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October 25, 2024, Waterford, Connecticut – In her latest booklet, Advent 2024: Becoming Pilgrims of Hope, Sister Janet Schaeffler, OP, offers daily reflections, practices, and prayers to help readers find hope in everyday life, even in difficult times. 

In her introduction to the booklet, Sister Janet noted that she drew the theme from the motto Pope Francis gave to the Jubilee Year of 2025: Pilgrims of Hope. “This sacred Advent season – preparing us, once again, for the celebration of Jesus coming into the world – is also a unique time: preparing us to reflect on and live in hope,” Sister Janet wrote. “In this time and place, we are called to deepen hope, to be people of trust, to be pilgrims and messengers of hope in all the circumstances of our lives.”

Sister Janet, who has ministered for years in adult faith formation, is a consultant for catechists and adult faith formation leaders and a retreat director. She has written numerous booklets, particularly on spirituality for catechists and other church ministers, as well as for families. She also writes the annual Advent booklet. 

Copies of Advent 2024: Becoming Pilgrims of Hope are available from Twenty-third Publications and the Weber Center Shop at Weber Retreat and Conference Center on the Motherhouse Campus of the Adrian Dominican Sisters. The shop is open from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Wednesday through Friday and 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Saturday. The shop is closed for lunch from noon to 12:45 p.m. You can also order the Advent 2024 booklet by calling 517-266-4035 or emailing [email protected].  
 

October 25, 2024, Adrian, Michigan – “You cannot discover lands that are already inhabited. You can conquer those lands, you can steal those lands, you can even colonize those lands, but you can’t discover them unless your church or someone else tells you that the people living there are not fully human.”

That was among the opening words of Mark Charles, a Native American activist, speaker, author, consultant, former Baptist minister, and 2020 independent candidate for U.S. President as he gave the keynote address of the Adrian Dominican Sisters’ Indigenous Peoples Day Teach-in on October 14, 2024. The event was sponsored by the Congregation’s Office of Peace, Justice, and Integrity of Creation. 

Mark emphasized that the day was Indigenous Peoples Day and not Columbus Day. The United States is in a period of transition “from celebrating discovery and dehumanization to a culture and a people that’s celebrating Indigenous Peoples and their heritage and our presence on their lands,” he said. 

His talk focused on the Doctrine of Discovery, a series of papal bulls written between 1452 and 1493, encouraging European nations to conquer and colonize any land not inhabited by Christians. Mark spent much of his talk describing how the Doctrine of Discovery influenced the foundation of the United States. The information was new and could be troubling to many members of the audience, he said, but the goal is “to build a healthier community through the creation of what I like to call a common memory.”

The keynote address was followed by a panel discussion of members of the Peoples of the Four Winds of Lenawee, made up of local Native Americans and allies.

Watch Mark’s presentation and the response on the Adrian Dominican Sisters Video Library. 
 

Caption for above feature photo: Panelists from the People of the Four Winds of Lenawee give their feedback during the Indigenous Peoples Day Teach-in, while Mark Charles, the keynote speaker, listens via Zoom.