ADRIAN — Sister Jamie T. Phelps, OP, had a passion for justice and a deep love of scholarship that made her a pioneer in her field. Those are just a few of the things her friends and colleagues are remembering about her following her death on Nov. 22 at the Dominican Life Center in Adrian.
Phelps was a theologian, preacher, social worker, social and racial justice advocate, and passionate promoter of Black Catholic studies and the gifts of Black Catholics to the church.
“Sister Jamie is one of our giants — a mother, a teacher, a scholar, and a faithful daughter of the Black Catholic Church,” said Father Kareem R. Smith, president of the National Black Catholic Clergy Caucus. “Through her witness, her voice, and her decades of service, she has helped shape our theological imagination and has strengthened our commitment to serve our people with courage and love. Many of us stand on her shoulders.”
She was a founding member of the National Black Sisters’ Conference and one of the founders of the Institute for Black Catholic Studies at Xavier University of Louisiana. She was consulted by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops as they wrote their pastoral letter on racism and was a longtime active member of the Catholic Theological Society of America.
“The significance of Sister Jamie Phelps’ pioneering scholarship and strategic administrative ability cannot be overstated. She has made a substantive, radical, and creative difference in how we Black Catholics think of ourselves, think of God, think of Church, and think of Black theology,” said Dr. M. Shawn Copeland, professor emerita at Boston College’s Theology Department.
She was born on October 24, 1941, in Mobile, Alabama. After her family moved to Chicago, she was taught by Adrian Dominican Sisters in elementary school.Inspired by their example, she entered the Adrian Dominican Congregation in 1959. She was the first Black woman to become a sister in the congregation.
In the early years of her ministry, she served as an elementary school teacher and then a psychiatric social worker.
She earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Siena Heights College in 1969, a master’s degree in social work from the University of Illinois – Chicago in 1972, a master’s in theology from St. John University in Minnesota in 1974, and a doctorate in systematic theology from the Catholic University of America in 1989.
“The Adrian Dominican Sisters have been deeply blessed by Sister Jamie’s joyful, challenging, and transformative presence among us, calling us to fully live Gospel imperatives in our Dominican sisterhood,” said Sister Elise D. García, OP, prioress of the congregation. “She was a Dominican preacher through and through who played an indelible national leadership role in raising up Black Catholic Studies as an essential field of study for all Catholics. Her love and passion for the common good of all God’s people are an enduring legacy — calling us all to keep carrying on.”
She will be remembered during a visitation from 6:30 to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 2, in the gathering space of St. Catherine Chapel, followed by a Vigil Service at 7 p.m. in St. Catherine Chapel. A funeral Mass will be offered in St. Catherine Chapel at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 3.
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