Introducing the 2023-2024 cohort
of the Collaborative Dominican Novitiate (CDN)
Thanks be to God, we traveled safely from around the United
States and are in the midst of a comprehensive orientation. We are excited
about our new home at the CDN for this Canonical year. Thank you for all the ongoing prayers
and outpouring of support as we enter this concentrated and consecrated stage of
formation. Please continue reading to learn more about our five novices, our professed sister in residence, and our novice director.
Editor: Sr. Shingai Chigwedere
NOVICES
Sister Angela Thanh Tran - Dominican Sisters of Mission San Jose
Sending you my warmest greetings from Chicago. I am my parents’ only daughter and my brother’s older sister. I love music and poetry, writing and dancing, eating, and watching rom-coms. Born in Saigon, Southern Vietnam, I grew up in a cradle Catholic family. At 16, I left my home country and set foot in the Northwest of the U.S. to begin a whole new journey as a college student. My undergraduate degree is an AA in Nursing. I worked as a Certified Nurse Assistant for two years before life took me on another adventure.
Sister
Terri Schell – Dominican Sisters of Peace
Seeking the divine in nature and community has led me from the foothills and beaches of North Carolina, to the evergreen forests of the Pacific Northwest US, and eventually to religious life with the Dominican Sisters of Peace.
I am the middle child of five, raised in a home full of singing and spirited conversations. This full, faith-centered family life laid the foundation for a desire for intentional living I sought out through my adult years. While at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, I began learning the language of the earth and her creatures through an Environmental Science and Biology degree. The marine life and maritime forests of coastal North Carolina ignited a wonder in me that I wanted to share with others. Environmental Education became my focus and that led me to a series of rich work experiences with science camps, sea turtle conservation, aquarium education, and eventually to Catholic camps and parish ministry with the Archdiocese of Seattle.
Inspired by Pope Francis’ letter on the environment, Laudato Si', I learned how to live my faith more concretely through the social teaching of the church. A desire to do that in community living close to the land and some wise advice led me to consider religious life. After over two years of discernment, I entered the Dominican Sisters of Peace in August of 2022. It has been a treasure to engage in the pillars of prayer, study, community, and ministry and to live deeply.
I enjoy creating (cooking, baking, crafting, watercolor painting), adventuring outside (hiking, backpacking, gardening) and being active (tennis, yoga, walking). I’ve been grateful for companions, community members, and sisters who have walked with me on this wild journey. I revel in the opportunity to expand my experience of the Dominican family and to deepen my love for God and neighbor during this novitiate year. Your prayers and support make all the difference. Thank you.
Discernment has been an interesting journey. I spent much of 2020 caring for Covid ICU patients, and being present at so many deaths changed me. I experienced God’s life-giving presence in the midst of illness, isolation and terrible suffering. I started to pray more regularly and think about what my life would mean. I began to believe that God was inviting me to live religious life in community with others while continuing to work in health care. Dominican spirituality, with its emphasis on study as a spiritual discipline, was an important piece of the puzzle. A Dominican priest who had been a college classmate suggested Sinsinawa. Though the congregation’s historical mission has involved Catholic education, sisters have engaged in a diverse range of ministries, according to their gifts and calling. The experience of balancing prayer, study, community life, and ministry, while not always easy, has been life-giving for me. I look forward to continuing this life in a new way here at the collaborative novitiate.
Sister
Paula Danforth – Dominican Sisters of Peace
My name is Paula
Danforth and I come from a small town (2,925 residents as of the 2020 census)
in Vermont called Fair Haven. I am an accountant by training (Castleton
University in Castleton, Vermont) and I worked at Slate Valley Unified Union School
District in the Superintendent's finance office, and I was a volunteer with a
PATH therapy horse program in Belmont, Vermont (an even smaller town). I
spent a couple of years living with a Mercy Sister in Benson, Vermont. It's okay if you have not heard of Benson, it is a farm town on the shore of
Lake Champlain, where there are more sheep here than there are people. The main street in the town is a dirt road and every year the big event in town
is the Burdox Festival complete with carnival type attractions and a parade
with floats that celebrate all things Burdox related.
I moved into the House of Welcome in
Connecticut (a big city to this small-town girl) for a year where I worked at
Albertus Magnus College in the finance office. Now I find myself in an
even larger city (Chicago is the 3rd largest city in the United
States) for the novitiate year. This is definitely outside of my comfort
zone.
I met the Dominican Sisters while attending retreats at Niskayuna. I started to follow the actions and movements of the Peace Community and found myself inspired by the ability of the sisters to respond to the needs of the times. I wanted to be a part of a community that was open to change. The pillars of Prayer, Study, Ministry, and Community are in line with my own values. Then when I met more of the sisters, I saw their joy and passion for their ministries. All the sisters I have met have expressed such joy in their calling as Dominican Sisters.
My candidacy year was an intense dive into a
life lived within the four pillars. I have seen how the vows are lived by
the sisters that I have encountered. I enjoyed living, praying, studying
and ministering with the Dominican Sisters of Peace in Connecticut. I have
a strong desire to use my Spirit-given gifts to serve God’s people. I
look forward to continuing my discernment here at the Collaborative Dominican
Novitiate.
Sister Shingai Chigwedere – Dominican Sisters of Peace
Hello Sisters! My name is Shingai Chigwedere and I am a native of Zimbabwe. Looking back, my discernment journey really began in 2013 at World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro when I heard God call me to, “do more with the Catholic Church.” It took a few years but, I eventually transitioned from corporate to church ministry working for an Archdiocese in human resources. Even though I could now be my full self in the workplace, openly praying with colleagues in meetings or attending Mass daily onsite, that integration did not fill this deeper longing I felt. Through lots of prayer, spiritual direction, and many hours in Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, it became clearer that God was asking me to discern serving as a religious Sister.
I found myself drawn to the mission for preaching the truth of the Gospel message through peace as lived out in the values of Dominican spirituality, prayer, study, community, and ministry. I was impressed with the cultural diversity of the women in formation in the Dominican Sisters of Peace. I was also encouraged with how mindful they are of the future and have conversations and take actions to adapt to the needs of the times. The fact that eight Dominican congregations came together in 2009 because they recognized the opportunity to unify as Dominican Sisters of Peace is impressive. It shows me that they value the broader Dominican community and are not afraid to make changes in order to better serve the world.
During my candidacy, I had the privilege of ministering in the Dominican Mission office at our founded institution, Albertus Magnus College. The students, faculty, and staff were such a blessing and I am grateful for the opportunity to especially see and contribute to our student's personal and spiritual growth during the year. I was blessed with the gift of a multicultural, multigenerational house of eight women. I loved our conversations about daily life and how they connected with scripture, or with a social justice issue, or with how it called us to better disciples.
I am excited and grateful to God for the opportunity to be in this stage of formation. Thank you for your ongoing prayers during this sacred time.
Professed Sister in Residence
Sister Maria Teresa Montes Lara, O.P. – Dominican Sisters of Tacoma
Our Dominican life takes us from here to there and over there. Born in Mexico, a member of the Tacoma congregation for almost ten years in California, now in Chicago. An itinerant by the grace of God, and with an open heart and open mind to begin the journey as professed sister during this canonical year for a group of five women at the Dominican Collaborative Novitiate.
For most of my ministry, it has been an honor to work with the Latino community. Their theological and pastoral formation through all these years is and has been a priority in my contribution and participation in the reign of God. In Papa Francisco’s words, synodality is urgent in our Church, but the most important point is to live as organic members of the Church in the priesthood of the Baptized. What a gift to witness the Gospel alive and with many voices, especially in this group of visionary women.
My wish and my hope is to walk with these valiant women
who believe that our world is the place to live and to echo Jesus’s message to
console, to bless, and to praise.
Novice Director
Sister Elyse Marie Ramirez, O.P. – Dominican Sisters of Springfield
I am a Dominican Sister of Springfield, originally from Springfield. I am delighted and humbled to be sharing this year at the CDN with our five Novices and our Professed Sister in Residence, Sr. Maria Teresa Montes Lara, O.P. (Tacoma). I pray we might together deepen our hearts’ discerning listening so to joyfully and authentically respond to the worlds' needs through this Dominican vowed life. My own love for our charism has grown exponentially with the various collaborative experiences within our Dominican family. One particularly formative collaborative experience, for which I will be forever grateful, was the gift of being a member of the Dominican Alliance Community in Oak Park, IL for ten years.
Before religious life, I was a Teamster with the Retail Clerks Union and a team member on numerous Together Encountering Christ (T.E.C.) and Koinonia retreats. My years of weekly meetings as a member of the St. Francis Light of Love Charismatic community in the Springfield area continue to enrich my life to this day. My educational background includes undergraduate degrees in History, Theology, an MA in Theology from Aquinas Institute along with certificates in teaching and preaching. I have completed the RFC ForMission program and continue updating with the UISG, St. Luke’s Institute, and RFC formation courses. My ministry experience includes teaching students 5th grade through high school, high school campus ministry, vocation and formation ministries in my congregation, and serving seven years as the Director of Religious Vocation Ministries in the Office for Religious in the Archdiocese of Chicago. I love birds, playing Scrabble, Back Alley Bridge, reading books about other cultures and peoples, and watching movies that tug my heart with fresh popcorn by my side!
