Days of Unbounded Joy

January/February/March 2024
​Dayton, OH

Happy Easter to all of you from the Dayton sisters of the Annunciation and Adele communities! We hope the first few months of 2024 were good and that your Easter was joyful. The year so far has been very busy for us here in Dayton. Read on to learn what we’ve been up to.

Highlights from January: The year started off with Laura celebrating the Solemnity of Mary with the brothers at the Kiefaber St. community, while most of the other Dayton sisters were still away visiting family for Christmas. Meanwhile, Emily was at the SEEK conference (a conference for campus ministers and young adults) in St. Louis, MO. But soon everyone was back in town and a few of us were able to attend the UD Mass and celebration of Adele’s life and legacy. The weekend of January 19, Laura joined her lay group at the brothers’ property at Governor’s Island Indian Lake, OH for their annual retreat where they all had chilly weather, but had a joyful time renewing their community commitment. January 19-23, Mary Jane Plote, Sabina’s friend and cohort member from grad school, stayed at the Annunciation community. Closing out the month was the Founders Day Mass on January 23 at Queen of Apostles chapel at Mount Saint John, which Emily helped to organize.

Highlights from February: On February 2 the Annunciation community went with Marcia to Cincinnati for the Archdiocesan celebration of the World Day of Consecrated Life at St. Gertrude Church, Priory, and Convent. The event included a Mass and a reception after. It was a great opportunity to see and visit with some other Sisters from the area. The month also included two birthday celebrations. On February 8, we celebrated Leanne’s birthday at the Annunciation community with a nice dinner and Leanne’s good friend Sr. Kim Dalgarn, SNDdeN. On February 19 we gathered again for Marcia’s birthday and Marcia’s sister, Patty, joined us, too. 

Highlights from March: March 1 brought much joy as Sabina was celebrated as a “Women of UD” for her commitment to the whole person in her ministry as a campus minister! Sabina’s dad came for the event and we enjoyed a nice dinner with him at the Annunciation community while he visited. The next day brought another huge event as Marianist sisters around the world gathered virtually for an international FMI Zoom call to begin to study and revise our Rule of Life, which is being revised after 42 years. We heard from Fr. Aitor, a Spanish canon lawyer the congregation is working with, on what we could and could not change according to canon law, but also about how we have to honor the Spirit as we work on this process. Going forward, the Dayton sisters, along with each community of Marianist sisters around the world, will go through the new draft of the Rule bit by bit in order to give feedback on correct language/translation and what we would like to include in the new edition.

March 7-10 was Marianist Formation Weekend, which took place in San Antonio, TX and focused on the theme of spiritual direction. The weekend included a presentation on spiritual direction by Fr. Bill Meyer and a panel that included Sr. Grace Walle and Bro. Jim Jaeckle. It was great to visit with everyone in San Antonio and two of our brothers from South Korea, Fr. Francis Chang and Bro. Joo Peter Choi joined us too! On March 11 the Dayton sisters, including Marcia, invited lay Marianist family, the Dillons, to see the movie Cabrini, a movie about the life of Mother Francis Cabrini. It was a great way to celebrate National Catholic Sisters Week and we learned a lot about Mother Cabrini. Then March 12-19, Sr. Gretchen visited Dayton for our annual provincial visitation. During her stay we had dinner and Mass together, we each met with Gretchen one-on-one, and as a group we spent some time reflecting on the mission and purpose of the Marianist sisters. It was a beautiful discussion about the future of religious life and the younger sisters (Emily, Rose, and Sabina) got the chance to weigh in about their hopes and concerns about the future.

On March 16, the Marianist sisters were busy. Emily led a retreat at St. Leonard, our elder care center, on Walking with Adele through Lent, which Marcia participated in. Meanwhile, Laura and Rose participated in the Winter Wisdom Retreat at the Marianist Environmental Education Center, which Tara Poling, MEEC’s Program Coordinator led, and Leanne helped out at. March 27 was the St. Mary’s University Celebration of the Marianist Sisters 75th Anniversary in the U.S. The event was held in San Antonio, TX and most of our perpetually professed sisters were able to attend, including Laura, Leanne, and Nicole. The night’s celebration included dinner and a slide show in appreciation of the Marianist Sisters’ involvements at St. Mary’s University. March 20 - 28, Sr. Leanne traveled to San Antonio, TX for Visitation with the Sisters there. She also gave a seminar for St. Mary’s University students and others as part of the Science and Women's History month series. She had many individual meetings and joined events related to the Marianist Family Encounters Project and Laudato si Action Platform.

The end of March brought the Triduum! On Good Friday, most of us were able to participate in Dayton’s annual Walk for Justice and Peace through downtown Dayton. We had beautiful weather and it was so great to sing and show our intolerance for justice alongside lay Marianists and members of the community. As for liturgical celebrations of the Triduum, both the Adele and Annunciation communities celebrated at the University of Dayton’s Chapel of the Immaculate Conception. Emily, however, was busy the week before Easter taking pictures and familiarizing herself with the Triduum traditions of the family of parishes she works for as Coordinator of Communications. Because of her work, Emily could not join us for many of the Triduum celebrations at UD, including the climactic Easter Vigil, at which Laura played her flute, Rose sang in the choir, Sabina read one of the readings, and Leanne participated in, as well. (This year’s vigil was a little different because the university decided to postpone the initiation of Christian rights until students were back on campus after their week-long break the week before Easter.) After the vigil, the Dayton sisters hosted their annual Dessert Social at the Annunciation community and despite having fewer students this year, we still filled the house with lots of laughter and sweets.

We made sure our guests left a little earlier than usual, though, because Easter Sunday was also a little different this year. Instead of our usual routine of sleeping in and then having a small evening meal together, all the Dayton sisters joined the brothers at the St. Leonard community for Mass, including Sr. Marie! After Mass we joined the brothers for a brief social and then lunch. It was so good to see Marie in good spirits and to see her out and about outside of her building, which is separate from Marcia’s and the brothers’. We had a great time talking and catching up with the brothers and after we left, the rest of the day was pretty quiet and restful.

We wish you and yours a blessed and joyful Eastertide now that we are in this time of unbounded joy. As we head into spring and the end of another school year, please know of our prayers for you all. Our next newsletter will come out in July. Until then… 

Peace and Blessings,
The Marianist Sisters of the Annunciation and Adele Communities