Meet Our 2024 Jubilarians

Friends and family are invited to virtually join us in a Jubilee Eucharistic Celebration at 1 pm on Saturday, July 20, 2024. Mass will be held in Angelico Hall on the Dominican University campus with a reception to follow in the Gathering Space.

Register here

Jubilee—a wonderful celebration of answering God’s call and entering into vowed religious life and marked at milestone years. The word vocation comes from the Latin word vocare which means to call. Being a Sister is a way of life, pursued in order to live out a baptismal call to be Christ’s hands and feet in the world. Regardless of age, our Sisters are always in ministry in the sense that they always welcome opportunities to live the Gospel in service to others.

Meet Our 2024 Jubilarians

75 Years
Sr. Marion Irvine, OP

Ring Motto:
Vivere ad Deum (To Live for God)

Reflecting Back:
Sr. Marion selected this ring motto “to live with God’s presence at all times and to live to give back to God through acts of generous thanksgiving for how I have been blessed.” Embracing this notion, social justice work became her passion and continues to this day to be her main interest.

“I initially fell in love with religious life as student at St. Rose Academy in San Francisco. All of the sisters seemed to be having such a good time. They seemed to love working with kids and they were lovely people themselves. After I entered the novitiate, I embarked on a career in education that would last 47 wonderful years. I taught math, English, science, religion – I loved being a teacher.

“Unbeknownst to me, I wouldn’t discover my true passion until I returned to San Rafael and was assigned the position of Promoter of Social Justice. I honestly had no idea why they’d asked me to do it. It had been so long since I was in San Rafael, and at the time – I really was unaware of the social justice issues in my own community. In 1999, I traveled to the World Trade Organization Protests in Seattle – which proved to be a life changing experience. I studied all I could to learn about fair trade, workers’ salaries and living conditions. I learned a great deal about local human rights issues and also about those in Central America and the Caribbean. Immigration, trafficking, global warming, war… learning about social justice issues changed my view of the world. Jesus was a champion of the poor and marginalized – he was concerned with preventing injustice.”

Ministry:

• St. Raphael School (Teacher)
• St. Vincent Ferrer High School (Teacher, Principal)
• Junipero Memorial High School (Teacher, Principal)
• St. Mary’s High School (Teacher)
• Sacred Heart School (Principal)
• Justin-Siena High School (Principal)
• Department of Catholic Schools (Superintendent)
• Dominican Convent (Coordinator of Education, Promoter of Social Justice)

 

70 Years
Sr. Sally Brady, OP

Ring Motto:
Diligam Te, Domine. (I love you, O Lord.)

Reflecting Back:
“When I saw these words from Psalm, 17 I knew that this was what I wanted to tell God: that I was giving my love, and that at age 23, I needed strength for whatever lay ahead. My ministries, mainly in teaching and Hospital Chaplaincy, have spanned sixty-three years. I have ministered in Vallejo, Los Angeles, Reno, Napa, Stockton, San Rafael, Benicia, Oakland, San Francisco, Antioch, Santa Rosa, and Petaluma. Over the past ten years of retirement, I volunteered as a Eucharistic Minister and Spiritual Care visitor and volunteered for Hospice.

What has been fulfilling for me as a Dominican, has been the opportunity to help children learn well what they would need to know in life and especially to learn respect for others and for themselves. As a Hospital Chaplain it was such a privilege to be with patients who might be fearful or anxious of what was happening to them. I was amazed in finding so many patients who had such deep spirituality of their own, and were glad a chaplain came by to see them for support and prayer, if wanted. I can get tearful just remembering what a privilege it was for me to be able to be with someone, at a vulnerable time in their life, especially on the Oncology Unit or when I was chaplain for Palliative Care. What a grace it was for me, and a blessing, that I could bring God’s love for them. I will always be grateful for what God has done in helping me to use the spiritual gifts given to me, for others.

I am grateful to my Dominican Congregation, and for my family’s love, as I celebrate this 70th year of Jubilee!”

Ministry

• St. Dominic School San Francisco (Teacher)
• St. Thomas School (Teacher)
• St. John School (Teacher)
• Assumption School (Teacher)
• Blessed Sacrament School (Teacher)
• St. Dominic School Benicia (Teacher)
• St. Cyril School (Teacher)
• St. Dominic School San Francisco (Teacher)
• Holy Rosary School (Teacher)
• Santa Sabina Center (Kitchen Coordinator)
• St. Francis of Assisi Community (Coordinator of Pastoral Care)
• St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center (Chaplain)
• St. Joseph’s Medical Center (Chaplain)
• Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital (Chaplain)
• Hospice Santa Rosa (Chaplain, Hospice Volunteer)

60 Years
Sr. Brigid Noonan, OP

Ring Motto:
To give, to love, to endure

Reflecting Back:
Sr. Brigid’s ring motto was inspired by a high school teacher who was also a Dominican sister. “At the time I was making final vows and getting my ring she said ‘to give to love and to endure was the essence of religious life’ – I would say all life.”

Fulfilled by the love and support of family and by helping others and inspired by the actions and faith of others, Sr. Brigid reflects on sixty years. “What fulfills me the most is helping people, sometimes in the most basic ways. As teachers we support one another professionally and as friends, we’re able to walk with parents as they navigate various challenges, and we accompany children through their highs and lows. I remember one time as a Religion teacher, we always prepared for the Sunday liturgy on the preceding Friday. As I reviewed the student’s work in the evening – I came across one child’s reflections that concerned me. The student wrote about feelings of guilt. I reached out to the child and discovered that she was sad about the passing of her grandparent and feeling terrible as if she didn’t “do enough” nor “spend enough time” with this grandparent. Her mother was supportive, and by taking the time to inquire, the child was able to have this heavy weight lifted off her shoulders.”

She shares, “I am inspired every day by people who press on despite personal struggles and challenges. I recall the story of an incredible teacher with a physical challenge. After spending five minutes with her, you would never even notice her physical limitations— she was an accomplished teacher who taught with grace, gentle strength, and clarity. Another time I was struck by the grace of a young boy who, during morning prayer, asked prayers for his parents who had been fighting.”

“I have been sustained by these and other stories over the years and am grateful. I can honestly say that I have never been bored.”

Ministry

• St. Isabella’s School (Teacher)
• St. Alphonsus School (Teacher)
• St. Vincent Ferrer School (Vice Principal, Teacher, Librarian)
• San Domenico Lower School (Teacher)
• Our Lady of Mercy School (Principal)
• San Domenico School (Coordinator Community Service Facilities, Dormitory Resident)
• St. Catherine of Siena Convent (Director of Formation)
• Sisters of St. Dominic (Director of Formation)

50 Years
Sr. Margaret Diener, OP

Ring Motto:
Love: Truth of the Heart (Psalm 51)

Reflecting Back:
“Indeed, I love truth of the heart; then in the secret of my heart teach me wisdom”—I found the heart of Veritas. Sensing the pure rightness of this sentiment for me, I chose to express it in the simplicity of my motto. Long have I embraced the Sacred Heart as a blessing from my patron St. Margaret Mary and find the union of Word and heart bespeak the fullness of Being.

For more than twenty-two years my ministries were directly related to education. My experience as a student had stirred deep gratitude for all of my teachers as they challenged me and opened to me the liberating impact of education. It was that deep gratitude for all I had received through my education that sparked my vocation, as well as my desire to help and encourage others to reach their potential.

In the early 1990s, circumstances shifted. My father had a stroke and I wanted to be somewhat nearer to my family. I was also at a moment of wanting to find a new place of ministry. As grace and gift would have it, I found a great fit with an international development agency based in Stockton that was doing education and development work, as well as microfinance work, in Central America.

For the next nine years, I served as director of administration for Katalysis North/South Development Partnership. What a gift to be able to allow my skills and talents in administration, finance, and education, to serve the many nonprofits we accompanied in Central America! Much unfolded from there, as I helped develop and promote the Bootstrap Fund, a community investment fund for microfinance lending to the organizations that Katalysis had helped guide into well-run organizations. Katalysis completed its mission; and the follow-on Katalyis Bootstrap Fund thrived for about ten years.

There were other hidden gifts in my work with Katalysis, namely the opportunity to become actively involved in the Council for the Parliament of the World’s Religions as a member of the board for that organization for ten years, as well as the subsequent work I was able to share in with Tom Bertelsen and a number of other religious women representing their congregations in founding the Religious Communities Impact Fund.

One of my final efforts for Katalysis was helping the small staff downsize as the work moved to completion. Little did I realize how all of these experiences would lead me to my next ministry—offering organizational consulting services to nonprofits and religious congregations, directing my efforts to aiding these groups to live their missions faithfully and supporting them with guidance in administrative processes, board development and process facilitation when needed.

One of my clients became our own congregational leadership in 2007, as I used my consulting skills to provide Santa Sabina with a sustainability plan and the assessment that allowed the advisory board and Council to seek a director to follow the rich foundation that Sr. Susannah Malarkey and Harriet Hope had laid. It has been my privilege over these last fifteen years to work with Sr. Raya Hanlon and Kathy Geary to provide leadership in creative programming and ongoing renewal and upkeep of this congregational treasure. It seems that at this juncture, the call now is to surrender this resource and allow both the Center and myself to live into a new adventure.

From the moment that we crafted our congregational Mission statement which proclaims our desire to bring the Word to bear on the critical issues of our times, I have rested in it, knowing that it fuels my efforts in a most essential way. Yet, it is also our communal life, our collective efforts to work for justice and the wonderful companions who share in our life that make all the difference. For the gift of family and friends within and beyond the Congregation, as well as the many committed people who have been collaborators for important efforts along the way, I bow in deepest gratitude. From them I have learned commitment, fidelity, laughter, humility and the union of hearts and minds that transcend religious boundaries and speak to God’s deep desire for our oneness.”

Ministry

• Dominican College (Instructor English, Library Director)
• St. Vincent Ferrer High School (Teacher)
• San Domenico Upper School (Teacher, Dormitory Staff)
• Justin-Siena High School (Vice-Principal, Dean of Students)
• Katalysis (Director of Administration)
• Carpe Diem Mission Matters (Principal)
• Santa Sabina Center (Executive Director)

40 Years
Sr. Darylynn Costa, OP

Ring Motto:
Mea Deus et Omnea (My God and My All)

Reflecting Back:
For my ring motto I chose the motto of the Franciscan Order, as It was used by St. Francis in his prayers— Mea Deus et Omnea (My God and My All). Having attended St. Francis High School in Hawaii, I said this prayer daily, along with the Prayer of St. Francis, at the outset of each school day. It was imbibed in every fiber of my being. When I felt drawn to the Dominican way of life, this motto called to me as a fusion of the Franciscan and Dominican spirits—just as Francis and Dominic had been friends.

When I entered the congregation from Hawaii, at the age of 21, I was prepared to teach. I
had graduated from the University of Hawaii with a bachelor’s degree in secondary education. During my formative years, I taught at the middle school in Stockton, at St. Dominic’s in Eagle Rock (LA), and four years at Justin-Siena High School in Napa. While I was completing my master’s in Theological Studies at the Graduate Theological Union of UC Berkeley, a council member asked me to seriously discern hospital ministry. The salaries of our sisters working at St. Mary’s Hospital and St. Joseph’s Hospital were more than a teaching salary, allowing them to better support the financial needs of the retired sisters. I happily obliged, shifted gears, and launched into physical therapy, working 13 years at St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center in Reno, followed by 15 years at Dominican Hospital in Santa Cruz. Preaching with my hands, I learned how sacred a touch can be. Being a conduit of Christ’s healing energy is an honor and privilege. And, more often than not, I’ve been humbled to witness the tenacity and resilience of patients, especially when faced with a dire diagnosis. I’ve learned how tears can bless one from head to toe and make us whole. And how true vulnerability has the potential to make us, not only fully human, but fully divine. When we drop our guard, our learned defense mechanisms, our fears, our doubts, our anxieties, our prejudices, a spaciousness is created which allows us to connect with another and experience our oneness in the body of Christ. I am you and you are me. We are one breath, one spirit in Christ. At the deepest level of our being, we know these truths to be self-evident, but we forget as we become consumed with the mundane tasks of daily living, until something, or someone, shakes us to the core.

Beyond the Joys and challenges of health care, what has fulfilled me as a San Rafael Dominican, is being uplifted by holy, faith-filled Sisters whose prayers course through their veins, and seep through their pores living what they profess. I am edified by consummate teachers and professors, including sisters who have taught in Africa, Japan, Mexico, France; Sisters who have tirelessly worked to restore the dignity of the homeless in San Francisco; Sisters who have worked with migrants trying to cross the border; Sisters who have served in refugee camps in Guatemala; Sisters who have protested nuclear warheads at Livermore—one even going to jail. And Imagine a Sister working in the jungles of Bolivia teaching the women rudimentary health and hygiene. Imagine a Sister working with the Indigent in the altiplano of Peru to raise Angora rabbits to improve their economic status. The cumulative impact of our ministries sends my spirit soaring to the highest heaven. The gospel has, indeed, been carried to the frontlines around the world!

Ministry

• San Joaquin Middle School (Teacher)
• St. Dominic School (Teacher)
• Justin-Siena High School (Teacher)
• San Domenico Upper School (Dormitory Staff)
• Hillhaven Convalescent (Physical Therapy Assistant)
• St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center (Physical Therapist)
• Dominican Hospital (Physical Therapist)

 

40 Years
Sr. Abby Newton, OP

Ring Motto
With Him it was always “Yes”.

Reflecting Back
“My ring motto was inspired by peacemaker Dag Hammerskjold in his journal of poems and spiritual meditations, Markings. Towards the end of the excerpts from his writings, is the quote: “I don’t know Who — or what — put the question, I don’t know when it was put. I don’t even remember answering. But at some moment I did answer Yes to Someone — or Something — and from that hour I was certain that existence is meaningful and that, therefore, my life, in self-surrender, had a goal.” Jesus was not alternately yes and no – but with Him, it was always “Yes”.

Over the past 40 years as a Dominican Sister I have been privileged to serve in two distinct ministries: (27 years) education and (20) healthcare. Throughout these years, I have always carried the congregation and its mission with me – and that sustains me. I have been confident of the support of the Sisters and their care for the ministry carried forth in our name.

I have been blessed to spend significant time in the communities of Eagle Rock (St. Dominic’s) and presently Stockton (St. Joseph’s) and that has rooted me in the lives of the people. It is the people with whom we serve, and whom we get to minister. It is walking the walk, being engaged in their lives, being part of their struggles, being present with and for them.”

Ministry

• St. Rose Academy (Teacher)
• Our Lady of Mercy (Teacher)
• St. Raphael School (Teacher, Principal)
• St. Dominic School (Principal)
• St. Helena Catholic School (Teacher)
• St. Joseph’s Medical Center (Director of Mission Integration, Vice President of Mission Integration)