the field of Catholic healthcare, having served as administrator of St. Dominic Health Services in Jackson, Miss., for forty years. All services for Sister Josephine Therese are at Sacred Heart Convent as follows: Tuesday, April 12 Gathering 3:00 p.m. Visitation 3:30-6:15 p.m. Wake service 4:30 p.m. Mass […]

The Dominican Sisters of Springfield were one of thirty U.S. Catholic groups to sign an amicus brief in support of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan, designed to reduce carbon pollution by 32 percent below 2005 levels and make sure that America continues to scrub carbon emissions from our energy usage for a cleaner future. The brief was filed yesterday in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, which is currently reviewing challenges […]

Springfield Dominican Sister Marcelline Koch was interviewed this week by Judy Valente of WGLT, the public radio station in Normal, Ill., for an update on conditions facing our the Iraqi Dominican family. On March 17 Secretary of State John Kerry declared the situation for Christians and other religious minorities in Iraq and Syria is genocide. Sister Marcelline described her experience in Iraq in January 2014 and updates listeners on the latest word from Sister Maria Hanna, OP, prioress […]

An Easter Sunday preaching by Sister Rose Marie Riley, OP Gospel:  John 20: 1-9 This is a Gospel of “more to come.” Here we have darkness—no light. Emptiness, loss, bewilderment—no joy. For Mary, Peter, and John, dreams are dashed. Death, grief, and desolation prevail. No bells are chiming; no alleluia is sung. I find myself tempted to say to the three disciples, “Death isn’t the end; there really IS more to come.” As the evangelist John writes, “They […]