ROME – The Dominican Sisters of the Roman Congregation held a General Chapter from July 22 to Aug. 11, when 47 Dominican women involved in ministries throughout the world reflected on their future and on themes pertinent to their life as Dominicans: preaching the Word, community life, collaboration, study, prayer, initial and ongoing formation, and the various structures within the congregation.

Members elected new leadership to guide the congregation in its vision for the next six years. Sister Jacqueline Provencher, a native of Lewiston, was elected general prioress, the first American to be elected to the position within the congregation.

Provencher is a graduate of Holy Cross School and St. Dominic Regional High School. In 1961, she entered the Dominican Sisters of the Roman Congregation and spent her years of formation in Brookline, Mass., and Rome.

She received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Massachusetts and Aquinas Institute. Through the years she has been involved in education in Massachusetts, New York and Iowa.

Provencher was the formation directress for the United States Province, the provincial prioress and on the general council of the congregation for the past six years. When not in her main office at the motherhouse in Rome, she will live in Iowa City, Iowa, or visit the communities in the congregation.

Assisting her in this task will be the sisters who were elected as general councilors: Sister Ysabel Barroso of Chile, Spanish Province; Sister Elisabeth Tassel of France, French Province; and Sister Therese Marie Boillat of Italy, Italy/Switzerland Province.

Besides being in the United States, the Dominican Sisters of the Roman Congregation are present in Benin, Brazil, Canada, Chile, France, Italy, Japan, Switzerland and Sweden.