A new look for the Collaborative Dominican Novitiate
SP-OP Community Living
2019-2020
What is
SP-OP?
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. The purpose of the canonical year in the
CDN is to provide a quality experience of community life, prayer, study,
ministry, exposure to and practice of preaching skills, and personal growth.
The process of this collaborative experience is intended to offer a rich
novitiate experience, encourage a supportive peer group, share the giftedness
and resources of the congregations involved, and promote the charism of the
Order.
With
one novice this year in the Dominican congregations, and with a request by the
Sisters of Providence (SP) of St Mary of the Woods, Terra Haute, IN, to share
space with us at the CDN, we, the co-directors, CFR’s, and the Board of the
CDN, agreed to the idea that we share space and community life with the SP
novice director and novice. Their bios
are included in this newsletter so that you can get to know them, too. The Dominicans and the Sisters of Providence
each retain their own times for formation in their specific charisms. We do share prayer, community life, meals,
and participation in common elements of both programs, including the intercommunity
novitiate, Aquinas Institute’s vowed life class, talks related to social
justice, and social activities. We are
mindfully attending to the blessings and challenges, especially how this may
affect the novices. Please pray for us
that we may each be true to our charisms while building bridges and learning
more about the charism of each. We have
informally named ourselves the SP-OP Community at the CDN.
Mingling of the soil, watering of the soil, and planting
Pioneering…
“Step down, Sisters. You have arrived!” Well, Sr.
Jessica Vitente and Sr. Janice Smith didn’t have to step down as St. Mother
Theodore and her companions did because the 21st century SPs arrived not by
coach, but by car – actually two cars! On August 15, the SPs were warmly
welcomed by Dominican Sisters Cathy Arnold, Lorraine Reaume and Ellen Coates.
The two congregations refer to their new communities as “The SP-OP Community
Novitiate.” However, they now affectionately call themselves the “S-Pops!” So
in addition to the shared work of formation, the S-Pops know how to add a
little fun into their new community life.
The S-Pops all send their greetings to everyone in our SP and OP
communities and cordially invite you to “meet them in St. Louis” if you find
yourself in the neighborhood.
Meet the OPs
Sister Ellen A. Coates, OP
Dominican
Sisters of Peace
I
was born and raised in a suburb of Boston, Massachusetts. After receiving a BA in art history from the University
of N. Carolina at Chapel Hill and working for a Smithsonian Institution art
library for a couple
of years I shifted to a more service-oriented career in public health. My
degree in international public
health from Boston University opened the door to a challenging and rewarding
career, focused primarily
on women and children in the developing world.
I also served as a Eucharistic Minister in my parishes
in Washington, DC and Massachusetts. Although I loved opportunities to live and
pray with missionary
sisters during professional trips abroad, it wasn’t until after taking time off
to care for my parents
that I began to feel a call to religious life.
I had made several retreats at the Dominican Retreat in McLean,
Virginia, so when I realized that the pull toward religious life was growing I
went back there and met with Sr. Agnes, who put me in touch with a sister in
vocation ministry. In 2017 I entered the
Dominican Sisters of Peace and as a candidate I lived at their House of Welcome
in New Haven, Connecticut and taught English to adult immigrants at their Siena
Learning Center. I am very grateful and
excited to be starting my canonical novitiate year at the CDN, and hope to
deepen my relationship with God and my understanding of religious life and the
Dominican charism.
Sister Lorraine Reaume, OP
Dominican
Sisters of Adrian
I
am a Dominican Sister of Adrian, originally from Toronto, Canada, and am
excited to be starting my
second year with the CDN and 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
experience by sharing
our home with the Sisters of Providence Novice Director and Novice this year. My undergraduate
degrees are a BA in English and Psychology (University of Waterloo), and a
B.Ed. (Lakehead University). also 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 finishing up the ForMission program
offered by the Religious Formation Conference. 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 discern and
discover how God is calling them to life.
Sister Cathy Arnold, OP
Dominican
Sisters of Peace
Beginning
my second year at the CDN feels different from the first having had a year of
experience, plus welcoming
the Sisters of Providence to share community life. I am happy to continue to help provide a nurturing
and life-giving environment in this new SP-OP community at the CDN. 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 in building
relationships and on 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 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. Since then I have also completed the Collaborative Leadership
Development Program sponsored by LCWR.
In the past, I participated in a Peace Ambassador Training program and
helped coordinate a Leadership for Peace program for college age students. I have also ministered in special education
and high school education. From 2007 to 2018, I served as a vocation minister
and then as Coordinator of Formation for the Dominican Sisters of Peace.
Walking with women in formation is a gift, privilege, and a sacred task as they
and we discern how the Spirit is working in the discernment of becoming
Dominican. For fun, I enjoy baking bread, walking, reading, biking, gardening,
and sharing time with friends and family.
Meet the SPs
Sister Jessica Vitente, SP
Sisters of
Providence
St. Mary
of the Woods, IN
I am
a Filipino-American born and raised in Southern California. I consider Pomona,
CA as my
Sister Janice Smith, SP
Sisters of
Providence
St. Mary
of the Woods, IN
As
I enter my eighth year as Director of Novices for the Sisters of Providence, I
am excited about the
opportunity to walk with the Dominican sisters of the CDN in this new community
living experience
of the Canonical Year. I have always supported the idea of participating with
other experience
of the Canonical Year. I have always supported the idea of participating with
other communities
in this special year of discernment. Like others, I have found the sharing of
the novitiate
year with other communities very rewarding when I was a novice in the early 2000s. The
Intercommunity Novitiate program helped deepen my relationship with my God, my global
relationship with God’s creation and
connected me more closely to my own community’s spirituality
and charism of Providence and our founder, St. Mother Theodore Guerin. During my spirituality
and charism of Providence and our founder, St. Mother Theodore Guerin. During
my academic studies, I received a BA in Ancient Studies
from the University of Maryland, an MA in Greek and Latin from Ohio State, and
an MTS in Theological Studies from the Franciscan School of Theology at the
GTU. In addition to my current ministry, I was director of Adult Faith
Formation at a parish in California, campus minister and theology teacher at
Guerin Prep High School in Chicago, and an English instructor for Biblical and
English Studies at Providence University in Taiwan. Prior to religious life, I
taught German and Latin in a public school in Columbus, Ohio. At Hewlett-Packard in California, I was an
instructor for computer systems and a manager for Customer Education for 14
years. Living throughout the United
States and in Taiwan has certainly given me a love of the diversity in our
world. Living life as a woman religious has opened my eyes and heart to the
needs of God’s most vulnerable and our imminent call to care for Earth. I enjoy
reading, traveling and having steamed crabs and beer when I am home with my
large Polish-American family in Baltimore.
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