Sr. Nadine Foley, OP, prioress of the Adrian Dominican Sisters from 1986-92, died on May 13 at the age of 93.

For much of her religious life, Sr. Foley figured prominently in religious circles as a leader both for the Adrian Dominican Congregation and for women religious throughout the nation. She served for two terms as a general councilor for the Adrian Dominican Sisters, in 1974-78 and 1978-82, before being elected as the congregation’s prioress in 1986.

“Nadine was an outstanding ecclesial woman of the Gospel, Dominican to her very core,” said Adrian Dominican Prioress Sr. Patricia Siemen, OP. “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.”

During her tenure as prioress, Sr. Foley was elected to the presidency of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), an association of the leaders of congregations of U.S. Catholic women religious, representing nearly 80 percent of the sisters in the United States. She also was elected to serve as U.S. delegate to the International Union of Superiors General.

“Sr. Nadine led the [LCWR] at a particularly difficult time in its history as it discerned its own identity and the identity of religious life in the contemporary world,” said Sr. Joan Marie Steadman, CSC, executive director of LCWR. “With keen intelligence and strength of character, she led the challenging discussions on these identity questions with Church leaders throughout the country, always assuring that the values and integrity of the religious institutions she represented would be protected.”

Sr. Foley also was editor of three books and wrote two volumes of Adrian Dominican history and a biography of the congregation’s longest-serving prioress, Mother Mary Gerald Barry, OP. She earned several advanced degrees, including a Ph.D. and masters in philosophy and biology, and an STM in Scripture from Union Theological Seminary in New York City.

A native Michigander, Sr. Foley grew up in Newberry in the state’s Upper Peninsula. She entered the Adrian Dominicans in 1945, the same year she earned a bachelor’s degree from Siena Heights College (University) in Adrian.

Sr. Foley taught high school for eight years and ministered for nearly two decades as a professor at several colleges and universities, including Siena Heights. She also served as visiting professor of ecumenical relations at Harvard University in 1979. Until last year, she served as the Congregation’s historian.

Under Sr. Foley’s leadership, the Adrian Dominican Sisters focused on personal transformation for the sake of the mission, as well as on social justice issues.

Sisters who served in leadership with Sr. Foley described her as effective, highly intelligent and creative, influential in the congregation and the Church and generous in her service to others.

Funeral Mass will be May 19, at 10:30 a.m. in St. Catherine Chapel at 1257 E. Siena Heights Drive, Adrian, followed by the Rite of Committal (burial) in the Congregation Cemetery.