As we all know, downsizing is hard. There are painful decisions to make but when all is said and done, you know it was the right thing to do. Now imagine you live on 400 acres with almost 200 of your closest friends and you reach the heartbreaking conclusion that some of your buildings are no longer needed and many of those friends need to go.
In 2022, the Dominican Sisters of Sinsinawa in Wisconsin reached the conclusion that they needed to downsize and came up with a three-phase plan. Sister Quincy Howard, Mound Planning and Special Projects Director, said Phase One was the most painful phase: rehousing almost 100 retired sisters who needed care. Thankfully, a senior living center near Milwaukee was able to house them all and offer a full continuum of care. “Sisters have always adapted to the needs of times,” says Sister Quincy.
Phase Two has focused on the campus. “We need to consolidate our footprint,” says Sister Quincy. They started with renovating the original building, which ended up being a “mini-Motherhouse.” The Convent includes a multipurpose event and retreat center for community connections as well as an art gallery.
Also housed in the Convent building is a fascinating exhibit titled A Journey of Faith and Service: Father Samuel Mazzuchelli, OP, and the Dominican Sisters of Sinsinawa. Self-guided tours are available Monday through Friday from 8 AM to 4 PM or one can call ahead for a guided tour. The exhibit focuses on the life and legacy of Father Samuel Mazzuchelli and the mission and ministries of the Dominican Sisters of Sinsinawa.
Music lovers will be interested to know that the exhibit includes photos and correspondence between Nadia Boulanger and Sinsinawa resident Sister Mary Edward, a composer who had studied with Ottorino Respighi and was a friend of Igor Stravinsky. Boulanger had invited Sister Edward to join her studio upon Respighi’s death, and the ladies developed a close friendship. Boulanger taught music to the nuns at Sinsinawa during the summers of 1941-1944. For those not up on your music history, Nadia Boulanager (herself a student of Gabriel Faure) was perhaps the most influential music teacher of the 20th Century, having taught over 600 students in all genres, including Aaron Copland, Leonard Bernstein, Quincy Jones, and Burt Bacharach.
The St. Clara Chapel is also newly renovated and is meant to be multipurpose, with movable chairs so that it can be used for multiple activities. Chelsea Middendorf, Outreach Promoter, was hired in 2025 to “reconnect with community members and partners to share our story, reimagine events that welcome, enrich and connect while promoting our conference and retreat spaces to the community at large,” says Chelsea. She has succeeded in bringing back many activities that were at the Mound in the past, such as music, art, concerts, remembrance, and Taizé prayer. She has added Lunch and Lectures, art groups for youth and older people, tai chi and sound-healing yoga classes.
The Academy Senior Apartments are also located in the older buildings that will continue to be used. Janet Post moved into one of the apartments almost two years ago and loves the apartments because they were once classrooms – part of the St. Clara Academy for girls built in 1846 by Father Samuel Mazzuchelli. “Each room is different from another,” says Janet, “My ceilings are 18 feet tall, and my windowsills are 18 inches deep. The woodwork is beautiful, rich, and magnificent.” Being a writer, she especially appreciates that it is always quiet, and “everyone is honest, kind, and helpful.”
In addition to reducing their carbon footprint, the sisters want their legacy to focus on Laudato Si’, which was the theme of Pope Francis’ 2015 letter encouraging Catholics to be better stewards of the earth. The Sinsinawa Sisters’ response came out in 2017 with their “Guiding Principle for Sinsinawa Land: Because we recognize Sinsinawa Mound as a sacred place entrusted to our care, our land will be available for spiritual, ecological, agricultural, and educational programs and will be preserved as much as possible for future generations.” The Sinsinawa campus is set on almost 400 acres and none of that land is being sold but is being used for things like regenerative farming. One initiative is Fields of Sinsinawa: A farmer-led Learning Center, that sponsors an annual Soul of the Soil Conference which focuses on soil functionality and the science of regenerative agriculture. They also hold numerous educational opportunities to learn about soil and best practices for farming. For example, Grounded Gatherings is a monthly pancake breakfast where people are invited to drop in at the farm buildings and converse with neighbors. The curious are encouraged to attend.
Another initiative is the Sinsinawa Mound Collaborative Farms, which offers land, education, infrastructure, and mentorship to beginning farmers. John Demunnik of Rising Sun Garden says, “We are grateful for our almost one acre of land at Sinsinawa Mound.” Rising Sun Garden is one of several of the Mound’s collaborative gardens that can be found at the Dubuque Farmers Market on Saturday mornings.
Additional land use includes a labyrinth for meditation, Kavanaugh Park which has a fire pit; and nearly four miles of pedestrian nature trails which are open to the public.
As for Phase 3, there is more sad-but-necessary news. The Sisters tried their best to find a buyer for several buildings that were not being used enough to make it feasible to maintain them, but to no avail, so deconstruction of the rotunda, Queen of the Rosary Chapel, dining room, kitchen, bakery, bookshop, wellness center, and the former residential areas will begin in late summer 2026. Meanwhile, through auctions, sales, and donations, they are trying to rehome the contents of these buildings, including the stained-glass windows. The Casavant organ from Queen of the Rosary Chapel at Sinsinawa Mound has already found a new home at the Terra Sancta Retreat Center in Rapid City, South Dakota.
Tricia Buxton, Communications Director at the Mound, sums up the transitions this way, “While change is a familiar part of their journey, the Dominican Sisters of Sinsinawa remain dedicated to hospitality. As they right-size their space, they continue to welcome guests to Sinsinawa Mound Center which offers many unique opportunities for renewal of body, mind, and spirit in a peaceful environment enriched by the beauty of the natural world.”
For more information on news and events at Sinsinawa Mound, go to Sinsinawa.org or Fieldsofsinsinawa.org.
This article was originally published in CHOICES For Fifty Plus, a Dubuque area magazine for people that are 50 and older. Single copies are available at Dubuque area newsstands or click here to read the digital version of the latest issue.
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