Sr. Nancy, a native of Lancaster, OH, entered the Dominican Sisters while she was a student at St. Mary of the Springs College, now Ohio Dominican University. She traveled across the United States during her life as a consecrated religious, working and teaching in schools and churches in New York, Michigan, Georgia, Kentucky, West Virginia and Missouri, and studying in California. One of her most memorable experiences was a summer spent in ministry to the Northern Cheyenne Native American in Lame Deer, MT.

“I loved being an itinerate like St. Dominic,” says Sr. Nancy. “I have met scores of wonderful people and become a better person because of it. For me, the many faces of the people that I have met make up the face of God – and each has left a mark on me.”

Sr. Nancy credits her mother as being the greatest influence in her life and her vocation. “My vocation began at home, with my mother. Her spirit of giving – her willingness to be approachable and to listen – she was an influencer in my life until the day she died.”

Today Sr. Nancy serves as Assistant Principal at the Holy Trinity Catholic School in Somerset, OH. In that capacity, she has the opportunity to meet many young men and women, and she has this to say to young people considering religious life today: “Take advantage of your ability to, and any opportunity to, give of yourself. The more you give, the more you will receive in return, and your life will be enriched.”

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“From the very beginning,” Sr. Charlene says, “my ministry has been ever-evolving.” That’s been especially true in Sr. Charlene’s case. She began her ministry as a teacher in Springfield, KY, and followed that work to Nebraska, Tennessee, and back to Kentucky. “I have enjoyed every ministry along the way,” Sr. Charlene says.

Upon her return to Kentucky, she served as a staff member and on the Leadership Team at the Dominican Motherhouse in Kentucky, as well as development director for the Holy Rosary Academy in Louisville. “As I have engaged with my Sisters in ministry and community,” Sr. Charlene said, “my focus has become less on ‘I’ and more on ‘we’.”

In 2009, Sr. Charlene was named Founded Ministries Liaison for the Dominican Sisters of Peace. In this role, she works closely with the Congregation’s ecology, retreat and senior ministries in Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York and Ohio.

After 50 years of consecrated life, Sr. Charlene tells today’s young people, “The vowed life is challenging, freeing, cutting edge, life-giving, joyous, adventuresome, and a blessing. Pursue it – God will not let you down when you respond to the call.”

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Sr. Carole has served her Congregation and the Church in a variety of ministries throughout her five decades as a religious Sister. She began her service teaching elementary school children in schools in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and Connecticut. “Their joy and eagerness to learn helped me to seek to learn, and to look forward to new opportunities for growth in my own life,” Sr. Carole says.

Sr. Carole opened herself up to those new opportunities by continuing her education and moving into a pastoral care ministry.  As part of this new role, she served as Chaplain at St. Ann’s Hospital in Westerville, OH and at Yale-New Haven Hospital in New Haven, CT.

Sr. Carole has served her Community as a mentor to several women in the initial stages of religious life through formation ministry. In discussing her time in formation ministry, Sr. Carole says, “I am in awe at the power of God’s call to religious life and the generous response by the women who service God’s people through a commitment to religious life. Each of us has a unique and sacred journey, and God is present in every step.”

She returned to Columbus, OH in 2016, where she currently ministers to her Sisters at Mohun Health Care Center, a skilled nursing facility for members of the Congregation and other religious.

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Sr. Maria Emmanuel says that attending Cursillo, a Roman Catholic Retreat, in 1963 was the beginning of her call to religious life. “It’s been a very happy life, and I have met so many people and done so many things that I could not have done as a lay person,” she said.

A second important turning point in her life was Hurricane Katrina, which struck New Orleans when Sr. Maria Emmanuel was serving at the Eucharistic Missionaries of St. Dominic Motherhouse in that city. “I learned not only the value of living with nothing but also to be at home wherever I was. I also came to value belonging to a worldwide order that lovingly aided me and my Sisters to re-start our lives and our ministries.”

Sr. Maria Emmanuel worked as a religious educator in Tucson, AZ, and New Orleans, LA, but says serving the poor is her first love. She is currently acting as a volunteer at the Dominican Sisters of Peace St. Catharine Motherhouse and Sansbury Care Center in St. Catharine, KY.

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