Before the start of a St. Mary’s Dominican High School’s Board of Directors meeting, it was cake and congratulations for Sr. Suzanne Brauer, O.P., (right), who is observing her Golden Jubilee. Student preacher Bailey Miro (left) gave a reflection about the importance of prayer and the Holy Spirit.

Much of Sr. Suzanne’s 50 years as a Dominican Sister of Peace has been serving New Orleans where she was born and raised. She was a Religious Education Coordinator in Louisiana and Arizona, and also the Director of Religious Education a St. Augustine and St. Paul the Apostle Parishes in New Orleans. In Tucson she worked in religious education at the Santa Cruz Project. For her Congregation she served as the Treasurer for the Eucharistic Missionaries of St. Dominic, and the Central Team.

Sr. Suzanne holds a Bachelor of Arts in Religious Studies from Loyola University New Orleans, a Master of Science in Administration in Not-For Profit Business from the University of Notre Dame, and a Master of Arts in Theology with a concentration in Black Spirituality from the Institute of Black Catholic Studies at Xavier University of Louisiana.

In 2014, Sr. Suzanne and fellow Dominican Sisters Pat Thomas, O.P. and Sr. Ceal Warner, O.P. opened The Peace Center at 2837 Broadway Street. It was an opportunity to be part of the city’s rebuilding, still in recovery phase following Hurricane Karina. The center is  staffed by the sisters and a growing list of volunteers serving the neighborhoods of Marlyville-Fountainebleau and Gert Town. Located a few blocks from Dominican, The Peace Center offers homework assistance for students up to seventh grade, computer classes for adults, meals and activities for seniors as well as field trips and job-readiness skills. Students from Dominican and Xavier University are volunteer tutors.

“We want to help people grow in all areas – the children, the people who are in need of jobs, those who are in need of counseling, spiritual direction, people who are elderly, people in crisis situations ,” Sr. Suzanne shared in a 2015 interview with the New Orleans Times-Picayune.