Introducing Our New Community

The Collaborative Dominican Novitiate (CDN) is a joint effort by the sisters in the Dominican Order in the USA to provide its members in initial formation with an experience of the larger Dominican Family. Each year a new group of novices comes together to create its own unique experience of community with fresh spirit, abundant gifts, and eagerness to grow in the Dominican tradition. This year, we especially welcome the Maryknoll Sisters of Saint Dominic who have brought their missionary spirit into this venture. 

In addition to the prayers for our novices, we ask special prayers for our new co-directors who begin their own journey in accompanying our novices on this sacred path of discernment. 

Meet the Novices 

Sr. Phuong Vu

Dominican Sisters of Peace

I was born in Vietnam and migrated to Chicago with my family in 1989. I graduated from Illinois Institute of Technology with a BS in Chemical Engineering and then moved to Dallas, Texas, where I worked for telecommunication companies until 2016. Despite many changes in my life, I was always involved with religious ministries. I taught catechism, sang in choirs, and participated in prayer groups at local churches. These activities deepened my faith and my desire to share God's love with others. After a few years of discernment, I gathered my courage and became a candidate with the Dominican Sisters of Peace in 2016. I spent my candidacy years at the House of Welcome in New Haven, Connecticut, where I continued to discern my calling to be a Dominican Sister of Peace. I am so grateful for the prayers, encouragement, and support that I received during my candidacy years. I look forward to this next step of discernment and being with the Dominican family.

Sr. Rolande Pendeza Kahindo

Maryknoll Sisters of Saint Dominic

I was born and raised in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC, Zaire, or Belgian Congo). I have seven siblings, and I am the second born and eldest sister. I hold a bachelor's degree in Education from Tangaza College, a Constituency of the Catholic University of Eastern Africa. I first met the Maryknoll Sisters in 2014 when I was working as a teacher in Dodoma, Tanzania, with the Jesuit Fathers. I was attracted to the sisters because of their simplicity of life, their missionary spirit of crossing borders to meet those living on the margins, and their willingness to go to remote areas and share life with the poor according to one's giftedness. I had my first year of integration and acculturation in Chicago where I lived in community and continued to learn about the Maryknoll spirituality while taking classes from CTU (Catholic Theological Union) for my personal growth. I volunteered at Saint Thomas the Apostle Parish as a minister of care, where I was happy to bring the Eucharistic Jesus to the homebound. I also volunteered in a food pantry at Saint James Parish. I am very grateful for the love, support, and prayers from the Maryknoll Sisters, my family, friends, and the whole Dominican family. 

Sr. Maria Kieu Tran 

Dominican Sisters of Mission San Jose

Born in Vietnam and entered the US at the age of one, I was raised in Modesto, California, as the middle of seven children. I graduated from the University of California San Diego with a Bachelor's in Human Biology, and it was there that I first encountered and fell in love with the Dominican charism through campus ministry at the Newman Center. When I was seeking to begin discernment, God guided me to the sisters at Mission San Jose, who quickly became my model of how to live a life that embodies the words of their preaching. My ministerial experiences include liturgical ministry in both the Vietnamese and English communities, youth ministry, Confirmation catechist, and Children's Liturgy of the Word. Before entrance, I worked as an administrative assistant at Our Lady of Fatima Church in Modesto, assigned with the tasks of baptism and marriage preparation, funeral liturgy planning, and coordinating the Safe Environment program. My hope for this coming year is to listen even deeper to the Father's call, to encounter Christ daily in others and in myself, and to give witness to the Holy Spirit.

Meet the Co-Directors

Sr. Lorraine Reaume, OP

Dominican Sisters of Adrian

I am excited to be able to minister on behalf of the many Dominican congregations that make up the Collaborative Dominican Novitiate. My own CDN experience in 1998-1999 grounded me in the Dominican Family and gave me a solid identity as a Dominican. I look forward to walking with women on that same journey and to broadening our intercultural experience together. I am originally from Toronto, Canada, and so, like our novices this year, am also an immigrant. My undergraduate degrees are a BA in English and Psychology (University of Waterloo) and a BEd (Lakehead University). I have an MDiv and an MA in Theology from Catholic Theological Union. I have a certificate in Spiritual Direction and have completed the Collaborative Leadership Development Program. I am in the middle of the Religious Formation Conference ForMission program. Before religious life, I was a teacher and then a Lay Missionary in Bolivia. I also co-coordinated the Lay Mission Program for Scarboro Missions for four years. In religious life, I have served as a Campus Minister at Siena Heights University, as a Pastoral Associate with a focus on Hispanic Ministry in both Anchorage, AK, and Detroit, MI, and as Formation Director. I love to walk with others as they discover how God is calling them to life.

Sr. Cathy Arnold, OP

Dominican Sisters of Peace

I am happy to accept this ministry, and I hope to help provide a nurturing and life-giving environment in the CDN community. I participated in the CDN as a novice from 2000 to 2001 and have many wonderful and, yes, some challenging memories, which helped me to grow more deeply into Dominican life, especially relationships and social justice issues. My educational background includes a BS in chemistry from Marietta College, an MA in theological studies from the University of Dayton, and most recently a certificate of completion of the Religious Formation Conference ForMission program. My final project for ForMission involved developing and leading an Intercultural Living mini-workshop with our Sisters and Associates. I have also participated more informally in a Peace Ambassador Training program and have helped coordinate a Leadership for Peace program for college age students. In my past, I have ministered in special education and high school education. From 2017 to 2018, I ministered first as a vocation minister and then as Coordinator of Formation of my congregation. Walking with women in formation is a gift, privilege, and a sacred task as they and we discern how the Spirit is working in us. In addition to ministry, I enjoy baking bread, walking, reading, biking, gardening, and watching movies.