Sister Dolores Ann Rapp, ASC, celebrated 82 years as a vowed member of the Adorers of the Blood of Christ on July 1, 2025, in the chapel at Benedictine Living Community at the Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows, Belleville, IL. She made her first profession on July 1, 1943 and her final vows on July 1, 1948. She marked her anniversary with the Eucharist and a reception with the ASC community.
Sister Dolores Ann was born in East St. Louis, IL, to Julius and Margaret (Ampleman) Rapp. She earned her bachelor’s degree in music literature from Webster University in St. Louis in 1949, and her master’s in music from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, IL, in 1964. She holds a certificate in Clinical Pastoral Education for the state of Missouri. She also studied at the Gregorian Institute of America at St. John’s University in Collegeville, MN, in 1954.
Sister Dolores Ann’s varied ministries included teaching music, living in a house of prayer, housekeeping, visiting in parishes and prisons, serving as chaplain, and volunteering as needed in community service. For 15 years she taught music at the Ruma Center, which was an extension site for Saint Louis University. She also taught music and directed the choir at St. Teresa Academy in East St. Louis and at Gibault High School in Waterloo, both in Illinois.
She lived in the Sisters’ Cloister, a community devoted to prayer, in New Riegel, Ohio. She was appointed as assistant to the administrator of the Catholic Children’s Home in Alton, IL. In her ministry as housekeeper at the Bishop’s Residence in Belleville, IL, she served two different bishops. She was a parish visitor at St. Liborius Parish in St. Libory, IL, and at St. Clare in O’Fallon, IL. Her parish ministry continued at St. Francis de Sales in Lebanon, MO, and Resurrection of Our Lord in St. Louis. For ten years, she served as chaplain at St. John’s Health Center in Springfield, MO. She held the position of Leader of Parish Renewal for Small Group Faith Sharing at Saints Peter and Paul Parish in St. Louis, MO. Her pastoral outreach also extended to the elderly at South Grand Senior Ministry in St. Louis.
Sister Dolores Ann currently resides at Benedictine Living Community where she is Living Mission in Later Life. She is an avid reader in a variety of genres, including poetry. She is particularly interested in new insights in theology, especially Laudato Si, Pope Francis’ encyclical on Care for Our Common Home.