The Dominican Sisters of Peace were officially founded on
Easter Sunday, April 12, 2009.
A Founding Event celebration and ritual took place  in St. Louis
on April 14, 2009
with the congregation's
first General Chapter following April 15-21, 2009.
 

HOW DID THIS HISTORIC EVENT TRANSPIRE?

It began with a simple conversation.  It began with 2 and it grew to 3 and eventually to 7.  The Dominican Cluster was a collaborative venture of seven congregations of Dominican Sisters in the United States exploring the possibilities of reconfiguring for the sake of Dominican life and mission. The Cluster arose from conversations at a Dominican Alliance meeting in 2000 and then took shape since that time.

As a result of discussion at a Dominican Alliance meeting, leaders from the Akron and Columbus Dominican Sisters began conversations that gave rise to the Cluster. New Orleans St. Mary soon expressed an interest in the process and was invited to join the conversation. Official meetings among the leadership teams of the three congregations began in March 2001.

At their third meeting in December 2001, the teams developed a mission statement, and at the following meeting in June 2002, they determined that a coordinating committee was needed to assume responsibility of moving the process forward. This new Cluster Coordinating Committee (CCC) would consist of one leadership representative and one membership representative from each Cluster congregation. In July 2003, the New Orleans Eucharistic Missionaries of St. Dominic joined the Cluster, and later that year Kentucky, Oxford, and Great Bend joined as well, bringing the total number of congregations in the Cluster process to seven. These congregations entered into a process that led them through several cycles of discernment together along the Cluster journey.

A coordinating committee (CCC) comprised of congregational members and leadership was originally formed to facilitate exploration of possibilities and to ultimately arrive at a recommendation for reconfiguration, based on member input from throughout the process. This task was completed in June 2006, and the Leadership Teams of the Cluster congregations soon after accepted the CCC's recommendation that the option for reconfiguration that congregations consider be a Canonical Union. From that period through the spring of 2007, the seven congregations engaged in personal and communal discernment regarding the option, culminating in the Chapters held with each congregation.

With these congregational Chapters, the seven-cycle discernment process was completed. Each congregation voted at their separate Chapters in March and April 2007 in favor of petitioning the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life (CICLSAL) for permission to form a new congregation. Materials for the petition were assembled and sent, and approval was granted in the fall of 2007. 

As a result of the Cluster process, the seven congregations petitioned the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life (CICLSAL) for permission to form a new congregation in the summer of 2007. Approval was granted in the fall of 2007.  In a letter dated November 7, 2007 Cardinal Rode wrote:

“In a recent Congresso of this Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, it was decided that the petition of the seven Dominican Congregations be granted." 

Since then preparations have been made to form this union.  The new congregation will be called the Dominican Sisters of Peace and will be officially founded on Easter Sunday, April 12, 2009. A celebratory Founding Event will take place in St. Louis on April 14, 2009, with concurrent celebrations also taking place at Motherhouse locations elsewhere. The first General Chapter of the Dominican Sisters of Peace will be held in St. Louis April 15-21, 2009, at which a Prioress and Leadership Team members will be elected and direction for the new congregation will be determined.

PRAY FOR US AND WITH US
 

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