Death of our beloved Barbara ChenicekOP

It is with a heavy heart  that I write to inform you that Barbara Chenicek OP, our Adrian Sister and Fra Angelico master artist has been wrapped in the arms of our loving God she so wished to share.

Her life was cut short by an aneurysm . Barbara was surrounded by her family and sisters in the Adrian Dominican Life Center when she died this October 13.

All the chapels and churches she built with her dear friend, Rita Schiltz OP, as INAI studio, were not just buildings but projects whose life force built and sustained communities brought together in the process. People gathered to make the hangings they designed. Her pride was not in the awards but in the communities that found God in the process.

This loss is real for all of us in DIA. Every time I went to Adrian we would see each other and spend some time together. Her wisdom and affirmation was gift.  At the last gathering in Adrian we shared the video of the Great Bend Chapel we would see in July and she opened the studio to allow us a special look at her latest efforts.

At Adrian during the 2000 DIA Gathering, she and Rita presented the installations they had in a quiet space in INAI studio.  We toured the studio and saw all the materials laid out for quilts in a chapel, cut and numbered to be sewn.  Their awards are numerous and their magnificat was the joy of the creative process.

Barbara was a talented artist who generously shared her gifts with joy and precision. She met with Elizabeth Michael Boyle, OP to share her experiences for the OPUS project.  Barbara embodied the God who embraced her in death.  All of us are richer for having known her. 

Let us pray for her, her family and the Adrian Community whose love and support helped to realize her art and her person.

May she rest in the unifying  creative love of God!

If you have any stories about Barb please send them to me so I can see they get to Adrian and our newletter. You can send cards to Rita at

                            Rita Schiltz OP

                            1277 E Siena Heights Dr,

                            Adrian, MI 49221-1755

Barb ate and prayed with Rita everyday and I know she would appreciate our love and care for Rita.

Thankful for our Sister

Barbara Schwarz OP

DIA Board President

Responses:

She whom we love and lose

is no longer where she was before

she is now wherever we are.

St John Chrysostom

I feel the loss of Barbara's presence to us even from so far away as South Africa.  I cannot imagine what this will mean for Rita.  I loved her burst-open poetry that give voice to language of the Spirit, her endless creative outpouring that gave life to all who came into her ambience, igniting others with that God-caught experience.   Enhanced by the special creative friendship with Rita, they have ignited sacred spaces wherever they have been, and especially in the contemplative INAI studio.

It is our loss, but she is Home, where her heart has travelled to all her earthly life.  We can continue to meet at that Centre.

Love.

Sheila Flynn OP

It's quite a shock and a loss for the community and for the DIA..However, her art and her memories will live on. And yes the fruits of her life are multiple and growing in abundance.

Special prayers for Rita and the Adrians,

Irene Mary Diones OP

Remembrance and funeral is currently at

http://www.adriandominicans.org/MeetDominicans/InMemoriam.aspx

Prayer Request

Please pray for Mary Ellen Paulson who is having eye surgery on Thursday Sept 3.

Death of S. Irene Mary's Mom in Phillipines

When S. Irene Mary went to the Philippines last week her mom was dying. She got there in time and I would send condolence messages by email so she can see them while she is there which will be into October.  sireneop@gmail.com

​Thoma Swanson OP has told us that Aminah Robinson died May 22, 2015. She had been a major presenter at our  gathering in Columbus. We had gone to her show there.  I'm sure that everyone in the DIA who remembers her will rejoice that she had the grace of a happy death.    Let us pray for her as well as her friends and family.


         




The Virtual Gallery 

shown at the gathering can and does include those who are not able to be at the gathering. Kindly send .jpg files, video links, to this email along with the name of the works be it poetry, photos, art, legal youtubes.  We really would like to share your work.  Kindly do it by June 20 if possible.




Part of the virtual gallery includes a memoriam. If you have any pictures of yourself with Adele Rowland at a gathering it would be appreciated. Again send them to me at diartsop@gmail.com. If they are already on our website I have them. 




The attached article 

is the basis of reflections by the panel in Great Bend. You might recognize this from Grand Rapids Gathering years ago. It is by Ann Willits. It is worth a read even if you are not coming. Send any reflections to me at diartsop@gmail.com.




Please get in your memberships and any registrations for Great Bend.




Let the preaching Continue!



Barbara










Attachments area



Preview attachment Feel the Flame.pdf














Feel the Flame.pdf

Adele Roland Our new Patron Saint!

With tears and a heart filled with gratitude I write to inform you that Adele Rowland OP peacefully passed into the arms of our loving God last night about 9 PM.

The funeral Mass is Thursday at 10 AM Pacific time in the Gathering Chapel of the
Dominican Sisters of San Rafael in their Motherhouse. Their wake is private.
 

I am sure DIA members will pray with them this final journey of our friend, mentor and DIA's" Grandmother." There is a tribute to her on the home page of the website www.diartsop.org with links to her page and video.

Sister Pat Simpson OP told me how Adele eagerly read each update we sent and always love news from DIA. She read it all on Monday of this week! See the video to us on the website.

I wrote the Sisters of San Rafael in your name of the great inspiration and gift Adele has been to us. I passed along the stories I received months ago when she first went on hospice care. (They have a facebook page and their contact information for condolences is on their website at http://services.sanrafaelop.org/who-we-are/contact-us/)

Adele was 99 years young. I am sure she is having a few words with Ansel Adams and Fra Angelico to name a few. I am also certain that she will continue to walk with us.

May we learn from her quick witted gracious and loving mentoring how to do that with and for each other and those with whom we minister.

May we pray for the Sister of San Rafael, her family and each other as we mourn.

(She is shaking her head at me saying "What's the fuss? This is wonderful. See you!"

We carry her in our heart.

Barbara Schwarz OP

Adele Roland OP

Sister is in residence at Our Lady of Lourdes convent in San Rafael, at our care facility for our members.  While not still working in her ministry of photography, she is enjoying chats about her pictures as they are rotated in her room. At 99 years of age, she is frail but thinking about what it will be to be 100 years old in December.

To write Adele:

Lourdes Convent

77 Locust Ave

San Rafael, CA 94901

Updates on members who are ill

Sue Tracy:

By God's grace and the ongoing tsunami of prayers, I can joyfully report that I am doing significantly better than I was late fall and winter. Spring has brought restored energy to about 85% of my per usual (my sister in law claims that my 85% is about 125% for lots of folks) stamina.

I have completed nine chemo treatments for this metastasized right cheek lymphoma that migrated north to the parietal lobe of the brain. The five day hospital stays have been manageable minus pain, nausea or vomiting. I am grateful that my bodymindspirit has absorbed the high dose methotrexate without harm.

Today [April 21] I have another follow up brain MRI and will find out the results next Tuesday. This weekend I am participating in a cancer survivors/thrivers weekend at a lovely retreat center overlooking Lake Michigan north of Holland, MI. I have given the final Sunday morning talk entitled CELEBRATE LIFE COME WHAT MAY DAY BY DAY twice a year since 1999 to those who have gathered and now I can be an attendee. I'm excited.

Feel free to share this if you so choose, Barb. I value your love and care and that of our Dynamic International Artists .. also known as D I A

 

Lovingly always, Sue Tracy OP

To send messages contact her directly at Toodooloosue@aol.com

Joeann Daley: This was sent out by Sinsinawa OP

Dear All,

Joeann Daley asked that I provide a little progress report of her health.  Last week I wrote that she was admitted to Columbia St. Mary's Hospital on April 9th with pancreatitis.  She is still in the hospital and tomorrow will graduate to a regular medical floor.  Jo is feeling much better.  She will need some time to regain her strength and engage in rehab therapy.  She is grateful for her care and for your concern.  Please continue to keep her in prayer. 

If you wish to send a card, someone will pick up her mail at her residence and deliver it to her -- in mission list:

4205 N Olsen Ave. #1

Shorewood, WI 53211

 

Gratefully,

Mary Howard 

Note: Her show at the Mound had to be cancelled because of her illness.