Sisters Celebrate 75, 60, 50, and 25 Years
of Religious Profession
This year, eleven jubilarians are celebrating the anniversaries of their religious profession during the 150th anniversary year of the founding of our congregation. We celebrate their lives of service and commitment as we remember those who went ahead of them. Please pray with us in gratitude for our sisters. You are welcome and encouraged to leave a message of good will or share a favorite story on each of the sisters' individual pages.
Sister M. Edwina Finnegan, OP
Sister M. Edwina Finnegan has touched many lives throughout her 75 years of religious life. Her desire to help students learn was the catalyst for her teaching career. Born and baptizedin Dwight, Ill., she grew up in Odell and considers St. Paul Parish there her home parish. She always knew she would enter the convent …
Sister M. Alberta Lawless, OP
Sister M. Alberta Lawless’ roots grow deep in the soil of the Springfield Dominican story. Six other members of her family also joined the congregation, including her sister, Sister Rene Lawless, and two aunts, Sisters Maureen and Edmund Flynn. The first Springfield Dominican in the family was her great aunt, Sister Augusta Gougherty, who join …
Sister Judine Hilbing, OP
Sister Judine Hilbing has faithfully served in the ministry of education for 60 years. She was born in Quincy, Ill., and baptized at St. Peter’s Church. She had three siblings; her brother Jack is deceased; her sister Mary Eling resides in Quincy; and her sister, Springfield Dominican Sister Judith Hilbing, lives with her at St. Martin dePorres Convent in …
Sister Kathleen Kenny, OP
Chicago-born and Springfield raised, Sister Kathleen Kenny felt a call to health care ministry early during her years as a Springfield Dominican Sister. She was baptized at St. Edmund Parish, Oak Park but soon her parents, Elizabeth and James Kenny moved the family to Springfield, where she attended school at Blessed Sacrament. After teaching for …
Sister Mary Lou Owens, OP
Sister Mary Lou Owens, a Chicago native, has been the Spiritual Life Coordinator of Logan County Illinois since 2007. In that role she visits those who are sick, oversees the Rite of Christian Initiation for persons coming into the Church, and makes herself available to parishioners who desire her accompaniment and prayer. Her commitment includes …
Sister Karen Freund, OP
Sister Karen, who was previously known as Sister M. Siena, has had a multi-layered ministerial life. As a young sister she taught middle and junior high students in Illinois at St. Bernadette, Evergreen Park; Sacred Heart School, Granite City, and Christ the King, Springfield. Then, after eight years teaching English and theology at Sacred Heart …
Sister Theodora Stremlau, OP
Sister M. Theodora has given much of her ministerial energy to the faith formation of young people. She taught theology at Marian Catholic, Chicago Heights, Ill., Sacred Heart Academy/Sacred Heart-Griffin, Springfield, Ill., and St. Thomas Aquinas High School, Hammond, La., For ten years she was formation director for the Dominican Sisters at the motherhouse in …
Sister Judith Pfile, OP
Sister Judith Pfile (previously Sister Donna Marie) has been a pastoral associate at St. Joseph the Worker Parish in Chatham, Ill, since 2006, where she excels at encouraging parishioners to recognize their own gifts for ministry in the church as baptized Christians. Decatur born and raised, she followed her older sister, Sister Janet Marie (deceased), …
Sister Sharon Zayac, OP
As the child of a peripatetic military family, Sister Sharon Zayac (Sister Sharon Therese) was born in Great Falls, Mont., but didn’t spend much time there. After spending her youth on U.S. military bases around the world, she joined the Dominican Sisters from Sacred Heart Parish, Redlands, Calif. Her parents George and Mary Zayac and …
Sister Edith Vila Alania, OP
With the exception of a period of study in Aurora, Ill., 2005-2006, Sister Edith’s ministry has been completely in Peru, where she is now co-parish administrator at Parroquia San Juan Bautista in Jarpa, a remote agricultural region in the northern Andes. She has served as a pastoral minister in Lima and La Oroya, Peru, and …
Sister Mila Diaz Solano, OP
Sister Mila joined the Dominican Sisters from La Oroya, Peru. Until 2006 all of her ministry was in Peru. In 2000 she was among the pioneers at Parroquia San Juan Bautista de Jarpa, and other surrounding agricultural villages of Peru that in the 1980s and 1990s suffered much violence from the terrorist groups Sendero Luminoso …
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Click the button to make a secure online donation to honor one of our sisters celebrating 25, 50, or 60 years of vowed life. Your gift today helps our sisters change lives with their prayer, preaching, wisdom, and encouragement for all they encounter.
