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Donna Markham, OP, speaking to USCCB

November 28, 2022, Washington, D.C. – Sister Donna Markham, OP, PhD, addressed members of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) during its annual assembly on November 15, 2022, for a final time as President and CEO of Catholic Charities USA (CCUSA). The first female to head CCUSA, Sister Donna announced recently that she will retire next year.

CCUSA is a network of agencies through the United States that address the needs of vulnerable people. Sister Donna told the U.S. Bishops that her goal was to "help this ministry become more financially stable and nimble as the entire Catholic Charities network responds to increasing demands to care for growing numbers of disaster victims, migrants, homeless folks, hungry people, mentally ill, addicted people, and families and children in precarious socio-economic situations."

Sister Donna, Prioress of the Adrian Dominican Congregation from 2004 to 2010, spoke not only of the needs of people throughout the United States and in territories such as Puerto Rico, but of the generosity of individuals, corporations, and foundations in helping CCUSA agencies meet those needs. 

"It’s important for you to tell the story of the Catholic Church’s response in this country to people who reside along the margins of our society, the very most fragile, the most vulnerable – to be able to say this is where our Church puts the Gospel into action," Sister Donna said. "It’s where Matthew 25 comes alive palpably every day across the entire country."

Watch the video of Sister Donna’s address.

 


Adrian Dominican Sisters Logo

November 25, 2022, Adrian, MichiganThe General Council of the Adrian Dominican Sisters issued the following statement in observance of the United Nations’ International Day for Elimination of Violence against Women, November 25, 2022.

As a community of women of faith with a global presence – in the United States, Dominican Republic, Philippines and Norway – we join in observing the United Nations’ International Day for Elimination of Violence Against Women, and call for an end to gender-based violence in our world. 

We are especially mindful of the courageous women in Iran who have been engaged in daily protests following the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian woman who died in police custody days after her arrest on September 13, while visiting family in Tehran, for allegedly wearing her head scarf or hijab “improperly.” As The New York Times reported later that month, “Tossing head scarves into bonfires, dancing bareheaded before security agents, young women have been at the forefront of these demonstrations, supplying the defining images of defiance.” 

Despite brutal crackdowns and the arrest of more than 16,000 people, the protests continue. According to Iran Human Rights, at least 416 people have been killed, including 51 children and 27 women, and hundreds more injured in gruesome videotaped police beatings. The woman journalist, Niloufar Hamedi, who first brought attention to Amini’s story, is among 48 journalists, including 18 women, held under arrest. 

Valuing human dignity and aware of the injustice of patriarchy which maintains the subordinate status of women and girls throughout the world, we stand in solidarity with the courageous women of Iran, and the men who support them, in their decades-long cry for gender equality. We pray for their safety and for the uplifting of their inherent rights and dignity – and those of all women and girls around the world – beloved by God and made in God’s image. 

The General Assembly adopted this day of observation in honor of three heroic sisters in the Dominican Republic – Patria, Minerva, and María Teresa Mirabal – who resisted the reign of terror of then-dictator Rafael Trujillo. Under his order, they were brutally murdered on November 25, 1960. The Mirabal sisters, also known as Las Mariposas (the Butterflies), have become international symbols of popular and feminist resistance against oppression. 

Members of the General Council of the Adrian Dominican Sisters are Sisters Elise D. García, OP, Prioress; Lorraine Réaume, OP, Vicaress; and Corinne Sanders, OP, Janice Brown, OP, and Bibiana Colasito, OP. 

 


 

 

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