Caring for Others as Jesus Taught Us - S. Agnes Johnson
Caring for others has always been in the nature of S. Agnes Johnson, and being a Sister and nurse has provided much opportunity for her to be of service and connect to her faith.
Agnes was born in Richland Center, Wisconsin. She was a caregiver from a young age, tending her family and pets when they were hurt. She remembers a time when one of their cats began to limp from a sore foot, so she took a popsicle stick and taped it to her leg to help it heal. “As a young girl I envisioned myself in white habit hurrying down a hospital corridor to help someone,” says Agnes.
She was a good student and liked to learn, and she had several Racine Dominican Sisters as teachers, and they had an impact on Agnes from a young age. In 8th grade, a friend received information about the aspirancy at Racine and showed it to her. Their pastor brought several students down to Racine to meet the Sisters and see the convent, and for the trip home they packed a lunch for the girls with fresh oranges. The care the Sisters showed to a group of people that they just met really impressed Agnes. She wanted to be a part of something bigger than herself and a group that worked for the good of others, and she found that in the Racine Dominican Community.
Agnes took first vows in 1963 and final vows in 1969. She received a Bachelor of Science degree from Dominican College in Racine and a Registered Nursing Degree from Deaconess Hospital in Milwaukee. Her ministry work began in a rural hospital in Nebraska as a medical technologist. In the small hospital many other duties became part of the routine such as x-rays, EKGS, medical records, lab, and helping in the ER.
After that, S. Agnes ministry took her to Thailand, which was transformational. She was a nurse at the Tom Dooley Hospital in Ban Nam Yao, Thailand, just 13 miles from the Laotian border. The hospital was responsible for the care of a camp of 12,000 refugees on the mountainside across the road. She joined an international group of medical providers – English midwives, doctors from Italy, Ireland and Australia, and an English dentist. “My first contact was with a one year old child whose father brought him to the hospital. He was very ill and died in my arms,” said S. Agnes. It was hard, exhausting work but it was also full of hope and possibilities. “The thing I remember most is that the refugees were very real. One night a convoy of refugees arrived and many were ill. Patients in the hospital got up and said ‘he can have my bed.’ They were themselves and did not try to be better than the others,” says S. Agnes.
Her work with refugees was life changing. “This experience helped me realize the difference between need and want, how to improvise and to deeply empathize with the refugees. There were many heart wrenching episodes during the months there but also much happiness among those of us working there. It was a real learning experience to live in a different culture and become part of it for a period of time, says S. Agnes.
After returning to the U.S., S. Agnes worked at a hospital at a small rural hospital in Kentucky and had many intense and challenging experiences, especially while accompanying patients by ambulance to Lexington hospitals. One of her most memorable times was working in home health and doing hospice work in homes in at least four different counties. “I got to know many families and found the work hard but very rewarding. Helping a family face and experience the death of a loved one held many poignant moments and was a special privilege,” says S. Agnes. “There were also funny times like the time a patient called stating his IV line was chewed off. He had a puppy in his arms and the patient went to sleep and the puppy chewed the IV line which contained Morphine for pain. When I got to the home the puppy was sound asleep.”
She learned to take people and their circumstances as they are and work with them in a way that respected and honored them. “Those times are treasured,” says Agnes. “I also really learned to pray as I was driving from home to home both day and night. I was in the country and close to nature which truly fed my soul.”
A natural leader, S. Agnes was called to serve in leadership roles for the Racine Dominican Community in several capacities. She took on the role as a health care coordinator for her fellow Sisters, a role that she cherished. She also was elected to leadership from 2006-2018 and is now serving another term on the Leadership team. She is known to be a kind, attentive leader. “My approach to leadership is to be available, see the Sisters as my peers, and work with and support them the best I can. I try to see the positive in whatever we are working at and support each other in this ministry,” says S. Agnes.
After more than 60 years of being a Racine Dominican Sister, that little girl that loved to care for others has spent her life doing that very thing. She is continually grateful for the opportunities that she has been given and the ways she has been able to work with those who need help and connect to her faith through service to others. “The story of Jesus the Good Shepherd was always a source of inspiration to me and many times helped me to do what had to be done for another regardless of fatigue. This example helped me prioritize my life work of caring. Another good reminder is my blood type which is B + and I try to be positive in my work and play. I have received many blessings throughout my life and try to carry it forward.”
Dominican Connections – Associate Laura Gellott
Racine Dominican Associate Laura Gellott has been connected to Dominicans since her very early days. Now a part of the Associates in Racine, she reflects below on the way that the Dominican Mission and Charism has affected her throughout her life.
There is no time when Dominicans were not a presence in my life. On the day I was born my mother’s Adrian Dominican aunts, Sister Mary Frances and Sister Genevieve, were making their triennial visit – all that was then allowed – home. My mother went into labor while preparing lunch for the gathering of relatives, and left preparations in the hands of her brother, destined one day to be Fr. Richard Weber, prior of the Aquinas Institute in Dubuque. Putting a fine point on this story is the fact that my birthday is August 8, the Feast of St. Dominic.
I grew up in Ypsilanti, Michigan, where I was taught for 12 years by the Adrian Dominicans at St. John the Baptist Elementary School and St. John’s High School. We attended Mass as a family – mom, dad, seven children – at St. John’s every Sunday. We children often joined our grandfather on Saturday afternoons in filling the vigil light holders and putting out the bulletins at St. John’s.
College took me to Marquette University in Milwaukee (my parents’ alma mater) and education with the Jesuits. Jesuit education, like Dominican, integrated faith and reason. The choice of an academic career, and a life dedicated to study and teaching, was a logical extension of Dominican and Jesuit education. I earned a Ph.D. in European history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and spent the next 30 years as a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside in Kenosha. I loved teaching. Long hours spent preparing lecture notes, often late into the night, were an immersive experience, often taking on the character of contemplation, even prayer. And I formed strong and lasting friendships with many colleagues and particularly with former students. Those relationships I value as a great gift, and an affirmation that I was and am exactly where I am supposed to be.
I first learned of the Racine Dominicans from friends in Milwaukee as I was preparing to move to Racine to take up the appointment at UW-Parkside. They gave me the names of sisters they knew, and urged me to look them up. But it was Sister Jean Verber with whom I first came into contact. Jean had recently returned from spending time in England with the women of the Greenham Common encampment, part of a European-wide movement of protest against the installation by the U.S., in the early 1980s, of a new generation of nuclear missiles. I invited Jean to our campus to speak. Soon after that, one of the younger Racine Dominicans, who was completing her bachelor’s degree, was a student in a couple of my classes. She introduced me to a larger group of sisters, with whom I began meeting regularly for liturgy. It was these contacts which led, in 1989, to my joining the Associate relationship with the Racine Dominicans. Becoming an associate was, in many ways, a coming full circle to my earliest connections with Dominicans.
I have continued my connection to the Adrian community as well, visiting former teachers and taking part in retreats at Weber Retreat Center, named in honor of Mother Genevieve Weber, the great aunt whose visit coincided with the day of my birth.
As an Associate in Racine, I have been active with the Community’s sponsored ministries. I served on the board of St. Catherine’s High School as well as the HOPES Center, the latter providing outreach and services to the homeless in the city. I value the friendships of many sisters and associates, and join in the celebration of liturgy, in retreats, in social gatherings, and, inevitably, funerals. I am also active in my parish: as a lector, Eucharistic Minister, sacristan, and member of the parish council. Setting out vigil lights and bulletins on a Saturday afternoon takes me back in memory to those childhood days at my home parish in Ypsilanti.
The Racine Dominican Associates, in common with our counterparts across many Dominican communities, are engaging in the process of “futuring.” How will we sustain the Dominican charism as the numbers of Sisters decline? How can we sustain the bonds of friendship we have formed among ourselves? How can we extend those connections across communities, with the Dominican charism always at the center? I look forward to participating in a meeting in St. Louis this coming October to further these initiatives.
My 36 years as an Associate continue to provide new and often unexpected opportunities to deepen my faith and grow in the Dominican charism. For this, I am profoundly grateful.
Trusting in the Sacred Path - S. Karen Vollmer
Change is a constant and the journey is an adventure for S. Karen Vollmer who believes God is leading us on the sacred path. All we need to do is embrace it with joy as the journey unfolds.
S. Karen has been a joyful, spirited person with deep faith and sensitive concern for others. She was born in Joliet, Illinois and educated by Franciscan Sisters at St. Raymond’s Cathedral Grade School and St. Francis Academy. “I learned to pray and respect others and nature early in my life through the example of faithful parents,” she says. “I was always grateful for my supportive and loving family, and at the same time, I had an overwhelming awareness of the injustices in the world and wanting to share what I had with others.”
It was during her time attending the local junior college preparing to become a teacher that she began to pay attention to what she called “the still, small voice within.” Karen felt a yearning to help create a peaceful, harmonious world. Her older sister was a Racine Dominican aspirant, and during Sunday visits, she met many Racine Dominican Sisters. “Joining the convent wasn’t something I was encouraged to do, as many thought my boundless energy, sometimes called rambunctious, would interfere with the tranquil demeanor of a religious woman,” she says. But she knew she needed to pay attention to the inner call, which turned out to be the life of a Sister.
Changes marked her time in religious life. S Karen claims, “My faith life was nurtured in the womb of the Second Vatican Council and I have felt its transforming activity stirring within me and our community life ever since.” She entered in time to make profession in the community’s centennial year and have a true scholar, Sister Mary Magdalen (Rita M. Martin), as her formation director and later Racine Dominican President.
Education and service have always been a hallmark of S. Karen’s life. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Education, a Master’s Degree in Religious Studies and another in Adult Christian Community Development, and a Doctor of Ministry Degree in Pastoral Counseling, along with a sabbatical year at the School of Applied Theology and Spiritual Guidance Training Certification. Learning and growing has been a constant on her life’s journey.
With her extensive education she has served others as a teacher, Director of Religious Education, Religion Department Chairperson, Adult Faith Coordinator, Pastoral Associate and a Parish Leader. She also had leadership roles in the Racine Dominican Community, including Vocation Director and Co-Director of the Associates. All of this ministry is centered on being with and walking with people on their spiritual journey.
S. Karen has such an impact in her decades of ministry. “Serving as Parish Leader affirmed for me that women do have a place of vital contact in church life,” she says. Besides all the parish responsibilities, each year she became a mentor for a deacon preparing for ordination. It was time well spent in sharing hopes and ways to be attentive to the ever-changing needs in parish life. A deacon wrote this message of gratitude to S. Karen: “One year ago, I met you. Little did I know what God had placed in my life. I will continue on the journey that you have helped guide me on. You have been a teacher, a coach, and best of all, a friend. Thank you for giving me the courage to say yes to God and not be afraid.”
Today S. Karen is nurturing the spiritual health and prayer life of others through organized prayer, listening and offering spiritual guidance. Before the pandemic, this included the Women’s Correctional Center and three assisted living homes. She is using her skills as a cooperative organizer, attentive listener, and creative thinker to nurture spiritual growth. “I want to be a spark of Light, Hope, Joy grounded in reverence for Divine Love which is so alive, so healing, so present!” she says.
The Racine Dominican Sisters and Associates find such inspiration and joy in the way that S. Karen preaches. “Karen is attentive, willing and ready! Whenever there is a need for a special liturgy or prayer service, we know that we can count on her amazing ability and willingness to create a truly meaningful spiritual experience,” says Racine Dominican Sister Ruthanne Reed.
As S. Karen says, “The gift of the persistent call and trust in the sacred path has sustained and nourished my life in Community. I have treasured the guidance and companionship of Sisters and Associates, family, friends, coworkers who have called forth the gifts entrusted to me. I am amazed and ever-so-grateful for the blessings wrapped lovingly in the call to be a Sister in this wider family.”
A Journey of Faith - Gail Jacobsen
Gail grew up in Milwaukee with her mother, father, and sister, Lynn. She attended Catholic grade schools and Pius High School in Milwaukee. She has many wonderful memories of those early years. “My childhood happiness was picking wildflowers and romping in the woods nearby my home,” she says.
After attending Mount St. Clare College in Clinton, Iowa, Gail married her husband, Don, and had two children, Lorilyn and Ann Marie. Her family enjoyed the out-of-doors and camping at so many of the Wisconsin State Parks. As the girls got older, Gail furthered her education by completing an undergraduate degree with a major in communication and a submajor in Gerontology, and receiving a Masters in Social Work from the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee.
Gail’s work took her to hospitals, oncology, home health, hospice work and case management with agencies working with Wisconsin’s Family Care program. She found the work diverse and rewarding. “Social work keenly developed my listening skills and deepened my compassion. It was so rewarding to know in some small way I made a difference in someone’s life. So often people just want to tell their stories, to be listened to, to be understood,” she says.
It was the lessons from those she served that have had a lasting impact on her life. “I met a man in hospice who was a Holocaust survivor. The camp numbers remained tattooed on his arm,” she says. “He wanted everyone in the hospice team to know one thing: Always forgive. Though he was so weak and thin, he radiated beauty from within and from without—a beautiful soul. He’s left an impression on me to this day.”
Finding community and connection is what led her to the Racine Dominicans. Gail attended retreats at Siena Retreat Center and always felt so welcomed. She met many Sisters during her time there, and eventually she saw a flyer about the Associate program and felt a pull toward an Associate commitment. “I wanted to be a part of this community - these dynamic, wise and caring women. They are searchers, thinkers, doers,” says Gail. “Through my cluster group, Dominican Spiritual guide, Sister and Associate friendships and retreat experiences, my spirituality has been deepened and changed. My inner life is filled more with wonder and awe and with images that ground me and affect how I live my life.”
Gail has been a Racine Dominican Associate for nearly ten years and treasures the gift that being an Associate has given her. She feels that she is recognized and supported for all that she is. “I’m saying yes to invitations to be involved with the Racine Dominicans, whether it’s creating a prayer for events or joining a committee,” she says.
“Gail has that rare combined ability to think creatively and to speak wisely,” says Mare Wheeler, Director of the Associates. “She has a servant leader’s heart, and she brings both thoughtfulness and a passion for inclusion to Sisters and Associates.”
Gail’s life is dedicated to her family, which now includes her two granddaughters, Sarah and Amy, her faith, and being an advocate for this beautiful planet. She knows that faith runs deep in her and her Associate relationship brings that faith to her in beautiful ways. “I listen more to “God’s nudgings” and listen to what and how my soul is directing me,” says Gail.
A Dominican Journey – S. Lisa Kane
S. Lisa Kane, a Racine Dominican Sister, is taking on a new role as the Dominican Sisters Conference Associate Director for Futuring. As she begins on this new path, she is reminded that her formation has prepared her for this important work.
Read on for S. Lisa’s reflection on where the road has taken her and what the future can hold for all of us.
When I began my journey in religious life in the mid- to late-1990’s, the Nygren & Ukeritis study on The Future of Religious Orders in the United States (1993) was the talk among religious – those living it, those of us entering it, and those who were considering it. Throughout my time in formation, my colleagues and I were told that religious life was in a time of massive change; we were advised that it was imperative that we be able to “embrace ambiguity.”
Without fully knowing it, I was living the change we were being warned about! My experience of formation was entirely different from my predecessors who entered a community in the context of a peer group. My intercommunity pre-novitiate was shared with men and women from many Midwest congregations, all of whom had perhaps only a few peers in formation in their respective congregation, if they were lucky. My ‘individualized’ novitiate experience was highly collaborative, sharing the journey and crossing paths with many other Dominican women and men in formation. Similarly in the less structured aspects of my early religious life, many of my experiences included our Associates as well as vowed members.
These powerful, formative experiences engrained in me a deep appreciation for my Dominican identity, the larger Dominican family, including our Associates and mission partners. In true Dominican spirit, I believe that the call to ‘embrace ambiguity’ equates to our call to itinerancy. Our call to the 21st century frontiers of religious life, particularly here in the U.S., with the need to be collaborative across congregations – within and beyond the Order – is our call to mendicancy today.
Now, in preparing to enter fully into the new role as Associate Director of Futuring, I bring all of who I am and all that I have been formed to be – as a Dominican woman religious in a post-Vatican II Church led today by a synodal Pope Francis who calls us to listen to each other to hear the sound of God’s Spirit breaking through today and to always go forth with courage. I pray that each of us embrace our call as itinerant mendicants in a special way during this time of promise and opportunity in our Church and our world.
For more information on the Racine Dominican Sisters and Associates, go to racinedominicans.org.
Lisa (right) is pictured above on sabbatical with Frances and Shona at the Cliffs of Moher, Ireland
Walking Together with Associates - Mare Wheeler
Mare Wheeler, the Director of the Racine Dominican Associates, is like many who find themselves at a crossroads in their lives and feel the power of the Holy Spirit working to show them a new path. After the death of her mother, she knew she needed a deeper connection to her faith. After meeting Racine Dominican Sister Clarice Sevengney, at a local board meeting, she felt a spiritual connection. “I came to Siena for Liturgy at S. Clarice’s invitation and immediately felt at home. I found a lively and intrepid group of spiritual seekers,” said Mare. She began formation shortly after and became a Racine Dominican Associate.
Associate Life for Mare is rooted in the charism, mission and people she has found with the Racine Dominicans. “Like many others, I believe I was called by the Spirit to carry the Dominican charism, and to express that charism as an Associate,” said Mare. “I will never stop believing in a future of Dominican life in which the Spirit holds the wild card!”
That “wild card” lead her to Associate Leadership. She became the co-director of the Associates in 2019 and immediately her approach and experience began to shape their work. “It became clear to me that I needed a ‘beginner’s mind,’ as the Buddhists say, because most days I didn’t know what I was doing. I still bring that mind to this ministry,” says Mare.
The Associates see and recognize Mare’s ability to lead by example. Associate Gail Jacobsen has worked with Mare since the start of her time in leadership and has seen her blossom in the role. “Mare leads by calling forth her own inner wisdom and the inner wisdom of others resulting in new and creative ideas. She’s daring and innovative, a visionary and a motivator. She’s humble and credits all involved when successful outcomes occur,” says Gail. Under Mare’s leadership the Associates have created CREW, a small group that meets weekly with Sisters to talk about issues of the day, ways to fight for justice and a chance for fellowship.
Mare also stays connected to many Associate groups around the country. She is an active member of the Midwest/Tacoma Dominican Associate Directors and Liaisons (MTDAD) is a 4-year old group of Dominican Associate leaders and liaisons from five Midwest Dominican communities whose mission is intentional and collaborative programming and peer support. She is also on the executive team of the National Dominican Associate Directors and Liaisons (NDAD), which brings together Associate leaders and liaisons from the 17 US Dominican communities that have Associates. She is the registrar for the Midwest Kindred Spirits (MKS), a group of 30 + Associate leaders from diverse communities in six Midwest states who have been meeting since 1988. These collaborations allows Associate groups to share ideas and best practices that they can use with their own Associate groups.
Associate Life has given Mare a chance to use her skills of bringing people together, inspiring Sisters and Associates to walk together as they work towards justice and truth. She is humbled and animated by the Associates every day. As Mare says, “it has been inspiring to experience the growth, collaboration and friendship in this small but fierce Associate group.”
For more information on the Racine Dominican Sisters and Associates, go to racinedominicans.org.
Mare is pictured above at the finish of the El Camino de Santiago (Finisterre, Spain) in May 2022.
Sister Sarge and a Lifetime of Service - S. Linda McClenahan
Linda. Coach. Sister Linda. Sister Sarge. You will hear S. Linda McClenahan called by many different names, each one representing a part of her story.
Linda felt the beginnings of a call to religious life while she was in still in high school, but wasn’t sure what path that call would take. After graduating, she decided to join the Army first and serve her country. She began her college classes during her time in the Army, and then was called to service in Vietnam as a Communications Specialist in the Signal Corps. The job had many technical parts, like processing routine paperwork, but also emotional ones, like the notifications of service members who were missing, wounded or killed.
Her time in the Army, as it is for many who serve, shifted her perspective on everything, including her faith. “I found myself at a crossroads in my faith. It wasn’t that I didn’t believe in God, I realized that I didn’t believe in the God of my childhood. Things had changed and I had to change with them.” Linda began attending services of all denominations, learning many lessons about faith and people, and ultimately finding a new relationship with God.
She found her way back to the Catholic Church, began her discernment about her future in religious life and started teaching at a Dominican high school in California. One evening while grading papers, she had 60 Minutes on in the background and caught a story about Dominican Sisters in Mississippi doing important mission work. She was drawn to them and moved by their story, and sent a letter which Sister Joanne Bloome, a Racine Dominican, answered. The conversation about becoming a Racine Dominican began. “I found a kinship in the Racine Dominicans,” Linda said. “Where others focused often on where I had been, the Racine Dominicans saw me as someone with a purpose and mission, and encouraged me to think about where I could be of service in the future.”
She took vows and became a Racine Dominican in the early 1990s. As she started her ministry work, S. Linda met a group of Vietnam Veterans who were chaplains or became ministers after leaving the service, and they all recognized the need for Vets to have access to services that dealt with spiritual healing.
After receiving a master’s in counseling from UW-Whitewater, S. Linda and a sponsoring partner, Mayslake Ministries, began holding retreats for veterans at Siena Retreat Center in Racine on what they call Post Traumatic Spiritual Disorder. Veterans are able to openly and freely talk with other veterans about their experiences during combat, their loss of faith, and what they can do to find spirituality again. “Trauma changes people - how we view ourselves, how we have relationships with others, and even how we have a relationship with God. Our retreats acknowledge that we are different people than before we left for war and that our faith will be different too, and that’s OK, says S. Linda.”
The retreats are available to Veterans and their significant others at no cost to them. She finds that her experience both as a Veteran and as a Sister helps her to break down walls in a way that someone without military experience often cannot. “I know what serving in wartime is like because I served too. People feel that they can’t be forgiven for what has happened. My purpose is to listen and understand their experience, and then help them to see an unconditionally loving God who also understands,” says S. Linda.
They are seeing more women Veterans at their retreats, especially those who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. She is always amazed at what comes of their time together and the transformation that occurs in just a few short days. “I like to say that we start the conversation and then then we get out of God’s way,” she says.
S. Linda was recently chosen to take an Honor Flight from Milwaukee to Washington D.C. with other Veterans from Vietnam and Korea. It was a profound experience for her, including getting letters on the flight home from family, friends, Sisters, former students and fellow service members. And on May 22nd, she threw out the First Pitch at a Milwaukee Brewers game representing the Honor Flight and Veterans everywhere. For this lifelong baseball fan, it was a moment she will never forget.
S. Linda often reflects on her journey and what her mission and purpose is as a Racine Dominican Sister. “Life has taken some unexpected turns, but each one has put me exactly where I am supposed to be,” she says. As I often say, don’t be afraid of tomorrow, God is already there."
Compelled to Justice - Racine Dominican Associate Lea Koesterer
Racine Dominican Associate Lea Koesterer has been standing up for those in the margins since she was a child, and that passion for justice has led her to becoming a Racine Dominican Associate.
Lea’s journey to the Racine Dominican Community started in St. Louis. She met Racine Dominican Sister Carla Mae Streeter after mass when she was hosting a “Dialogue with the Word” session at a local St. Louis Church. “I was amazed that I could have heard the scriptures for decades and still had not plumbed its depth,” said Lea.
Lea continued to attend sessions and she and S. Carla Mae formed a friendship. That led to discernment and ultimately the decision become an Associate. Lea found the Community’s mission and charism fit her own life, and she made her commitment on October 23, 2020.
Lea finds her Associate relationship supports her heart for justice. “I had always been a ‘lone ranger’ in my efforts to promote social justice and human rights. As a child I had been ridiculed for standing up for others. My mother told me, ‘If you stick your neck out, you get your head chopped off.’ It is of great comfort to me that for the Racine Dominicans, sticking your neck out is valued and supported! I am no longer a lone ranger!”
Lea is committed to her ministry work. More than 20 years ago, she started Second Sunday Sandwiches (SSS) to feed hungry folks at a homeless shelter. When trying to decide what her ministry would be as an Associate, she decided to focus on Palestinian liberation. “The vast majority of ordinary Americans have no idea of the true nature of the occupation nor the genesis of the conditions,” says Lea. Because of this, Lea founded St. Louis Friends of Bethlehem (STLFOB) with several like-minded friends. Their goal is to enlighten people about the beauty and value of the culture of Palestine, and the reality of the deprivation inflicted by military occupation. Lea is also on the steering committee for Voices from the Holy Land. Through documentary films we augment the voices of the people who are actually living in the Holy Land under a military occupation.
Lea is so grateful for the relationships she has made with the Racine Dominican community and the supportive group she has found. “The ability to share successes and failures and learn from one another has been such a gift,” says Lea.
Lea’s passion for justice aligns with the mission of the Racine Dominicans, and our Sisters and Associates are proud that she is a part of our Racine Dominican Community!
Sister Lois Aceto, OP, a Dominican Dynamo
Written by Racine Dominican Associate Kathie Solie
For someone who just celebrated her 90th birthday, you might expect Sister Lois Aceto to be slowing down a bit. Not this Racine Dominican Sister! There has never been a day in her life that moved slowly and no time in her life that she did the ordinary. Even now, when most people of her age are long since retired, she leads a very active life. Just ask other Racine residents exercising at the local YMCA at 5:00 a.m. each day!
Sister Lois lives in an apartment just down the road from Siena, the motherhouse and home of the Racine Dominicans. Anytime there is something going on in Racine, you can spot her in the crowd. She attends prayer vigils for victims of gun violence, helps with fundraising events for justice ministries and attends social education programs. She is a pillar in the Racine Community, especially with those working for social justice.
Growing up the daughter of a religious family in Kenosha, she knew the Racine Dominican Sisters from an early age. It was the most natural thing for a young woman of this background and at this time in history to enter a religious community, and she felt the call to become a Racine Dominican Sister.
As did most of the Sisters of her group, Sister Lois taught in mostly Wisconsin Catholic Schools for 14 years. She also had a special passion for working in Santa Fe, New Mexico and teaching in Illinois at a school staffed by the Racine Dominicans. Sister Lois loved teaching and playing the organ during her early years of her ministry. But in the silence of her heart she had always dreamed of being a missionary in a foreign country.
That call led her to Bolivia. At the age of 33, she was invited to join three other Dominican Sisters on a missionary journey there, and for the next 17 years, she would call Bolivia her home. In the poverty of this then dictator-ruled country, she taught school, established a home for young delinquents, organized a health care center (for which she studied rural medicine in Spain) and dared to speak out against an oppressive government.
Her activities in Bolivia got her arrested twice. “The first time, I was not scared. I told them what I thought. They let me go.” With some remnants of fear in her voice, she tells of the second arrest. “I slipped into the prison to carry a message to a prisoner. As I was leaving I was grabbed and taken into custody. I was detained for hours and hours. I truly feared that I would never be allowed to leave. You can be sure, I prayed without stopping. Thanks be to God, they let me go.” There is never anything shy or timid about this Wisconsin woman. She simply does not know the meaning of “you can’t.”
Returning to Wisconsin after so many adventures, you would expect a long rest might be in order. Not for Sister Lois! Back in Racine, she dove into multiple efforts to contribute to the order’s mission “Committed to Truth, Compelled to Justice.”
Her efforts have included ministry to inmates at the Racine Correctional Institution, the Youth Detention Center, the Racine Youthful Offender Correctional Facility and Racine County’s Jail. She, in fact, started the Chaplaincy Program at the jail. She invited the Archbishop from Milwaukee down to visit the jail and convinced him to fund her ministry there. She has taught restorative justice and conflict resolution in all the facilities. She taught Criminal Justice at Carthage College in Kenosha and Juvenile Delinquency at UW-Parkside in Kenosha.
While serving as a jail chaplain, she attended a conference where she learned about the conflict resolution program that had been set up by the Wisconsin Correctional Center System. Sister Lois brought the idea back to Racine and with the help of several local judges and community activists, the Conflict Resolution Center - then called the Dispute Settlement Center - was founded on November 2, 1984 and still continues today.
With her big heart and commanding knowledge of Spanish, she was a perfect fit to support the establishment of an Alternative School in Racine, San Juan Diego and its offshoot, the John the 23rd Center in Racine.
One of the more interesting and innovative things she has done was hosting a radio program on Public Radio, WRJN. Her social justice connections brought many interesting personalities to her program. No one could say no to her invitation. This venture eventually led to a YouTube program, Lighting the World with Truth.
These are just a few of the organizations and activities to which Sister Lois has given her time and talents. At the urging of many to share her story with others, she wrote the book, Journeying toward Justice. Her exciting adventures in South America are featured in the book.
After so many decades of being a Racine Dominican Sister, this diminutive woman is still going strong. Few people, in a lifetime, are involved in as many efforts to improve her community and world.
Can anything slow Sister Lois down? Only a global pandemic it seems. While she has had to take a break in many of her ministries because of COVID, as soon as it is safe, you can be certain to find her wherever something in the name of justice and peace is happening. As she often says, “I’m not done yet.”
Associates Catherine and Doug Gundlach - Partners in Dominican Charism
Catherine and Doug Gundlach have been Racine Dominican Associates for 11 years. Catherine learned of the Associate relationship through the Siena Retreat Center, and together they were drawn to the mission and charism of the Racine Dominicans.
Their spiritual commitment extends in many areas of their life. Catherine works part time in the Racine Dominican Associate Leadership Office, lending her organization and expertise to a variety of projects. She also leads her parish Human Concerns committee while Doug is a deacon for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. They lead RCIA and FOCCUS for engaged couples.
As Dominican Associates they engage in meeting the challenges of the Racine Dominican mission and charism and how associates and sisters actively live them. A few examples of that are Catherine’s leadership of a community food basket program that provides meals for families in need and Doug’s taking Eucharist to the homebound, those in the hospital, and nursing home. They are both active as associates participating in assemblies, monthly associate meetings, and other Zoom opportunities with the community.
They are the proud parents of four sons – Garrett, Austin, Trevor and Nolan, and the proud grandparents of Bennett, Willow and Noah. Their family recently celebrated the ordination of their oldest son, Father Garrett Gundlach, S.J., and Father Garrett said a special mass for the Racine Dominican Community on June 22nd at Siena.
We are grateful for Associates Catherine and Doug, and all that they do to be Committed to Truth, Compelled to Justice.
Mission Trip to the Border - S. Janet Ackerman and Friends
We invite you to share in the experience at the Texas-Mexico border from our S. Janet Ackerman and a small group of pilgrims. Janet and friends will share their first-hand experience through stories and pictures as they ministered with the immigrants at Casa Alitas, near the Texas-Mexico border.