Vocation Stories
Sharing Faith, Dreams, Hopes for the Future
Sister Carol Artery, OP
After eight years of Sisters of the Blessed Virgin Mary teaching at Our Lady Help of Christians School in Chicago, I was somewhat startled by the different charism I felt from the Dominicans at Trinity High School. Of course, I was now a teenager rather than a grade school student, but the Sisters seemed filled with enthusiasm and a kind of joy. Read more . . .
Grateful for the Call
Sister Marie Celeste Gatti, OP
We moved. All summer this 8-year-old dreaded going to a new school. On the fateful day my father took me to the principal’s office, and I was marched across the hall to Grade 3-4. Sister Jamesetta welcomed me; however, all week I cried. Weekend came. Having put up such a fuss, my parents relented and sent me back to my old school. This was my introduction to the Sinsinawa Dominicans! Read more . . .
Appreciating the Blessings of Sisterhood
Sister Duchesne Maxwell, OP
The Dominican Sisters of Sinsinawa were my teachers all through grade and high school at St. Cecilia in Omaha, Nebraska. They were good teachers and happy people. I wanted to be a Sister (in between boyfriends). When I was a freshman in college I visited a friend who had entered after high school. She said, “You belong here.” Read more . . .
Growing Up Dominican
Sister Colleen Nolan, OP
You might say I grew up with the Dominicans of Sinsinawa. The journey began at Holy Angels Parish in Omaha, Nebraska. For eight of those nine years, I had Sisters who inspired me with their knowledge, wit, and faith. Read more . . .
Saying ‘Yes’ to Religious Life
Sister Roberta A. Popara, OP
Saying “no” is easy for 2-year-olds. As we get older, we say “no” for various reasons, but find saying “yes” can make people like you. Wouldn’t that be even more so if you sense God is calling you to something really big?! Read more . . .
Motivated by Enthusiasm
Sister Mary Rathert, OP
Whenever I am asked the question, “Why did you enter religious life,” I have to think long and hard to remember. I was 18 and had just graduated from high school. That was a common age for women to begin religious life “way back then.” I have come to know over many years that 18 is a pretty immature age. So my motivation was based on the youthful enthusiasm of wanting to give my total self to God and to the work of God. Read more . . .
God Is Full of Surprises
Sister Helen Marie Raycraft, OP
I am writing this as I celebrate 47 years of vowed life as a Sinsinawa Dominican. I would sign up again! I was surrounded by our Sisters when I was growing up. They were family to me. My aunt, Sister Mary John Kallal ,OP, lived at Dominican University, River Forest, IL, which was one block from my home. Read more . . .
Hearing God’s Call in Grade School
Sister Nora Schaefer, OP
When I was in fifth grade, our class went to the gymnasium and saw a film about a Maryknoll Sister whacking a path through the jungle with a big gleaming machete. Right then and there, I knew that I, too, wanted a machete. Something powerful, strong, and very shiny that would be my instrument for bringing God to others. Read more . . .
Stirrings of the Heart
Sister Priscilla Wood, OP
Just before graduating from college, eager to begin what I thought would be my lifetime career as a high school English teacher, I interviewed for a job at a Catholic girls’ high school in south Minneapolis staffed by the Sinsinawa Dominican Sisters. Of course I didn’t want that job; I wanted more than a pittance of a salary and more men around! I had never gone to Catholic school myself and knew nothing about Sisters. But on the day of my interview, in the short time I spent in the presence of Sisters on the faculty, I was overwhelmed with their kindness, their enthusiasm, their expertise and professionalism, and I left signing a contract! Read more . . .
My Heart Contiues to Soar
Sister Patty Caraher, OP
Rose McBride, my grandmother from Ireland, surrounded me with nurturing stories that formed and grounded me. One such was that Jesus was among the depression men who came to our small back apartment porch looking for food. In her gracious wisdom, Grandma McBride invited me to sit among them as they ate her freshly baked bread and drank her Irish tea. Sitting with these companions, I searched for the face of Jesus. This early communion table initiated a lifelong search for God and planted the seeds of my vocation to religious life. Read more . . .
Grateful for Sister Support
Sister Ana Luisa Cespedes, OP
I think my vocation began in my mother’s womb because God chose me in the early stages of my life. After four months of pregnancy, my mother had a miscarriage, a baby girl, and five months later I was born without any problems. I am the eighth of nine children born into a low-middle-class/poor family. Read more . . .
You could become part of this vibrant work. Contact us today.
Sinsinawa Dominicans
Membership Office
585 County Road Z
Sinsinawa, WI 53824-9701
(608) 748-4411, ext. 278
member@sinsinawa.org