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 and MRTA (Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement), and from the violent repression of the State through the army. After completing studies at John XXIII Institute of Theological Studies, Lima, Sister Mila began a lengthy period of study in the United States and Jerusalem that culminated in her receiving a master degree in Theology from Catholic Theologica Union, a pontifical license degree in Scripture from the Biblicum Franciscan in Jerusalem and ultimately her doctoral degree in Sacred Scripture from the Ecole Biblique, the French Dominican school of biblical and archeological research. In Peru, Sister Mila taught at her alma mater, John XXIII Institute of Theological Studies (ISET), and joined the staff at Instituto de Bartolome las Casa, working alongside the institute’s founder, Peruvian Dominican theologian Gustavo Gutierrez.

In 2018 Sister Mila joined the faculty of Mundelein Seminary, Mundelein, Ill., as a visiting professor, and in 2019 she was elected to the leadership team of the Dominican Sisters of Springfield. Even in that role, she continues teaching scripture to men studying for the permanent diaconate and their wives in the Archdiocese of Chicago. She also provides online workshops, retreats, conferences and courses in Scripture to the laity and religious sisters in Peru and in USA.

Sister Mila's father Epifanio Diaz, is deceased, her mother, Victoria Solano, lives in La Oroya, Peru, as do her brothers Jimmy and Hernan Diaz. Her bother Huber lives in Lima.

"From the moment God called me into religious life all has been grace upon grace,” she says. “I accepted the call and the greatest generosity has been witnessed by my mother and family to let me go to wherever I am sent. I’ve learned of God’s abundant love and mercy from and with the sisters and the people who have walked with me all these years, especially from those who are invisible and discarded. God’s fidelity sustains my vocation.”