Local Church

July 20, 2006

Local Catholic parish gets ready for Dominican Sisters

By Mary Moore
The Catholic Sun

Preparations are well under way at St. Thomas the Apostle Parish for the Phoenix Diocese’s newest religious addition: the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist.

Parishioners are currently renovating the church’s spirituality center, formerly a convent, for the sisters’ arrival in mid-August.

After accepting Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted’s invitation, the four Dominican sisters will be teaching at St. Thomas the Apostle Elementary School and St. Mary’s High School.

“It is our privilege to welcome this newly established, dynamic and prayerful community to our diocese,” said Sr. Jean Steffes, CSA, chancellor and director for the Office of Religious. “Though a new community, the sisters are thoroughly formed in the religious life, well-prepared educationally, and eager to teach in our schools.”

Bishop Olmsted is excited about the addition of the Dominican Sisters of Mary to the Catholic schools of Phoenix. 

“That this new community of sisters, established less than 10 years ago, would be eager to come and to serve in our Catholic Schools is a wonderful blessing,” the bishop said.

“For many years, we have been blessed to have men and women religious serving in our Catholic schools,” he said. The Dominican Sisters “will carry forward the strong heritage already established and bring new charisms and wonderful gifts of their own.”

In August, Sr. Martin Therese Pellend, superior of the convent, and Sr. Maria Christi Nelson, will begin teaching at St. Mary’s. Sr. Mary David Klocek and Sr. Mary Magdalene Quinn will teach at St. Thomas the Apostle.

The Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist, is the fastest growing women’s religious order in the nation. Begun in 1997, the order has increased to 70 members is less than 10 years.

The spiritual identity of the sisters — based in Ann Arbor, Mich. — is shaped by the Dominican tradition with an ardent devotion to eucharistic adoration and the Blessed Mother.

Sr. Maria Gemma, one of the sisters who will remain at the Mother House in Ann Arbor, expressed the order’s enthusiasm for the new mission in Arizona.

“This is community history for us,” she said. “Every one of the sisters here has the great missionary spirit of Our Lady of the Annunciation: active, engaging and ready to make haste and take the Lord to others.

“The sisters going to Phoenix are on fire and excited to be there,” Sr. Maria Gemma said. “We just can’t wait for them to get there and bring Christ to everyone they meet.”

She added that the sisters “couldn’t have been welcomed more warmly by Fr. Wall and the parishioners of St. Thomas. And Bishop Olmsted could not have been more gracious in his invitation.”

Phoenix will be the order’s first mission outside of Michigan.