The Dominican University community is mourning the loss of Sr. Diane Kennedy, OP, but also celebrating the legacy she left behind.
Sr. Diane, 91, passed away on March 30, 2025 at St. Dominic Villa in Hazel Green, Wisconsin. A Mass of Resurrection was held April 5 in Dominican University’s Rosary Chapel.
Sr. Diane served as a Dominican Sister of Sinsinawa for 68 years and was a 1955 graduate of Rosary College, which would later become Dominican University.
For over 50 years, Sr. Diane’s ministry was dedicated to educating and animating communities in the Dominican Catholic intellectual tradition. She became Dominican’s inaugural vice president for Mission and Ministry, leading a division dedicated to upholding the Catholic, Dominican tradition that affirms the dignity of the human person and concern for the common good.
During her 13 years at Dominican, Sr. Diane also led the creation of the St. Catherine of Siena Center, which examines critical issues of church and society in the light of faith and scholarship. The center hosts spiritual and educational programming that is open to the public, encouraging thoughtful dialogue.
Sr. Diane further developed Dominican’s Caritas Veritas Symposium, an annual event for students, faculty and staff featuring panel discussions and presentations on topics and projects central to the university’s motto of “Love and Truth.” She would go on to also serve on the university’s Board of Trustees and, at the time of her passing, held the position of trustee emerita.
Since 2014, the Sr. Diane Kennedy, OP Lecture, held at Dominican every March, has featured speakers and topics exploring a dimension of the Dominican tradition.
“Diane had a gift of seeing the face of God in everyone and reflecting that back to us,” said Dr. Rachel Hart Winter, current director of the St. Catherine of Siena Center. “Her love of God, community, prayer and contemplation was shared with each of us. Her commitment to good theological conversation and scholarship was such a joy to engage.”
Dr. Clodagh Weldon, current vice president for Mission and Ministry, remembers Sr. Diane as a “very brilliant and inspiring woman who led with love and grace.”
“We witnessed how, as Dominican’s first VP for Mission and Ministry, she loved the mission, lived the mission and invited us all to walk with her in this work,” Weldon said. “She had a real gift for seeing, affirming and engaging the gifts of others, bringing out the best in everyone.”
In a March 2023 oral history project interview conducted by the McGreal Center for Dominican Historical Studies, Sr. Diane reflected on her years at Dominican, noting she was thankful to have been called back to the university where she had found inspiration among the Sisters who taught her during the 1950s.
“The Sisters were women who had a remarkable integration of faith and learning—and they were marvelous human beings,” she said. “I remember wanting to be like them.”
“The breadth and depth of the education we received has always stayed with me, for which I am very grateful,” Sr. Diane went on to say.
The Dominican University community, too, is grateful for Sr. Diane’s untiring leadership and dedication. Her legacy will endure.