2019 SDA 140TH COVER SMUG_Layout 1 3/15/19 2:37 PM Page 1 THE SISTERS OF SAINT DOMINIC, CALDWELL, NEW JERSEY FLAMEVolumn 13 No. 1 Spring 2019 “At the age of 140, SDA has survived as the sole Catholic secondary school for girls in Hudson County.” SAINT DOMINIC ACADEMY CELEBRATES 140 YEARS CALDWELLDOMINICANS The Flame SISTERS OF SAINT DOMINIC OF CALDWELL, NJ A Message Letter from the Prioress ..............................................2 from the Associate Corner ........................................................3 Kathryn Richards, OPA Saint Dominic Academy Celebrates 140 Years ......4-5 Prioress Saint Dominic Academy Grows with the Times ..........6 Dear Friends, The Commission on Global Issues (CGI) ...................7 One of the more pleasant tasks of my office is to Dominican Sisters in Committed Collaboration maintain communication with you for all the sisters. (OPSCC) .....................................................................8 Most of the time, what the sisters wish to communicate In Memoriam ..........................................................9-11 is gratitude. In recent years, gratitude for knowing you Sister Catherine Therese Jewell, OP as a student, a teacher, a colleague, or a friend has Sister Marie Murphy, OP been augmented by gratitude for the ways that you Sister Catherine Reilly, OP are enabling the mission of the Caldwell Dominicans Thank you to flourish, even in places where we can no longer be A Tribute to Our Benefactors ...............................12-19 present. Often you make this possible by replacing us professionally in classrooms and parishes. More often, it Lumen Center ...........................................................20 is your monetary donations, which empower us. MISSION STATEMENT In today’s issue of The Flame, we celebrate the 140th Anniversary of Saint Dominic Academy, Jersey City, the Affirmed by Chapter 2005 • Reaffirmed by Chapter 2015 We, Sisters of Saint Dominic of Caldwell, are a community of vowed Congregation’s oldest ministry. Sisters who had been women religious responding to God’s call and united in our quest students, teachers, or administrators at the Academy for the unfolding revelation of God. We preach the Word of God through our lives of contemplative prayer, study and ministry in throughout the years were interviewed independently response to the needs of our time. for this article. All were unanimous in their praise of the “SDA spirit” which one former principal did not hesitate VISION STATEMENTS 1995 to call “an aura” which unites people from fourteen Reaffirmed by Chapter 2015 decades of frequently dramatic change. For example, We will reclaim our passion for contemplation, and choose this as our lens through which we make decisions, with only two sisters left on its staff, Saint Dominic live our lives, minister, and perceive our world. Academy, now energized by a talented, dedicated, We will hold the promotion of Justice as top priority in multicultural staff of lay professionals, demonstrates how every area of our Congregation. a ministry, sponsored and supported by the Dominican We will commit ourselves to deepen our studying, congregation, can continue our mission beyond our living and teaching the mysteries of the universe and the sacredness of all creation. physical presence. We resist the ongoing devastation of our planet by a contemplative scrutiny of our use/abuse of Earth’s gifts. Your generosity to the Caldwell community sustains our mission to the students and faculty at Saint Dominic Community Leadership Patrice Werner, OP, Prioress Academy, Lacordaire Academy, Mount Saint Dominic Elsie Bernauer, OP, Vicaress Academy, Caldwell University, Saint Catherine of Siena Eileen Ivory, OP, Councilor Convent and Healthcare Center and Genesis Farm. In Patricia Tavis, OP, Councilor their name, “Thank you.” Development Office 1 Ryerson Avenue, Caldwell, New Jersey 07006 973.403.3331 Gratefully, Maria Cianci, Director of Development, ext. 46 Sister Ann Monica Seemann, OP, ext. 36 [email protected] www.caldwellop.org Patrice Werner, OP Prioress 2 THE FLAME Left: Sister Mary Amelia Cetera, ASSOCIATE CORNER OP arranging flowers. ASSOCIATE KATHRYN RICHARDS Shares HerCurved alongCallng the western border of the campus that houses the Motherhouse of the Sisters of Saint Dominic is a low lying building, unimposing but vital and enduring. It is the Saint Catherine Right: Sister Rita Calabrese, OP of Siena Convent and arranging flowers. Healthcare Center— home to retired and women religious who “share a legacy of caring and convalescing sisters. commitment.” Kathryn formalized her connection to At Saint Catherine, the sisters by becoming an associate of the Sisters life is enriched by the of Saint Dominic in 2012 and has been named as talents of its activities the mission designee for Saint Catherine. director and Caldwell Kathryn Richards Dominican associate, As an associate, Kathryn has a special bond with Kathryn Richards. the sisters, which makes travelling with them on their life’s journey a very personal experience. Kathryn, an intelligent, friendly, gracious, and very She sits with them when they are ill, prays with approachable woman, spent the first 25 years them, supports, and comforts them. When the of her career in Catholic publishing at Pauline end of the journey is near, she is present for the Books and Media. Then making what some might anointing and final rituals, then accompanies the consider a 180 degree turn, Kathryn decided to beloved elder to her resting place. It completes step into the health care arena. She became a what Kathryn describes as a celebration of life certified activity director, a certification granted lived fully and joyfully. by the National Certification Council for Activity Professionals (NCCAP) and took a position working These are the elements that make Kathryn refer in an assisted living facility in Warren, NJ. She was to her job as director of activities a calling. As she on staff there for ten years before coming to Saint lives it, her calling reflects the beautiful words of Catherine eight years ago. Thomas Merton: Love is our true identity. We do not find the About her decision to become an activity director meaning of life by ourselves alone—we find it with for seniors Kathryn says, I love my work with senior another. adults and I consider it my calling. I have been an activity director for eighteen years and nothing Mary Lanni, OPA gives me more satisfaction than helping to make every day a celebration of life for our elders. Proof that it was an excellent decision and choice for Kathryn was the honor she received in 2006 from the New Jersey Department of Health and Human Services. She was given the Best Practice in Assisted Living Award for outstanding activity programs. In addition to that, in 2018 Kathryn won the National Nursing Care Contest for her paper describing the Senior Creative Art Camp Program that she held for Saint Catherine residents. A very significant part of Kathryn’s “calling” is the recognition that the sisters’ spiritual life is a high priority for them. Working at Saint Catherine gives her an appreciation of the depth of dedication by Sisters Mary Amelia Cetera,OP, Rita Calabrese, OP and Kathleen Boyle, OP 3 showing their Valentine’s Day art creations made in their activities class. 2019 SDA 140TH ARTICLE PAGE 4_Layout 1 4/24/19 10:54 AM Page 1 caldwelldominicans Sarah Degnan-Moje, Head of School SAINT DOMINIC ACADEMY Both change and the changeless were apparent during a recent visit with some of the school’s current administration. Under lay When a former resident “of a certain age” visits Celebrates 140 Years leadership since 2006, Jersey City decades after leaving there, she will everything and everyone in invariably exclaim: “Incredible! Unrecognizable! the building seems planned Everything is so changed.” By contrast, when a to support a style more Saint Dominic Academy alumna visits her alma collegial than authoritarian. mater, she is more likely to remark: “The city To reach the office of the has totally changed, but SDA feels exactly the Head of School, she must way I remember it.” In this 140th anniversary encounter many students. Nestled among them, her year of the Caldwell Dominicans’ oldest ministry, small space accommodates an inviting conference table. We were not surprised when Sarah Degnan-Moje we asked some sisters who had graduated did more listening than speaking as her team explored from or served at the Academy to tell us: our thematic question: What exactly is it about SDA What’s the best thing you remember? How that has inspired and/or survived as the Academy’s has the Academy changed? Has anything fundamental identity? stayed the same? Remarkably, no matter Mary Murphy spoke as a parent who had evaluated which era a teacher or administrator evoked, girls’ schools in three counties before choosing SDA the first question always baffled her attempts for her daughters: “There’s no other school quite like it.” to describe something indescribable, yet very “But what makes it different?” Andrea Apruzzese, real, which seems to emanate from the school Director of Admissions, offered a composite picture through its students: “It’s unique. You can’t of the difference: “The school is very diverse, in race, explain it, but you can’t miss it“ ethnicity, socio-economic levels. The girls don’t care about any of that. Here all a girl sees is another girl. Founded in 1878, the Academy has witnessed major She doesn’t see that the changes in the city, in