By Rita McInerney

Sister Patricia Siemen, OP, is one of five women elected to leadership for the Adrian Dominican Sisters during the congregation’s February Assembly of the general chapter at the motherhouse in Adrian, Mich. The new team will assume its six-year term July 1.

She will serve as general councilor, vicaress. Elected prioress of the 1,300 member congregation is Sister Patricia Walther, OP, currently assistant professor of systematic theology at St. Mary Seminary in Cleveland.

Sister Siemen’s new responsibilities as second in charge of the congregation will require her leaving her current post as prioress of the Mid-Atlantic chapter which she administered from an office in Atlanta. As prioress she visits Adrian communities and local bishops in 20 states, discussing policy and future direction of congregation members. She will continue this ministry until June 30 with occasional meetings in Adrian for orientation and transition. Her successor as Mid-Atlantic prioress will be elected in June.

Sister Siemen said she was willing to keep her name in for leadership because the agenda as affirmed in vision statements of the November Delegate Assembly was one “that I would want to help implement.” The statement setting the direction of the Adrian Dominicans for the next six years commits members to creative action on behalf of justice and peace, prayerful study, contemplative reflection, radical simplicity, and to journey with the poor in the struggle for survival and self-determination.

Sister Siemen holds a law degree from Northeastern University, Boston, Mass., and has worked with migrant farm workers in Florida.

She serves on the national advisory committee of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops as a representative of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious. This is “an excellent experience of Church. There has been an intentional effort to make that body be representative” of the laity, priests, Religious in the United States. In addition, she said, it is “probably the best blend of ethnic and cultural diversity of any Church group I belong to,” and serves the bishops well.

Other members of the new leadership team of the Adrian Dominicans are: Sister Anne Guinan, OP, councilor, administrator; Sister Christine Matthews, OP, and Sister Molly Nicholson, OP, councilors.