‘Blessed to be Part of Dominican Family’
This article is fourth in a series of six featuring Dominican Volunteers USA living with communities of Sinsinawa Dominican Sisters. Erin Wolaver lives with the Minneapolis community.
by Erin Wolaver
From left: Sr. Martha Alken, DVUSA Erin Wolaver, Sr. Jeri Cashman, friends Neython and Sarah, and Sr. Margaret McGuirk.
The Dominican Volunteers USA (DVUSA) mission is a great description of how I am spending my year in the DVUSA program. I minister at Centro Guadalupano. I work mostly with immigrants who may be outside of many North Americans’ biological families but who are certainly our sisters and brothers. I meet them through the English language learners I teach or through my work at the parish in our various social outreach programs. Many of the immigrants I meet are living in the shadows, fearing deportation of themselves or their families.
The community life I have here with Dominicans in Minneapolis could also be described by the mission statement. We are a strong community. We enjoy one another, share with one another, participate in study and reflection groups, and pray and have fun together. Our community is unique among the different communities with Dominican Volunteers in that we have three generations living together. We share our house with a mother and her 7-year-old son, Neython. The best part of my community life is the love and support I receive from my community. I feel encouraged to follow my dreams, to be the best I can be, and at the same time I am loved and accepted for who I am. Living with this community is a blessing and gift to me.
My ministry pushes and teaches me. I have learned more about the immigrants’ struggle to make it in this country. I have met immigrants with such determination to succeed in the United States that they come to learn English in their 60s and 70s―ages at which some people may not have the willingness and confidence to learn a new language. I am working with community organizers who understand that immigrants deserve to be treated humanely and given more rights. I work with families, connecting them to programs that make life a little easier.
Being a member of DVUSA has opened my eyes to a world of which I was previously unaware. I have found Dominicans a group who tirelessly work toward peace and justice and values education and whose members are insightful, intellectual, and faith-filled. By being in the DVUSA program, I am part of something much larger―I am blessed to be part of the Dominican Family.