Religious Missionaries of St. Dominic

The Religious Missionaries of St. Dominic consider the beginning of their apostolate in the United States to be a highlighting of God’s love and wisdom, granted to them through His Divine Providence. 

In their Province of the Holy Rosary in China, where they had ministered before coming to the United States, they experienced persecution, pain and suffering. However, they continued to serve God there in a heroic manner until they were expelled in 1950.

Even as the sisters continued to struggle to recover from the traumatic events in China, Divine Providence opened new frontiers for them in His Vineyard. Specifically in the United States where the sisters of the congregation found a new location in which to serve the Lord. 

In 1950, the pastor of St. Joseph Parish in Alice, Texas, Father Juan Zabala, O.P., invited the Religious Missionaries of St. Dominic to come to his parish and take charge of the administration of the school.  The sisters accepted the offer and four members of the community arrived in Alice in 1951. 

There they formed a new religious community in which their chief apostolate was teaching at St. Joseph Catholic School. The first four sisters in Alice were Sister Rosario Ozcariz, OP and Sister Isabel Montemayor, OP from Spain and Sister Josephine Conlu, OP and Sister Purificación Beltrán, OP from the Philippines. 

The earliest sisters in the United States had to cope with further difficulties. These included adjusting to a new climate, a new culture and a new economic situation; the last of these was indeed very uncertain. There were also health problems that attacked two sisters to such a degree that they were hospitalized for months. 

However, these early sisters showed their resilience and capacity for suffering as they continued to demonstrate an example of courage and fidelity to their mission as they had done in China. Eventually, in addition to their administration of the parish school, they took charge of the catechetical work, the youth and adult ministries and other pastoral work needed in the parish.

On Sept. 25, 2003, they withdrew from St. Joseph Parish and were assigned to various apostolates in the Diocese of Corpus Christi. Other locations in which the sisters ministered include Holy Cross Parish, Our Lady of the Rosary Convent and Christ the King Parish, all in Corpus Christi; St. Joseph Parish and Our Lady of Victory Parish, both in Beeville; and St. Anthony Catholic School in Robstown.  Their ministries in each place varied, but the sisters attempted as much as possible to help in each situation as needed and to do their best to bring people closer to God. 

In Holy Cross Parish, in response to a request from Bishop Thomas J. Drury, two sisters took over the administration of Catholic Charities, which was located in that parish. In addition, the congregation rendered charitable services to African-American parishioners and to some needy Hispanic, Asian and Anglo-Americans. They helped the materially and spiritually poor, counseled unwed mothers and helped the unemployed find work. In a word, wherever there was a need the Religious Missionaries of St. Dominic made every effort to meet it. 

In 1986, the sisters extended their apostolate to Our Lady of Victory in Beeville. There they formed another local religious community with teaching in the primary and intermediate levels, as their main apostolate. However, their ministry included catechetical classes to children studying in public schools. Ten years after the sisters first began ministering in Beeville their two schools merged. 

An important development took place in Corpus Christi in 1986 when a new convent–Our Lady of the Rosary Convent–was erected adjacent to St. Paul the Apostle Church in Flour Bluff.  This convent was inaugurated and blessed by Bishop René H. Gracida on Oct. 31, 1986.

The prioress general and her council were so impressed by this move that they designated this new convent as the central convent of their congregation in the United States. As such, it was recognized as the official seat of the delegate of the prioress general to the United States. From the convent in Flour Bluff, the sisters went out to a number of parishes, collaborating with the pastors and engaging in many ministries.

In 1991, through a grant from The John G. and Marie Stella Kenedy Memorial Foundation, a learning center was built to care for children 18-months to five-years of age while their parents were at work. In 2009, through a petition from the parents, the learning center was incorporated into the diocesan school system as a Catholic school.

The school was renamed Our Lady of the Rosary Catholic School with the mission to strive to form minds, hearts and souls in the likeness of Christ.  This, the sisters hoped to do by integrating faith and knowledge to enable each child to develop his and her potential as a unique child of God. 

In 2002, a sister started working as his pastoral assistant at Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in Alice. She extended her ministry to its parish mission, Santo Nino de Atocha, and eventually was named director of religious education of both churches. In that capacity, she adopted the Generation of Faith Program, which involves children, parents and grandparents. She is part of the parish ongoing adult religious education, and directs spiritual retreats for various parish organizations.

The Religious Missionaries of St. Dominic in their widely and varied ministries demonstrate their flexibility as they attempt to meet the needs of the Church in many areas in the Diocese of Corpus Christi.