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Dominican Sister Nadine Foley, a former president of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious who also served as prioress of the Adrian Dominican Sisters, and taught at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, died May 13 in Adrian, Mich. She was 93.
Sister Nadine also served as U.S. delegate to the International Union of Superiors General, and served two consecutive four-year terms as the Adrian Dominican’s councilor general before becoming prioress.
She served as visiting professor of ecumenical relations at Harvard University in 1979 and taught at other colleges in the country and high school.
She edited three books, and wrote two volumes of history of the Adrian Dominicans and a biography of the congregation’s longest-serving prioress.
She was LCWR president, 1988-89. The LCWR in 1989 declared it would not comply with federal immigration law that would sanction employers that hire immigrants in the country without legal permission. Sanctions “intrude into the workplace, making every employer an agent for the enforcement of federal law,” Sister Nadine said, adding the sanctions make “every prospective employee suspect” and “discriminates against a whole class of people who are perceived as ‘less respectable.’”
Dominican Sister Patricia Siemen, the congregation’s current prioress, said, “Nadine’s pursuit of truth through her scholarship and writing was a signature hallmark. Her acerbic wit was legendary, her friendships loyal and undeterred, her love of music and beautiful contralto voice vibrant to the end. She left her mark on the U.S. Church, religious life and each of us.”
Born in Michigan, Sister Nadine grew up in Newberry in the state’s Upper Peninsula, and entered the Adrian Dominicans in 1945. She earned a bachelor’s degree in science from Siena Heights College (now University) in Adrian.
A Funeral Mass was offered May 19 in Adrian.
—CNS
