Our Life and Journey

Our Mission

We, Dominican Sisters of Hope, are called to preach the Gospel to our world. In communion with all creation, we commit our lives to the transforming power of Hope.

Our History

The spirit and mission of Saint Dominic have inspired numerous branches of the Order of Preachers to spring up throughout the world. In the latter half of the nineteenth century United States, this vision prompted three exceptional women to found Dominican congregations to proclaim the Word of God to an immigrant Church through the education of children and the care of the destitute sick. Mother Bertrand Sheridan, Mother Augustine Neuhierl and Mother Mary Walsh began their religious journeys on three separate paths. Their companions and followers came to be known respectively as: Dominican Sisters of St. Catherine of Siena of Fall River, Massachusetts; Dominican Sisters of the Most Holy Rosary of Newburgh, New York; and Dominican Sisters of the Sick Poor of the Immaculate Conception of Ossining, New York.Through decades of major change in Church and society, these congregations traveled their separate journeys. Now the stirrings of the Spirit and the call of the Church to a revitalized and fuller expression of religious life, as well as the desire to collaborate with others who share the Dominican charism, have brought these separate paths into one.A journey of transformation together, begun as collaboration in 1981, has led to the formation of the Dominican Sisters of Hope. While 1995 marks the establishment of this new Congregation as an apostolic religious institute of pontifical right within the Roman Catholic Church, the journey continues....

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Our Mission Focus

In the beginning, the love between the Creator and the Word gave breath to the Spirit. From this love came creation, human history, the many traditions by which we have lived together on this Earth. Out of a developing spirituality of the interdependence of all creation, we Dominican women respond to the needs of our time:

We live the Gospel mandate to minister to and with the economically poor and marginalized. We choose a simple lifestyle and make ministerial choices that affirm, respect and call forth each sister's gifts and talents.

We choose ways that will enable us in relation with others to discover, develop and affirm the feminine in ourselves, others and the world.

Our developing spirituality of interdependence with all of creation challenges us to study and address local environmental issues and to work for systemic change.

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Membership

A Covenantal Relationship
Membership in the Dominican Sisters of Hope is a covenantal relationship open to Catholic women of all cultures who desire to respond to God's call in their lives through total and permanent commitment to Christ. This response unites these women to other members through a common life and mission. This call is a mystery wherein the charism of the Congregation meets with the vocation of the individual. A woman seeking admission to the Congregation must have a sincere desire to embrace the religious life. She must give evidence of potential for our Dominican mission.

Initial Membership
The initial membership process consists of periods of candidacy, novitiate and temporary profession prior to perpetual profession.

The Congregation welcomes and supports the candidate, knowing that the life of God in her enriches the Congregation. The Congregation strives to create an environment where members can grow and develop through the guidance and wisdom of the Spirit.

The period of candidacy introduces a woman to Dominican Life as lived by the Dominican Sisters of Hope. It provides the candidate opportunities for prayer, study, ministry and common life according to our Dominican tradition.

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Gospel Witness

Personal and Communal Response
Our religious life is a personal and communal response to God's loving presence in our lives, and God's call to holiness. As Dominican women religious we live a publicly vowed life of obedience, poverty and chastity. We witness the love of God for each person to one another and to the world through our permanent commitment.

Lifestyle
We freely commit ourselves by obedience to listen, discern and respond to God's will as revealed in Sacred Scripture, in the needs of the world and in the circumstances, events and persons in our daily lives. We give witness to Gospel poverty by a life of simplicity and interdependence with all peoples and the whole of creation. In response to God's love we choose celibate chastity, a gift from our Creator. We experience the gift of chastity as a means to a full life of intimacy with God and with each other.

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Our Dominican Life

Spirituality
The core of Dominican life is the integration of prayer and mission: "...to contemplate and give to others the fruit of our contemplation." We believe that prayer is the expression and nourishment of our intimate union with God. In the spirit of St. Dominic, we give priority to personal and liturgical prayer. Our life finds its focus in the Eucharist, the re-enactment of the Paschal Mystery. Our daily personal prayer, opportunities for sharing faith experiences with one another and periods of retreat and renewal are integral to our continuing growth in our life of faith.

Community
Our Dominican tradition calls us to a common life which is apostolic in nature and so our mission is at the heart of our life together. Community structures serve the mission, shaping our communal life according to the ministry and the needs of each sister. Living community is a process of relating authentically and interdependently with one another. Community life is nourished through personal and communal prayer, theological reflection, faith sharing and participative decision-making.

Study
As Dominicans we share in the unique charism of Dominic to hear and preach the Word of God. Essential to fulfilling this mission is the call to reflective study, a life-long willingness to learn and an openness to truth. We believe this study, nourished by prayer, roots our apostolic life in a contemplative stance. While truth is often discovered and assimilated in solitary study and meditation, we also look to others in community and ministry for learning experiences through shared reflection on the Scriptures, cooperative exchange of ideas and patient struggling with current issues.

Mission
As Dominican women we participate in the living tradition of the Order of Preachers to preach and to proclaim the Word of God with truth, mercy and compassion. Our ministries of preaching, healing and teaching are expressions of the Congregation's participation in the ongoing mission of Jesus. Individually and corporately we concentrate our energies, time, talents, abilities, and resources to respond to the invitation of the Gospel, the call of the Church and the needs of the times.

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Our Logo

The logo was designed by:
Sister Anne Lythgoe, OP
Gospel Graphix
Elkins Park, Pennsylvania

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