This month, Dominican Veritas Ministries welcomed over 40 ministry leaders to the Weber Conference Center at the Adrian Dominican Motherhouse in Adrian,
Michigan for its second annual Leadership Meeting and Formation Retreat. Leaders from the nine sponsored schools came together with the DVM Sister Members, the DVM, Inc. Board of Trustees, and sponsorship staff to nurture our common responsibility as stewards of Dominican Catholic education. Also
joining this year were leaders from the four schools currently sponsored by the Dominican Sisters of Peace: St. Agnes Academy—St. Dominic School, Dominican
Academy, Our Lady of the Elms, and St. Mary’s Dominican High School. These schools are anticipated to join DVM in the coming school year.
Pictured:
Row 1 [seated on ground, left to right]: Tammy Ahlgren, St. Agnes Academy Board Chair (Houston, TX); Kristin Melley, DVM Executive Director; Margaret O’Donnell, DVM Trustee; Tina Taylor-Ritzler, Trinity High School Board Chair (River Forest, IL); Laura Curley, Trinity High School President (River Forest, IL.)
Row 2 [seated in chairs, left to right]: Sr. Mary Margaret Pachuki, OP, DVM Member Board President; Sr. Colleen Settles, OP, DVM Member Board Vice President; Sr. Therese Leckert, OP, DVM Member Board; Sr. M. Paul McCaughey, OP, DVM Member Board; Sr. Donna Pollard, OP, DVM Member Board. Column 1 [left side, bottom to top]: Sarah Robey, Regina Dominican High School Board Member (Wilmette, IL); Kris Sauer, Bethlehem Academy Acting Development Director (Faribault, MN); Harry Haney, Edgewood High School Board Chair (Madison, WS); Sr. Kathleen Tait, OP, DVM Inc. Trustee. Column 2 [bottom to top]: Linda Trethewey, Rosarian Academy Head of School (West Palm Beach, FL); Cynthia Thomas, St. Mary’s Dominican High School President (New Orleans, LA); Karen Jakuback, St. Agnes Academy Head of School (Houston, TX); Tom Hunt, Rosarian Academy Board Member (West Palm Beach, FL); Anne Clark, Our Lady of the Elms Board President (Akron, OH); Thomas Merfeld, DVM Inc. Trustee/Treasurer. Column 3 [bottom to top]: John William Bates, V, St. Pius X High School Head of School (Houston, TX); Krista Gallagher, Regina Dominican High School President (Wilmette, IL); Sr. Joanne Caniglia, OP, Dominican Academy Board Members (New York, NY); Dave Mazza, Dominican High School Board Chair (Whitefish Bay, WI.) Column 4 [bottom to top]: Alexandria Egler, Dominican Academy President (New York, NY); Mark Butler, DVM Inc. Trustee; Robert Munch, St. Mary’s Dominican Education New Orleans Corporation Board Chair (New Orleans, LA); Paul Gessner, Edgewood Campus School President (Madison, WI.) Column 5 [bottom to top]: Michael O’Connor, DVM Inc. Trustee Chair; Susan Stelter, Trinity High School Board Vice Chair (River Forest, IL); John Toohig, St. Agnes Academy-St. Dominic School Board Vice Chair (Memphis, TN.) Column 6 [bottom to top]: Beth Dienst, Bethlehem Academy Board Chair (Faribault, MN); Andrea Wirgau, DVM Assistant Director of Communications and Events. Column 7 [bottom to top]: Andy Tomczeszyn, St. Pius X High School Board Chair (Houston, TX); Tom Hood, St. Agnes Academy-St. Dominic School President (Memphis, TN.)
The three-and-a-half-day conference, titled, Speaking and Serving with Strength: Stewarding the Dominican Charism Together, balanced prayer, mass, and reflection with learning, sharing, and collaboration. This year’s guest speakers included Kellogg School of Management non-profit board development expert and Regina Dominican High School alumna, Liz Livingston Howard who emphasized the importance of board engagement and designated time for generative visioning; DVM member, former professional lecturer and instructor at DePaul University, and newly appointed prioress of the Dominican Sisters of Springfield, Sr. Mary Paul McCaughey, OP, showed us ways to claim our excellence as Catholic, Dominican schools; and systematic theologian and Dominican Sister of
Peace, Sr. Catherine Hilkert, OP, reflected on the life of Saint Catherine of Siena, illustrating how the Saint’s spiritual core—which embolden her unique and
compassionate authority—can inform our leadership today.
DVM looks forward to advancing the conversations that began at this year’s event and to continue its partnership with the school ministries, shaping and strengthening sponsorship together.