The Adrian Dominican Sisters elected a prioress (president) and four members of the General Council to lead them through the next six years.Some 199 delegates gathered Feb. 18-26 for Session II of their 2016 General Chapter, held regularly by Roman Catholic religious orders to set the direction for their future. The Adrian Dominican Sisters hold General Chapters every six years. On the evening of the opening day, the delegates gathered for a special Mass of the Holy Spirit to invoke the assistance of the Holy Spirit on their deliberations. The Most Rev. Earl Boyea, bishop of Lansing, presided. The following are the newly-elected members of the General Council, who will officially take office on July 1, 2016:
Sister Patricia Siemen, OP, prioress-elect of the congregation. Sister Patricia is the founding director of the Earth Center for Jurisprudence at the Barry University School of Law in Orlando, Fla. The center seeks to develop a philosophy and practice of law that respects and protects the natural world in its own right. She served on the Congregation’s General Council from 1992 to 1998.
Sister Frances Nadolny, OP, administrator and general councilor-elect. She is the director of the congregation’s Ministry Trust Office, which oversees the awarding of grants to organizations in which Adrian Dominican Sisters minister or volunteer. Before that, Sister Fran had served for six years as chapter prioress (“major superior”) for the Sisters in the Detroit-based Great Lakes Dominican Mission Chapter.
Sister Mary Margaret Pachucki, OP, vicaress and general councilor-elect. Currently president of Regina Dominican High School in Wilmette, Ill. Sister Mary Margaret also has also served as the national coordinator for literacy and numeracy in South Africa; school and curriculum consultant for the Diocese of Toledo; principal and high school and elementary school teacher.
Sister Elise D. García, OP, general councilor-elect. The director of communications for the Adrian Dominican Sisters, Sister Elise also co-founded and co-directed Santuario Sisterfarm, an ecology center in Texas dedicated to cultivating biodiversity and cultural diversity, and was the founding editor of Sor Juana Press, publisher of the Dominican Women on Earth series.
Sister Patricia Harvat, OP, general councilor-elect. Now the vice president of Dominican Catholic Identity at St. Mary’s Dominican High School in New Orleans, Sister Pat also has served as director of lay ministry formation for the Hispanic Ministry Office of the Diocese of Cleveland. From 1993 to 1999, she served as director of formation for the Adrian Dominican Congregation. Sister Pat also has ministered in Puerto Rico, Peru and the Philippines.
The incoming prioress and general council will succeed Sister Attracta Kelly, OP, prioress of the congregation; Sister Corinne Sanders, OP, administrator and general councilor; Sister Tarianne DeYonker, OP, vicaress and general councilor; and Sisters Rosemary Abramovich, OP, and Kathleen Schanz, OP, general councilors.
News