• Our Phoenix mission Sisters accompanied fifteen students from St. Mary’s Catholic High School (SMHS) who entered the Church at this year’s Easter Vigil.

• Sr. Maria Gemma prepared fifty-two third graders for Confirmation and First Holy Communion and two students for Baptism.

• Six SMHS students accompanied our Phoenix mission Sisters to our Motherhouse discernment retreat in Michigan. Sr. Maria Rose and Sr. John Magdalene are grateful to the Knights of Columbus for sponsoring this journey.

• Sr. Teresa Benedicta inaugurated Discipleship Days for the middle schoolers at St. Thomas the Apostle, which included small-group discussions and faith sharing among the students.

• Sr. Maria Rose and Sr. Maria Jerome accompanied students from SMHS on their annual Kairos retreat for juniors and seniors. The grace of God is at work in the lives of their students!

• Sr. Maria Rose, Sr. Maria Jerome, and Sr. John Magdalene made cameo appearances in the SMHS Spring musical, The Sound of Music.

• Our Sisters have visited five Jubilee sites in the Diocese of Phoenix for the Jubilee of Hope. They also visited Zion National Park with Father Andrew Fritz, CSC, and participated in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass amid the beautiful scenery of our national parks.

• Sr. Peter Joseph’s senior theology students at Marin Catholic built models of medieval cathedrals. Their work was featured in Catholic San Francisco:
A hands-on approach to truth, beauty and goodness – Archdiocese of San Francisco!

• Our Mill Valley mission Sisters have hosted several novices of the Western Province Dominican Friars in their classes on Tuesdays. The students always look forward to the Brothers’ visits!

• In January, our Sisters stood for life alongside the Western Province Dominican Friars in the Walk for Life West Coast.

• During Lent, our Sisters hosted a women’s retreat day for the Marin Catholic staff, parents, and local women.

• Always witnessing to the beauty of religious life, our Sisters participated in various vocations events: speaking to Confirmation students at St. Dominic’s Parish in San Francisco, hosting the middle school youth from Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish in Mill Valley at the Convent, and assisting at the Confirmation retreat for St. Veronica’s Parish in Menlo Park.

• Our Sisters began Lent with a pilgrimage to several area Year of Hope sites, concluding with a visit to the tomb of St. Junipero Serra in Monterey.

• Our Sisters gave a talk on religious life to all the Student Council members of elementary schools in the Diocese of Sacramento.

• Three of Sr. Christiana’s second-grade students received the Sacrament of Baptism this year.

• Bishop Jaime Soto of Sacramento was the honored guest at dinner at our Sisters’ convent.

• Our Sisters experienced West-African culture when they attended the twenty-fifth Anniversary of Ordination to the Priesthood of the Nigerian-born Fr. Alban Uba.

• St. Dominic cemetery in Benecia, CA was a treasured pilgrimage site where our Sisters prayed for all the deceased members of the Dominican Province of the Holy Name of Jesus buried there.

• Each month, our Sisters attended Sunday Mass at one of the twelve churches designated as Jubilee pilgrimage sites by the Diocese of Sacramento.

• Along with our Sisters’ efforts, OCIA formation happens through the assistance of over thirty faculty and staff. Students preparing for Sacraments gather in small groups weekly during lunch. The OCIA Rites are celebrated during morning Masses throughout the semester.

• Thirty-three students received the Sacraments of Baptism, Holy Communion, and Confirmation at a Mass celebrated by Bishop Timothy Freyer at St. Edward’s in Dana Point.

• With over twenty JSerra Catholic High School teams reaching the playoffs this year, sports played a significant role in student life. Our Sisters brought their specialty peanut butter bars to various team events throughout the year, visiting and laughing with the teams, periodically trying out the sport, and giving exhortations on virtue and love of God.

• Four sports teams competed in virtue-themed competitions as part of the JSerra virtue curriculum. Twenty-five “Virtue” episodes were created in which teams competed in demonstrations and knowledge of virtues. These episodes aired on the school broadcast show and were featured on Instagram. The football boys came out on top, winning the Olympic gold!

• Our Sisters had the opportunity to visit the Dead Sea Scrolls, a travelling exhibit on display at the Reagan Presidential Library. They got to see eight authentic scrolls firsthand and up close— the earliest known copies of the Hebrew Bible!

• Every Sunday evening at Ave Maria University (AMU), various student groups host a Eucharistic Holy Hour on campus. Our Sisters helped lead one Holy Hour a month, calling it Cor ad Cor. The hour of Adoration with praise and worship provides a beautiful opportunity to pray and celebrate Sunday in the presence of our Eucharistic Lord.

• In October, our Sisters accompanied several Ave Maria University students on a weekend pilgrimage to the shrine of Our Lady of Champion in Champion, Wisconsin. Each came away from their time grateful for the graces they received from Our Lady.

• AMU’s annual Aquinas Conference was held at the end of January. Our Sisters attended talks and papers centered around the conference’s theme, What Would Aquinas Do? Additionally, Sr. Mary Bethany presented her own paper written for the conference.

• Sr. Mercedes, the community’s vocation director, gave two wonderful talks to AMU students on vocations and living a virtuous life while in college. Our Sisters wrapped up the week speaking to students at the University of Miami.

• The Easter Triduum found our Sisters helping to prepare the campus for the Holy Week liturgies. Each morning from Holy Thursday through Holy Saturday, they prayed the Office of Tenebrae on campus – open to all. They also organized student sacristans in cleaning, polishing candlesticks, ironing linens, and arranging flowers before the Triduum liturgies began. A highlight of the week was seeing several classmates received into the Church at the Easter Vigil!

• Eleven Peoria Notre Dame students came into the Church at the Easter Vigil!

• Sr. Jude Andrew and Sr. Catherine Thomas accompanied forty Peoria Notre Dame students to the March for Life in DC.

• Peoria Notre Dame Campus Ministry took sixty-five students to the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage. Sr. Jude Andrew, Sr. Catherine Thomas, and Sr. Agnes Paulina attended.

• Peoria Notre Dame and St. Jude Catholic School students cheered and prayed as white smoke billowed in Rome, then cheered and prayed some more as we “met” our new Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV on screen.

• Our Sisters nourished their own spiritual life through a pilgrimage to Our Lady of Champion Shrine, Holy Hill in Wisconsin, and Marytown in northern Illinois.

• Our Motherhouse hosted three retreats for women discerning religious life, helping the young women to grow in their relationship with God as daughters of a loving Father.

• Motherhouse Sisters gave dozens of talks this year, traveling to parishes, universities, and schools to spread devotion to Our Lady and the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.

• Our teaching Sisters were thrilled to be with their students when Pope Leo XIV was elected! Those at the Motherhouse were in the middle of daytime prayer when one of the Sisters told them about the white smoke. The prayer began as one of petition and ended in thanksgiving!

• Both SSA campuses engaged in service outreach to assisted living facilities. Second grade students from Plymouth did coloring and other activities with the residents, and Ann Arbor’s drama club performed their shows!

• With joy, our Sisters supported student sports and activities at SSA Ann Arbor, SSA Plymouth, and Father Gabriel Richard High School. They love showing their spiritual motherhood by cheering on their students.

• Our novitiate and temporary professed Sisters received the incredible gift of a pilgrimage to Medjugorje. They are thrilled to grow closer to Our Lady on this journey.

• At Lansing Catholic High School, our Sisters spent the year teaching theology, English, and science. Sr. Peter Grace led a group of forty students and staff in preparation for Total Consecration to Jesus through Mary.

• At Resurrection School, Sr. Theresita lovingly prepared her students to receive Jesus in the Most Holy Eucharist.

• The middle school celebrated Pope Leo’s election with great rejoicing – and pizza!

• A highlight of the year was the Dedication of the Altar at the Church of the Resurrection, which had been undergoing renovation. Bishop Earl Boyea presided over the dedication, and our Sisters were blessed to bring up the gifts of bread and wine for the first Mass on the new altar.

• Sr. John Mary began serving this year as a canon lawyer at the Diocesan Tribunal. It is a beautiful gift to be working in the heart of the Diocese of Lansing!

• In April, our Sisters went on a pilgrimage to Our Lady of Champion in Wisconsin, the only approved Marian Apparition in the United States and a peaceful place of prayer and closeness to Our Lady.

• The Easter Vigil at St. Isaac Jogues (SIJ) was joy-filled, with fifteen people entering the Church. Among them was one of our fifth graders and his mother.

• Sixteen students made their First Communion and First Confession this year. Many parents also went to confession for the first time in a long time.

• Our Sisters hosted women’s Advent and Lenten retreats at St. Isaac Jogues Parish with over one hundred attendees. They gave the talks and facilitated the breakout sessions.

• Along with the SIJ faculty and staff, our Sisters attended the Archdiocese of Detroit Catholic School’s FIRE conference with over two thousand educators. Fr. Mike Schmitz was the main speaker.

• Our Sisters also attended the special Consecrated Life Mass with Archbishop Vigneron and all the religious of the Archdiocese.

• Sr. Gianna Marie and Sr. Maria Diana accompanied forty-two students on a Rome and Assisi pilgrimage in March.

• Sr. Incarnata built community with fourth through twelfth-grade ladies at St. Agnes School through weekly lessons in needlework crafts.

• Sr. Maria Diana and Sr. Maria Angelico hosted a vocation lunch at St. Agnes for fifty middle school and high school ladies who are interested in religious life.

• Our Sisters visited the Shrine of Our Lady of Champion and presented the intentions of their students, community, and benefactors.

• They also visited the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse, Wisconsin for Divine Mercy Sunday.

• Moments after the weekly all-school Mass—offered for the election of the Holy Father—St. Michael the Archangel High School students, families, and staff heard the cry of “white smoke!” Everyone gathered on the Learning Stairs in the center of the school to meet the new Holy Father on the big screen, hear his first message, and receive his blessing.

• One of our seniors entered the Catholic Church during an all school Mass, inspired by a few students who were received into the Church last year.

• Sr. Stephen Patrick was chosen as the Lasallian Educator of the Year by her fellow St. Michael’s staff.

• Pilgrimage was a theme for our Kansas City mission Sisters this year:

• At the start of the school year, they visited the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis and the Shrine of St. Joseph on their way to Missouri.
• Over Thanksgiving break, our Sisters traveled to the Blessed Stanley Rother Shrine in Oklahoma City and met up with Sisters traveling from Texas and New Mexico.
• As pilgrims of hope, our Sisters visited many locally designated Jubilee pilgrimage sites in Missouri: the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception (Kansas City), the Co-Cathedral of St. Joseph (St. Joseph), the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception of Conception Abbey (Conception), and the Basilica of Saint Louis, King of France (St. Louis).
• The school year concluded with a pilgrimage with our students to Rome, Assisi, Tuscany, Florence, Siena, and Padua. Much gratitude and prayers for our benefactors who made the Italy pilgrimage possible.

• Our Sisters in Gallup were blessed with the addition of a fourth member to their mission this year! Students in this very poor area of the country do not take for granted the presence of our Sisters!

• Sacred Heart Catholic School is growing! The school’s enrollment increased from fifty-six to seventy for the 2024-2025 school year.

• The Conclave and election of Pope Leo XIV was a great blessing at the school. The entire school watched the white smoke and the pope’s first appearance together, with a live Italian-to-English translation by Pastor Fr. Mitchell Brown!

• Our Sisters hosted their first Lenten Retreat at the school for the women of the parish and school community! The theme was “Women in the Gospels,” and it included Mass, Holy Hour, and talks prepared and delivered by our Sisters.

• Our Sisters enjoyed the beauty of the Southwest with a trip to Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks and a stay with the Benedictines of Our Lady of the Desert in Gobernador, New Mexico.

• During Advent, Jesus in the Eucharist visited each classroom where students had prepared a manger for Him.

• Our Sisters began a Marian group for eighth-grade girls at St. Mary’s Elementary.

• On May 5th, Nursery through eighth-grade students brought “flowers of the fairest” to adorn Mary’s shrine before she was crowned.

• Our Sisters prepared students for the Diocese of Rockville’s own Eucharistic Congress in June.

• Our Sisters had two convent service days this year – one for eighth- to twelfth-grade girls and another for eighth to twelfth grade boys. Both service days began with the Divine Office and ended with Mass.

• At the end of September, our Sisters attended the second annual Dominican Rosary Pilgrimage.

• Sr. Mary Regina and Sr. Josefa led the eighth graders of St. Michael’s on a pilgrimage to the March for Life, stopping at various shrines in Philadelphia. In addition, Sr. John Paul rallied many local high schools to make their “maiden voyage” to DC for the March!

• Our Sisters witnessed many of their students receiving the Sacraments of Reconciliation, Holy Eucharist, and Confirmation!

• Sr. John Paul coordinated all local Catholic grade schools to join the Bishop in praying the Rosary via Zoom on October 7, the Feast of Our Lady, Queen of the Holy Rosary. It was a powerful moment of unity in prayer with the Bishop.

• On August 15, Sisters from Columbus met the Findlay mission Sisters at Our Lady of Consolation in Carey, OH to continue the celebration of the Eucharistic Revival, processing to an outdoor altar where Mass was celebrated.

• The Columbus mission Sisters welcomed Sisters from the Motherhouse and the Findlay, Weirton, and Peoria missions – who were on pilgrimage to venerate the skull of our older Brother, St. Thomas Aquinas, which was “on tour” from Toulouse in honor of his TRIPLE anniversary: the 700th year since his canonization, the 750th year since his death, and the 800th year since his birth!

• Our Sisters used their training in Catechesis of the Good Shepherd to help their students encounter Christ in the Sacraments. Sr. Mary Dominic helped her students prepare for Pentecost through the Pentecost Presentation; Sr. Joseph Lucia and her kindergarteners celebrated Easter with a Liturgy of Light; and Sr. Fulton Marie used a model work of the Last Supper to prepare students for their First Holy Communion.

• Sr. Francis Rose took her fifth-grade students on a pilgrimage to the Rosary Cathedral in Toledo for the Jubilee of Hope.

• Our Sisters welcomed novice Sr. Maria Caritas to their mission for seven weeks. She joined in daily community life and observed in Sr. Mary Dominic’s 4th class.

• The Findlay and Columbus mission Sisters made a joint pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of Consolation in Carey, Ohio for the Vigil of the Assumption. They joined in a Marian procession from the Shrine to the Park, followed by Mass celebrated by Bishop Daniel Thomas of Toledo, with a homily from Bishop Fernandes of Columbus.

• Our Sisters attended a Day of Reflection with other women religious in the Diocese of Toledo. They listened to talks given by Dr. Jem Sullivan on the use of Sacred Art in prayer, and the day ended with Mass celebrated by Bishop Daniel Thomas.

• This year, Our Lady of Guadalupe Priory served as a place of formation and retreat for forty young women discerning religious life, fifty teachers and school administrators, one hundred mothers, and over three hundred members of CCD, youth, and home school groups.

• The teaching Sisters initiated and collaborated across three schools for a middle school vocational discernment day for boys and girls with over seventy-five participants and hosted the Dominican novices of the Southern Province of St. Martin de Porres.

• Sisters gave talks and retreats at Ft. Cavazos, University of Dallas, the Archdiocese of San Antonio, and the Diocese of Victoria, and attended numerous events in our home Diocese of Austin.

• Three of our four foundresses were present at Our Lady of Guadalupe Priory for the twenty-eighth anniversary of our community’s founding.

• Thanks to the generosity of benefactors, Sisters were able to participate in pilgrimages to Medjugorje, Italy, Mexico, and Oklahoma City.

• Sr. Elizabeth John’s senior theology class prepared to be evangelists at college next year by designing and enacting campus ministry events focused on apologetics and responding to modern philosophies.

• A University of St. Thomas (UST) student of Sr. Maria Frassati has entered the Cistercian community at Our Lady of Dallas and has taken the name of Br. Anselm.

• Sr. Albert Marie taught about St. Thomas’ sacramental theology to a class of undergraduates and gave the spring retreat for students at St. Mary’s Seminary.

• Sr. Albert Marie gave Thomistic Institute talks at University of Michigan and University of Berkeley, introducing undergraduate students to Dominican theology.

• Dr. Michael Kane, UST Department Chair of Criminology, was a guest speaker in Sr. Mary Philomena’s forensics classes. Her students enjoyed his presentation and learned about working in the field of crime scene investigation as he answered questions and introduced them to UST’s program!

• The first young man from Bishop Louis Reicher, an alumnus of our Sisters, was admitted to Holy Trinity Seminary in the Diocese of Austin.

• Sr. Maximilian Marie and Sr. Maria Benedicta took thirty-nine sophomores, juniors, and seniors from Bishop Louis Reicher on a Eucharistic Saints and Miracles pilgrimage to Italy (Siena, Orvieto, Lanciano, Assisi, Loreto, and Rome). Our Sisters and students were privileged to meet Pope Francis during one of his last general audiences.

• Our Sisters celebrated the election of Pope Leo XIV alongside their students when the entire school gathered in the high school auditorium at the first signs of white smoke!

• Twenty-eight middle school students and fourteen high school students, along with several faculty members, made their Total Consecration to Jesus through Mary at a May 13 Mass, attended by the entire student body.

• Over Thanksgiving break, our Sisters went on pilgrimage to the Blessed Stanley Rother shrine in Oklahoma City.

• Seven Sisters studied at Franciscan University of
Steubenville during the academic year – two graduate students in theology and six undergraduate students preparing to teach.

• A total of seven Sisters completed field placements or student teaching in local Catholic schools this year, interacting with many students and teachers in the Weirton and Steubenville areas.

• Four Sisters from our mission finished their programs and graduated this year! They will all be in the classroom as teachers this fall.

• Our Sisters were blessed to assist with several college events, including a retreat for Catholic students from West Virginia University (WVU), formation for student leaders at Franciscan University, and talks at University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon, WVU, and Franciscan University of Steubenville.

• We look forward to welcoming our incoming student Sisters in August for another year with a full house of students!

• Our Rome mission Sisters attended the Thanksgiving Mass and dinner at the Pontifical North American College, where they serve as librarians. The main celebrant of the Mass was then-Cardinal Robert Prevost -now Pope Leo XIV!

• The blessing of being in Rome presented plenty of opportunities for pilgrimage, and our Sisters visited many saints and towns throughout Italy this year!

• In March, our Sisters attended one of the rosaries being prayed in St. Peter’s Square for the recovery of Pope Francis while he was in the hospital.

• After the appearance of white smoke from the Sistine Chapel chimney, our Sisters made their way to St. Peter’s Square to see Pope Leo XIV come out onto the loggia after his election! They were blessed to attend his first Sunday Regina Caeli address and his inauguration Mass.