DELEGATE FOR RELIGIOUS VISITS CALDWELL
     Sister Adrienne Fallon  and Sister Margaret Thomas chat with Sister Joanne Bednar (center) during her recent visit.
               (click here for more photos)

150 YEARS OF COMMITMENT CELEBRATED

St. Catherine’s Convent, Caldwell was the setting for a special Mass of Thanksgiving on February 2 as Sister Marie Frances Kling observed her 80th anniversary of entrance into the Congregation and Sister Rita Margaret celebrated her 75th anniversary. Most Rev. Dominic Marconi and Father Frank Heinan celebrated the liturgy, which was followed by a festive dinner.

The recognition continued at the Sacred Heart Cathedral on Feb. 5 when the jubilarians of the Archdiocese were recognized at the liturgy for the World Day for Consecrated Life. As the only 80th year honoree in attendance, Sister Marie Frances received a standing ovation. Other jubilarians in attendance included seventy-year celebrants Sisters Agnes Bernard and Genevieve Marie and sixty-year celebrant, Sister Vivien Jennings.

          
Sisters Marie Frances and 
Rita Margaret and the celebratory cake
 

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Bishop Cruz chats with 
Sr. Marie Frances at the Cathedral luncheon.

						
			

		
	

	

		
			

				
					

						

						
			

			

				
					
    standing: Fr.Heinan,Sr.Elsie Bernauer, Bishop Marconi,Sr. Luella Ramm, Sr. Pat Stringer.
    Seated: Sr. Arlene Antczak, Prioress; Sister Rita Margaret and Sr. Marie Frances.

						
			

		
	

	

	

		SISTER MARY ELLEN O’GRADY TO FACILITATE MARCH STUDY DAY

	

		Sister Mary Ellen O’Grady, a Dominican Sister from Sinsinawa, Wisconsin, has been named Promoter for Collaboration by the NED 5 congregations, including Amityville, Blauvelt, Caldwell, Hope and Sparkill.  Most recently, Sister served as the Executive Director of the Dominican Leadership Conference. No stranger to the collaborative efforts among Dominicans in many regions of the United States, Sister Mary Ellen began her service in the Northeast in January. Calling the work of collaboration “no easy task,” she will be facilitating the Caldwell Study Day on March 17 and looks forward to meeting many more sisters at the gathering at Molloy College on April 28.

	

	

		HUDSON COUNTY FRIENDS GATHER AT CASINO IN THE PARK

	

		Many friends old and new gathered on the Feast of the Epiphany, January 6, to celebrate their fellowship with the Dominican Sisters of Caldwell. The festivities took place at the Casino in the Park, which has hosted many Dominican events over the years.

		

		Sister Arlene Antczak, Prioress, welcomed the one hundred guests and traced for them the earliest roots of the Caldwell Dominicans, whose history began in Jersey City, officially in 1881 but several years before that with the early foundations. She pointed out that this would be the first of several gatherings to be held in various locations extending observance of the Congregation’s 130th anniversary throughout the coming year. After a festive dinner, Sister Vivien Jennings continued the historical overview of more recent developments and shared initial plans for the immediate future.

		

		Many reunions took place throughout the evening, which was sponsored by the Development Advisory Committee, led by Dr. Marie Varley and Dr. Patrick Gallagher, both of whom are Jersey City natives.

		

		(To see photos of the event on the Development page, click here.)

	

	

		                                                            

	

		                                                                      PARISH SCHOOLS HONORED





	Two parish schools headed by Caldwell Dominican Sisters were among only 315 schools nationwide which were recognized recently as Blue Ribbon Schools by the U.S. Department of Education. Sister Mary Agnes Sullivan, principal of Our lady of the Lake school in Verona, and Sister Donna Marie O'Berien, principal of St. John the Apostle School in Clark, were both present in Washington, DC to receive the awards on behalf of their school communities.



	 




Sunday Star-ledger, Christmas Day, 2011.



	                                                                       I AM NEW JERSEY



	               She sought quiet contemplation but found joy in bustling classroom



	



	 



	                                                                                  SISTER DONNA MARIE O'BRIEN



	                                       A life in divine order


By Mark Di Ionno/STAR-LEDGER COLUMNIST



	It was serenity, mostly, that called young Donna Marie O'Brien to a religious life. In her Catholic schoolgirl days, she was allowed to enter the secret world of her teachers and became immersed in the warm calm of the convent, a plce of peace and prayer.



	Now, more than six decades later, she recalls the nuns who impressed her most with their kindness and quiet existence. Sister Mary Aquinas, Sister Mary Bernadette, Mother Thecla. She remembers the nuns, young and old alike, sitting still in the convent yard, silently praying the Rosary. She remembers the chapel rooms and the times of quiet reflection. This was a recurring experience.........  Click to read more





	                                                                   



	At our Congregational Homecoming on December 17, we celebrated the 60th and 70th jubilees of fourteen sisters.



	



	The eight sisters observing sixty years since their entrance into religious life include Mary Agnes Gore, Sisters Bertrand Austin, Michel Rodgers, Augustine O'Donnell, Lenore De Coster, Joan doyle, Mary Claire Weber and Gilbert Frey.



	 



	Obserbing seventy years of religious life are Sisters Ann Dominic Vano, Marietta Anna Harding, Mary Kathleen Malarky, Elizabeth Marie Mason,  Margaret William McDonald, and Eileen Byrne.



	The sisters' cumulative 900 years of dedicated service have been spent largely in the educational and pastoral ministries within the Archdiocese of Newark as well as the Dioceses of Paterson, Trenton, and Metuchen in New Jersey, and in the Dioceses of Bridgeport, CT, Mobile, AL and Nassau, Bahamas. The fourteen sisters were recognized at the Eucharistic Liturgy celebrated in the St. Catherine Convent chapel by Rev. Msgr. Frank Heinan.



	The afternoon concluded with a dinner celebration at St. Catherine Convent and Health Care Center on the convent grounds.