Celebrating Our 2026 Jubilarians

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.

Friends and family are cordially invited to join us in a Jubilee Eucharistic Celebration at 2 pm on Saturday, August 8, 2026. Mass and the reception that follows will be held in the Gathering Space.

REGISTER

 

Sr. Cathryn de Back, OP—Celebrating 60 Years

Sr. Cathryn de Back, OP has lived her Dominican vocation as a joyful response to God’s call—one expressed through decades of faithful ministry. Her ring motto, “Go forth in joy,” reflects both the ritual sending forth at the close of every Mass and the way she has lived her life: carrying the grace of the Eucharist into the world through love, service, and presence.

That understanding took root early in her ministry while teaching at Blessed Sacrament School, where she first experienced the deep joy of teaching. “When I first went out in the missions to teach, I was so happy. I loved the kids, and the kids loved me,” she recalls. From that moment, she recognized ministry as life-giving, a truth that sustained her throughout her vocation.

Her work in education spanned elementary and secondary schools, where she served as teacher, principal, and counselor. What mattered most to her was not only the work itself, but the people alongside whom she served. She speaks with gratitude of her years with the Presentation Sisters, her Dominican community, and her time at Saint Ignatius High School, where collaboration with the Jesuits was a source of encouragement and joy. Looking back, she names one constant: “I have always been surrounded by terrific people.”

Called to leadership, Sr. Cathryn served as First Counselor for the Dominican Sisters of San Rafael, accompanying the congregation with care and steadiness during a period of change. Her leadership was marked by presence, compassion, and a deep commitment to community.

In the aftermath of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, St. Rose High School—founded by the Dominican Sisters of San Rafael and originally opened just before the 1906 earthquake—sustained damage that ultimately led to its closure, creating a poignant set of historical bookends. The decision not to rebuild or reopen the school was a difficult one for the Sisters and the wider community.

Sr. Cathryn played a pivotal role during this time, navigating a complex city process to guide the demolition of the damaged building and help make way for what was emerging. From loss and discernment came new life: the development of St. Rose Convent and St. Dominic’s Convent to house the Sisters serving in the city, and the birth of a new ministry—Rose Court.

Now marking its 25th anniversary, Rose Court became Sr. Cathryn’s “special ministry.” A subsidized housing community within the parish of St. Dominic’s, it includes affordable family housing and a childcare center. She oversaw its development from the ground up and served as its Resident Manager for twenty years, fostering not only housing, but a stable, dignified, and caring community.
After stepping down from Rose Court, Sr. Cathryn continued to serve through morning volunteer work at the Lima Center at St. Dominic’s Parish, where she became affectionately known as the “Coffee Girl,” offering hospitality and welcome to those in need.

Reflecting on her life, she says simply, “My whole life—ministry has been the happiest part of life—it has been my everything.” Rooted in her Dominican community and longtime home at St. Dominic’s Parish, her vocation has been lived in relationship with God and with others.

As we celebrate her Jubilee, we give thanks for a life shaped by joy, gratitude, and faithful service—a life that reminds us holiness is often found in the steady, joyful offering of oneself, day after day.

Ministry:

• Blessed Sacrament School (Teacher)
• Cathedral Intermediate School (Teacher)
• Sacred Heart Elementary School (Teacher, Principal)
• St. Ignatius High School (Teacher, Counselor)
• Family School, San Francisco (Founder; nonprofit supporting single mothers’ education and job skills with on-site childcare)
• Dominican Sisters of San Rafael (Congregational Leadership)
• Buchanan Park (Resident Services Manager)
• Rose Court (Project Director, Resident Manager)
• Lima Center (Volunteer)

Sr. Patricia Dougherty, OP——Celebrating 60 Years

Sr. M. Patricia Dougherty, OP has lived her Dominican vocation grounded in the Gospel call to “Believe, Trust, Love the Lord.” Chosen as her ring motto, these virtues reflect the heart of her faith and the teaching she has sought to embody throughout her life. Rooted in Scripture and echoed by St. Catherine of Siena, who taught that the greatest commandment is to love God and love one’s neighbor, the motto has guided her prayer, ministry, and relationships.

Sr. Patricia’s primary ministry has been education, where she has served as a teacher of both elementary and college students. Teaching, for her, has always been a mutual exchange—one that involves listening, learning, study, and formation as much as instruction. Deeply attracted to intellectual life, she sees teaching and study as foundational to Dominican identity. Her work extended far beyond the classroom to include mentoring students, planning courses, engaging in scholarship, and accompanying learners in their growth.

Since 1996, Sr. Patricia has played a key leadership role in the Fanjeaux Seminar, first as an annual program and, since 2019, as a biannual one. This twelve-day study abroad experience introduces faculty, staff, and students from Dominican colleges and universities across the United States to Dominican values and history. Set in southern France, the seminar explores the life of Dominic and the places where he founded the Order in the early thirteenth century, bringing Dominican heritage vividly to life.

For more than a decade, Sr. Patricia has also participated in a quieter but deeply meaningful ministry: visiting the women’s pod at the Marin County Jail with a group from the Dominican Sisters of San Rafael. Although initially apprehensive, she came to experience the visits as a grace-filled opportunity for shared prayer, listening, and solidarity. The ministry opened her heart to the struggles, hopes, and resilience of others, offering a humble but profound way to accompany women in difficult circumstances.

Reflecting on her years as a Dominican Sister, Sr. Patricia names community life as both her challenge and her sustenance. Shared prayer, meals, friendships, recreation, and meaningful ministry have anchored her vocation. Teaching afforded her rich opportunities—sabbaticals, travel, conferences, study tours, and continued learning—and she embraced them with curiosity and dedication.

What inspires her most are moments of insight and grace: when students suddenly “get it,” the everyday generosity and kindness of others, and stories of hope and goodness. She is sustained by enduring words of faith, including Julian of Norwich’s reassurance that “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well,” and the scriptural reminder that “in God we live and move and have our being.” Above all, she returns again and again to the simple, demanding call at the heart of the Gospel: to love God and to love one’s neighbor.

Ministry:

• Our Lady of Snows School (Teacher)
• St. Michael’s School (Teacher)
• St. Cyril School (Teacher)
• Dominican University of California (Professor and Chair of History, Study Abroad Program Leader)
• Dignity Health Pilgrimage (Dominican Heritage Guide)
• Georgetown University (Graduate Student Teaching Assistant)
• Historian and Conference Presenter, French History Societies (Cardiff, Wales; Los Angeles, C., Philadelphia, PA, Boston, MA, Lexington, KY, El Paso, TX, New Orleans, LA, Missoula, MT)
• Fanjeaux, France Seminar Leadership Team

Education:

• B.A. History, Dominican University of California
• M.A. History, Georgetown University
• Ph.D. History, Georgetown University
• Fulbright Fellowship to France, 1981-1982; NEH Summer Seminar, Stanford, 1992, “Woman Question in Western Thought”; NEH Summer Seminar, Newberry Library, Chicago, 2001: “Revolution and Changing Identities in France, 1787-1799”

 

Sr. Barbara Green, OP—Celebrating 60 Years

Jubilees invite reflection—on a life lived, a vocation received, and the paths that, sometimes unexpectedly, shape who we become. As she reflects on her Dominican journey, Sr. Patricia recognizes that one foundational turning point came early: a decision made for her by those in authority that she pursue advanced study in Scripture. At the time of choosing an undergraduate major, this meant committing to biblical languages—an unexpected and initially unwelcome requirement, especially Latin, which she had hoped to avoid. Yet that choice, once embraced wholeheartedly, became formative, shaping nearly every dimension of the Dominican vocation she has lived, and for which she now feels deep gratitude.

Her studies at the Graduate Theological Union and the University of California, Berkeley opened her to the breadth of interfaith and interdisciplinary scholarship. Teaching assignments at San Domenico School, under the creative and demanding leadership of Sister Maurice, and later at Dominican College of San Rafael during its humanities heyday, further expanded her horizons. Over time, decades of teaching—especially alongside Dominican men and religious scholars from many faith traditions at the GTU—crystallized into what she names as the central calling of her life.

At the heart of that calling was a sustained engagement with Scripture—not as a static academic subject, but as a living, symbol-rich encounter with the mystery of God’s ongoing relationship with humanity. She came to embrace the challenge of making the vitality of Scripture central: exploring how God’s narrative engagement with Jews and Christians continues not only in the past, but urgently in the present. This work also widened to include reflection on humanity’s relationship with Earth and its creatures, calling students and scholars alike into deeper awareness of creation and Creator.

What may appear strictly academic grew, over time, into something far more relational and expansive. Her vocation included enduring friendships with colleagues and students, opportunities to travel and speak, and the responsibility to contribute through books and scholarly articles. It even made room for creativity, including the writing and self-publishing of Bible-based mystery novels. After retiring at the conclusion of fifty years of teaching, she continues to offer Scripture study and conversation through Gather@Grand, remaining deeply engaged in the life of faith and learning.

Throughout the years—day by day, year by year, jubilee by jubilee—her relationship with God and with others has been shaped by immersion in the challenges and promises of Scripture. She looks back with gratitude, even for the unexpected turns, including the unwelcome “news” about majoring in Latin that set everything else in motion. As the psalms express it, “The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places,” and “I am like a green olive tree flourishing in the house of God.” Her ring motto, the Greek word metanoia, continues to invite her into ever-deeper turning toward the richness God offers through the living Word.

Ministry:

• San Domenico High School (Teacher)
• Dominican College (Professor of Religious Studies and Humanities)
• Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology at the Graduate Theological Union (from Adjunct Professor of Theology to Professor of Biblical Studies)
• Scholar and Author (widely published in biblical literature, including mysteries, historical fiction, and nonfiction)

Education:

• B.A.  Latin and Greek  (Dominican College of San Rafael)
• M.A. Theology  (Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley)
• Ph.D. Near Eastern Religions (Graduate Theological Union and University of California, Berkeley, Near Eastern Studies Department)

Congregational Leadership

• Dominican Sisters San Rafael (leadership) four times

 

Sr. Carla Kovack, OP—Celebrating 60 Years

Sr. Carla Kovack, OP has lived her Dominican vocation shaped by a lifelong devotion to Mary and a prayerful openness to God’s call. Her ring motto, “Be it done to me according to your Word,” reflects the Marian yes that has guided her spirituality since her teenage years. Drawn early to Mary’s example of trust and surrender, Sr. Carla entered the Dominican Sisters while still in her teens. Through the joys and challenges of growth over the years, Mary’s steady presence has remained a guiding force. Now, in later life, she reflects especially on Mary’s role in the early Church—as one who stood with the first women and men who followed her Son, offering a faithful, enduring yes that proclaimed God’s abundant love.

After graduating from Dominican College as a young Sister, Sr. Carla began what would become a lifelong ministry in education. Her first thirteen years as a primary-grade teacher grounded her in the importance of attending to each child as an individual. Through hands-on learning, peer collaboration, and nurturing curiosity, she hoped her students would develop a healthy sense of self, kindness toward others, responsibility for their own learning, and the humility to ask forgiveness and grow from mistakes.

Subsequent assignments as an elementary school principal challenged her to extend that same vision of learning to faculty leadership. Often among the youngest in her school communities, she recalls being largely unaware of age differences, united instead by a shared desire to serve students well. In later years, her ministry expanded to meet the needs of the congregation itself, as she served as Director of Formation, in Vocations, Campus Ministry, and eventually in elected leadership within the Dominican Sisters of San Rafael. These years unfolded amid significant social, ecclesial, and congregational change. The quiet blessing of each role, she notes, was the people with whom she lived and ministered. Every new position became an opportunity for ongoing growth—and, she adds with a smile, the learning is not finished yet.

Looking back on her years as a Dominican Sister, Sr. Carla sees clearly the deep fulfillment of a vocation that proved to be a perfect fit. Drawn initially to religious life by the teachers who formed her in childhood, she could not then have articulated how fully the Dominican way of life would integrate her personal, spiritual, intellectual, and creative growth. To this day, she delights in weaving together learning across diverse fields, blending knowledge with experience and imagination.

Life in community, she believes, is itself a form of preaching—proclaiming the Risen Christ in both word and deed. While her theology has continued to evolve, embracing the interconnectedness of all creation and the Church’s synodal journey into the future, her deepest desire remains contemplative: a way of listening, discerning, and being. It is this enduring posture of openness that continues to give life to her ring motto—her daily, faithful yes to God’s Word.

Ministry:

• St. Anne’s School (Teacher)
• St. Leander’s School (Teacher)
• St. Dominic’s School-Los Angeles (Teacher, Principal)
• Our Lady of Mercy School (Principal)
• Dominican Sisters of San Rafael (Congregational Leadership)
• Benincasa (Director of Formation)
• Dominican Sisters San Rafael (Director of Vocations)
• Dominican University of California (Associate Director of Campus Ministry, Adjunct Instructor of Catholic Social Teaching)
• Dominican Sisters of San Rafael (Prioress General)

Education:

• B.A Dominican College of San Rafael
• Lifetime Teaching Credential (State of California)
• M.A. Theology, Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley