Collaborative Dominican Novitiate Marks 20th Anniversary

ST. LOUIS, MO, January, 2008-- The Collaborative Dominican Novitiate marks its 20th year of promoting Dominican Life and Mission in 2008. To celebrate this milestone, former novices and participants will offer occasional reflections on the experience and what being part of the CDN has meant to them. Over the years, 22 congregations have been members of the CDN.




Reflections on the Novitiate Part 2:

My experience of the Collaborative Dominican Novitiate was a great learning of what community in the Dominican way of life is all about. It is a mix of a lot of fun times and some really hard ones too! The year helped form who I am today as a Dominican woman in today’s world, which is in such need of a clear and concise voice of compassion, understanding and joy! Our group was genuinely joyful and sought out the good in each one that was present.

We were truly a mixed bunch, with such different backgrounds and life experiences – we were joined together in this community, certainly not by choice, but with a common love for Dominican life, and a common desire to learn the Dominican ways.

The community was met with many challenges along the way, some were very painful and emotional, with two women leaving mid-year, but on hind-sight I realize that this is a discernment process, and going through the pain strengthened my own commitment and vision for Dominican life, today and the future.  We will become united as one – someday – the CDN provides the opportunity to BE DOMINICAN in collaboration with all Congregations, not just locally focused.

The opportunity to be at Aquinas expanded our experience in study and nurtured relationships with the brothers and all Dominicans living in the area – this was a remarkable and memorable experience for me, and almost 12 years later, these relationships are the closest friends in my life. You cannot get this global perspective – the total Dominican experience in the discernment phase of formation through weekend workshops or a conference here or there. It is in living together, elbow to elbow – studying together, praying together and sharing ministerial experiences that you get what Dominican life is about and ultimately make an adult choice of commitment for life.  The CDN is the collaborative canonical year for those of us that entered in the last 20 years – we share a common experience, it has bonded us together as we bring Dominican life into the future – that will certainly look different from even 20 years ago!  

Aneesah McNamee, OP (Adrian)
CDN Alum – 1996 – 1997

As I reflect on the experience of the Collaborative Dominican Novitiate, what comes to mind is the gift of our wonderful diversity and our willingness to risk revealing and sharing something of our diverse selves with each other.  

In the fall of 2006, six of us novices joined our two co-directors: Pat Hanvey, OP (Amityville) and Katie McGrail, OP (Adrian) in forming community at 4498 Washington Avenue . We were Rose Ahaneku, a Caldwell Dominican from Nigeria; Sara Bingham, an Adrian Dominican from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula; Pat Dual, a Columbus Dominican from Norfolk, Virginia, and African-American mother of two grown sons; Thanh Nguyen, an Adrian Dominican from San Jose, California, and native of Vietnam; Roselli Tria, a San Rafael Dominican from Fremont, California, and native of the Philippines; and myself, an Adrian Dominican from Welfare, Texas, who grew up in Latin America and Egypt. In addition to being nationally and ethnically diverse, we novices ranged in ages from 25 to 57!  

During our time together, we shared laughter, tears, grief, struggles, faith, and joy. Our journey was deepened when death struck our families, when illness took one of us back home, and discernment led another to choose a different path. We shared in all the simple/profound stuff of daily life, striving to follow the call, sustain each other, and live sustainably. This is what was most transformative for me. And it is what I carry in my heart as a woman growing in understanding of what it means to be part of a global Dominican family – within the whole magnificent Earth community, groaning in peril.      

Elise D. García, OP (Adrian)
Novice 2006-2007