by Sr. Barb Kane, OP

Prayer, study, community, and preaching--the pillars of the Dominican Order and guides for our lives as Dominican Women of Peace.  These pillars don’t end when we retire or are no longer in active ministry.  Here at our Dominican Motherhouse in Great Bend, Kansas, we strive for a rich Dominican life even though we might have to do activities at a slower pace. 

For instance, STUDY is an essential part of our lives, and our sisters actively engage in learning and enhancing their understanding of important issues by participating in programs, such as Land Justice Seminars and regular TED Talks. Our periodical room is filled with magazines, and we often put out articles of interest to the sisters.  Some sisters regularly watch news programs or documentaries to stay informed about current events. “If I stop studying, I stop living,” one sister told me.  Keeping abreast of the news alerts us to what we need to pray for. 

The great Protestant theologian Karl Barth is purported to have said, “A preacher needs a newspaper in one hand and a Bible in the other.”  Our Father, Dominic, may have used a similar approach in his ministry as he journeyed around the countryside preaching the Good News in a way that related to people in their everyday lives.  Dominic was often seen carrying a walking stick and the Epistles of St. Paul and the Gospel of Matthew, which connected him with the spiritual and the physical.

We know study was important to Dominic because of the great sacrifice he made when he sold his treasured parchments to provide food for people struggling to find food during a famine.  He said: “I will not study on dead skins when living skins are dying of hunger.”  Dominic was alert to the needs of people and did not hesitate to set aside his studies to respond with compassion.

Because study was important to Dominic, he also sent his followers to be educated, mostly at universities in Paris and Bologna, Italy, so that what they preached was correct and not heresy.

Many of our Dominican sisters have earned higher education degrees or certificates in several areas. These studies help them to serve better in their ministries and enrich their faith journeys. For many of us, this is a wonderful blessing – one that continues throughout our lives, as long as we are able.  Studying is a way for us to share with others the fruits of our labor and contemplation.    

We invite you to learn about our life as Dominican Sisters of Peace by participating in two discernment events that we are offering in July and September of this year. On Saturday, July 19, 2025, a special day of prayer awaits you where we will come together via Zoom to “Sit at the Well of Jesus.” Click here for more information about this one-day program.

Or, join us September 12-14, 2025  as we explore in-person what it means to be pilgrims of hope as we step out in faith to hear how God calls us and what it means to follow Jesus as a religious sister with the Dominican Sisters of Peace. Click here for more information about what a Come and See Discernment Retreat is like and for details on this September weekend retreat.