The Order of Preachers sharing the Gospel for over 800 years.
DOMINICAN SISTERS OF AMITYVILLE
Vision Statement
We, Dominican women religious, called to be signs of joy and hope, commit ourselves to incarnating the Gospel, deepening our life of prayer, searching for truth, discerning theneeds of the Church, and ministering to the people of God.
As members of the Dominican Congregation of the Holy Cross, we are active contemplatives, vowed and bonded members, sharing a variety of gifts and cultures.
As prophetic witnesses in collaboration with others,
We will call ourselves, the Church, and society to credibility.
We will be responsible members of the universe.
We will promote the dignity of marginalized persons.
We will reject violence in ourselves and in society in order that all
generations will grow and cherish life.
With the world as our frontier, we are open to the Spirit working through all creation. We will engage in our corporate ministry of preaching/teaching in creative ways within Church structures and in other frameworks. Like Dominic we are itinerants striving to bring the reign of God to fulfillment.
Direction Statements of the General Chapter of 2006:
Empowered for Mission in 2006 and Beyond…
The General Chapter of the Dominican Sisters of Amityville called the congregation to a deeper living of its Goal and Vision Statement.
We committed ourselves to:
- Transform our Dominican Life by renewing ourselves individually and communally based on the four pillars of Dominican Life – Prayer, Study, Common Life and Mission and the Rule of St. Augustine
- Transform our lifestyle into a more conscious, contemplative way of living by fostering right relationships and deepening our openness to the Spirit
- Transform our prayer life by reclaiming our contemplative roots which are the source of Dominican Life and Mission
- Transform our lives in order to hear the prophetic message of the Gospel as it is
revealed within us, among us and around us
A Piece of History
In 1853 four women left Holy Cross Monastery in Regensburg, Germany. Before leaving for America the nuns were formally questioned. To the question “Do you consider yourself healthy and strong enough for the journey to America and, in accord with the purpose of your emigration, to endure the new climate and the different lifestyle under any circumstances?” Mother Josepha Witzelhofer, OP, Foundress of Amityville replied, “I am in fact not all that healthy and strong, but I trust in God’s assistance, I am convinced God has given me this new calling.” The end of their journey would find them like most immigrants unmet at the dock of NY. It would be the beginning of an adventure that would grow from education, hospitals, and the care of orphans to the founding of many congregations across the country and new ministries yet to be imagined in God’s calling.
St. Agnes Academic School located in the town of College Point. A private college preparatory school for young women, it has as its mission to educate and nurture its students so they become,”women of vision.” In 2008 St. Agnes will celebrate its 100th anniversary.
The OPening Word is an education program for poor undereducated women where we work to promote their dignity` by affording them the tools they need to become productive members of society. The three centers are: Amityville, Wyandanch, and Huntington Station.
Benincasa Family Services - KinderTowne - Jamaica Neighborhood Center strive to meet the needs of those out of work, the new immigrant, the single mother, the homeless and the children. Though our clients obtain various forms of government assistance, we strive to support those who suffer from the harshness of poverty and/or bureaucracy. The JOB CLUB empowers people to become self-sufficient through the acquisition of employment skills. KinderTowne enrolls children from the surrounding community. Fifty percent of our families receive assistance from the Department of Social Services.
Homecoming-Sophia Learning Center - Sophia Garden brings the hope that we can create a different world which recognizes that the human and natural world are one sacred community. Whether it be workshops, retreats, children’s programming, networking with localand national groups or ecological issues - its programs promote the need to live sustainably within the larger life community as while also living non-violently. Sophia Garden is a community supported agricultural organic garden.
Dominican Village strives to preserve and enhance the lived expression of the sacredness of life and the dignity of each human person by offering quality of life in a secure environment for senior citizens.
Centro de Apoyo a la Familia Culebra(Puerto Rico) is a marginalized, isolated Island municipality that lacks the opportunities and services afforded the rest of the island. Here we offer a tutoring program for children in elementary school to help reduce the high level of school dropouts. We are the only institution in Culebra providing the services of a clinical psychologist, for the community in general.
Asamblea Familiar Virgilio Davila(Puerto Rico) Our children live in Residential Virgilio Davila, a low-income public housing project in Bayamon. We help the children enrolled in our program to discover their inner self, values, God’s love for them and the needed tools to become productive Christians and responsible citizens for their own and their community’s benefit.
Centro Geriatrico El Remanso(Puerto Rico) serves our senior citizens in a rural area in the city of Bayamón. Puerto Rico. The award winning center provides the services of nutrition, health, transportation, recreation and educational activities to the elderly.
Projecto Villa Esperanza (Dominican Republic) tries to make people conscious of their responsibility to strive for peace, respect nature, and respect each other while offering opportunities to improve their way of life. At Centro Montesino and at Escuela Laboral San Antonio de Padua in Barrio Villa Liberaciòn, and San Juan de la Maguana, our people experience poverty on all levels.
Our Ministries Today
Our sisters work tirelessly for the people of God in parishes, schools, offices, hospitals, outreach centers,retreat centers, courts, and colleges throughout Brooklyn, Queens, Nassau and Suffolk, other parts of the United States, as well as in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. Our sponsored ministries and supported ministries include:
Our Legacy to the Church
Within their first thirty-three years in New York, the Sisters established eighteen convents along with schools and orphanages. Into the early part of the twentieth century each convent had orphans. In 1868 a new request came to this young Congregation: to staff a hospital. At St. Catherine’s Hospital, the Sisters nursed the sick poor of Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Much of the money needed to finance these building projects was gathered through their resourcefulness and hard work—including begging.
In 1896, to meet the challenge of tuberculosis, the Sisters purchased over 1300 acres of woodland in Sullivan County, NY and established a sanatorium for rest and convalescence. This site eventually evolved into a school and camp and, in 1973, became an alcohol rehabilitation center. The beginning of the twentieth century found the Sisters building Mary Immaculate Hospital in Jamaica, Queens. In the 1950’s they built Molloy College.
Most ministry during the past century was in the field of education and parish ministry. While the hospitals and the college are no longer owned by of the sisters, the legacy of faith in God continues to guide the Dominican Sisters of Amityville in the twenty-first century to alleviate the burdens of God’s people wherever the Spirit leads them
Mouse over us, to see excerpts of our stories, for more of our stories click on our names.
