New Orleans - Eucharistic Missionaries of St. Dominic

Eucharistic Missionaries of St. Dominic - History
New Orleans, Louisiana
Founded in 1927

The Eucharistic Missionaries of St. Dominic were founded in 1927 in rural Amite, Louisiana. Two lay women, Catharine Bostick and Margaret Grouchy (pronounced grew’ shay) united to share life and prayer for the sake of Christ’s Eucharistic Mission.

Their catechesis of adults and children; visiting, nursing and social services in the homes of the marginalized; outreach to those in prisons and hospitals; and fostering the faith life of isolated communities were not typical of women religious at that time. Nevertheless, the Archbishop of New Orleans allowed them to wear a religious habit. In 1935 he provided their first motherhouse, an abandoned hotel for the homeless near the French Quarter, since other women were embracing their mission despite great poverty and hardships.

For eight decades the congregation developed ministries expressive of the founding vision of Mothers Catharine and Margaret. "Our ZEAL is to carry the invitation and the Lord's message of truth and love to all, especially the neglected poor, the afflicted, the oppressed, and those in any way distant from the Gospel" (Constitutions, 1977.) Reverence for each person seated at table for meals and other gatherings flowed from prayerful attention to Christ’s Eucharistic Presence.

By 1940 bishops and pastors had encouraged the congregation to establish missions along the bayous outside New Orleans, among Acadians (“Cajuns”) in southwest Louisiana, and in the barrios and remote towns of southern Arizona. Later outreach to the Mayans in Guatemala and south Florida and a mission in Colombia further sensitized the Sisters to the suffering of Latino populations. In 1987 they declared their motherhouse to be a sanctuary for people fleeing civil war in El Salvador.

Just after the congregation built a novitiate in Covington and a motherhouse in New Orleans by the 1960s, the Second Vatican Council ushered in the age of the laity. Regina Coeli soon housed Head Start and retreats for Cursillistas, high school, college and other groups. The Archdiocesan Social Apostolate operated The Center from most of the first floor of the motherhouse, offering a myriad of services to the people of the neighborhood.

The “EMDs” pioneered by establishing and/or staffing many ministries: diocesan offices of religious education, spirituality, Hispanic apostolate and social services; Pio Decimo Neighborhood Center in south Tucson; outreach to the hearing impaired; a Montessori Child Development Center in the Florida Avenue Housing Project of New Orleans; conducting a religious census in parishes from coast to coast; serving as administrators and pastoral ministers for many churches. They collaborated in founding Habitat for Humanity in Covington and New Orleans.

Officially Dominicans in 1956, the congregation expanded its early emphasis on personal and communal study; a deeply liturgical spirituality, and being missioned, often two by two. College students lived in community with the Sisters as volunteers for summer programs and a few for a whole year. Many lay women and men became Associates, joining in congregational assemblies and vacations, and incorporating the EMD charism into their personal, familial and professional lives.

The congregation in 2003 entered a discernment process with six other congregations about a possible structural reconfiguration. Hurricane Katrina in 2005 forced the evacuation of many EMDs to Dominican congregations in Kentucky, Ohio and Michigan, foreshadowing the congregations’ unanimous decision in 2007 to join them and others to establish the Dominican Sisters of Peace.