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March 10, 2020, Adrian, Michigan – Sister Carleen Maly, OP, Director of Adrian Rea Literacy Center for 11 years, received the Amelia Earhart Award March 5, 2020, for her pioneering work in empowering both women and men through her literacy work.
The award was bestowed by the Zonta Club of Lenawee County, one of more than 1,200 Zonta clubs in 60 countries. Founded in 1919, Zonta International works to “advance the status of women through advocacy and service,” according to Liliane Haddad, a member of Zonta of Lenawee County.
The Amelia Earhart Award is presented each year to a woman with the same pioneering spirit as the aviator, the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic. Earhart (1897-1937) was also a member of the Zonta Club of Boston.
“I share this honor tonight with the generous women and men who give their time each week to go home and prepare lessons for their learners, to meet their individual needs,” Sister Carleen said. “I share this also with the courageous learners” in their efforts to meet their personal goals, she added. These might include reading to their children and helping them with homework, understanding what doctors tell them in a medical appointment, earning a GED, or becoming a U.S. citizen.
Sister Carleen also paid tribute to the Adrian Dominican Congregation and to the “pioneering spirit of our Sisters in Detroit,” who in 1989 established the Dominican Literacy Center, the first of seven literacy centers founded and sponsored by the Adrian Dominican Sisters.
“Amelia Earhart was an amazing woman,” said Janis Montalvo, Vice President of the Zonta Club of Lenawee County, in presenting the award. “Not only did she not accept the norm [for women]; she challenged it through her aviation and as an author.”
Addressing Sister Carleen directly, Janis said, “You exemplify the pioneering spirit and excellence [of Amelia Earhart]. You empower and increase the status of women (and men) as they achieve and seek independence that is often not available with language barriers.”
Mary Poore, President of the Board of Adrian Rea Literacy Center, said Adrian Rea has served 1,394 adult learners with the assistance of 1,117 trained tutors. Adrian Rea works with both native English speakers and people for whom English is not their first language to help them improve their reading; writing; and skills in math, conversation, and everyday life activities.
Mary attributed much of Adrian Rea’s success to the leadership of Sister Carleen and to her creation of an “environment of fun, safe learning where everyone feels welcome. She has enriched hundreds of lives and made it possible for each of these people to improve their lot in family life, employment, and personal self-esteem.”
During the evening, Sister Carleen also received a proclamation from State Rep. Bronna Kahle, also signed by Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Lieutenant Governor Garlin Gilchrist.
Sister Carleen exhibited a pioneering spirit long before serving as Director of Adrian Rea Literacy Center. After teaching at the junior high school level at two schools in Michigan, she was among a number of Adrian Dominican Sisters who established a school in the Dominican Republic, in a remote area north of the capital, Santo Domingo, to teach the children of employees of a manufacturing plant brought into that country.
“We established an incredible bi-lingual, bi-cultural program with an English track and a Spanish track,” the innovation of her long-time mentor, the late Sister Marie Damian Schoenlein, Sister Carleen said in an interview with Adrian Dominican Sister Joanne “Jodie” Screes, OP.
Sister Carleen also helped to coordinate the pastoral ministry programs of two parishes in the Diocese of Orlando; was elected Chapter Prioress (Superior) of the Congregation’s Florida Mission Chapter; and served as Vocations Director for the Adrian Dominican Sisters.
Read further coverage of Sister Carleen’s acceptance of the Amelia Earhart Award in the Daily Telegram.
Feature photo at top: Sister Carleen Maly, OP, holds a bouquet of flowers and the Amelia Earhart Award she received from Zonta of Lenawee.
December 19, 2019, Vatican City – Sister Mary Ellen Leciejewski, OP, System Vice President of Environmental Sustainability for CommonSpirit Health, was one of 70 leaders to participate in the 2019 Laudato Si’ Challenge.
The event, which was December 3-5, 2019, in Rome, takes its inspiration from the 2015 encyclical by Pope Francis on the environmental dangers the world is facing and the devastation that climate change is causing to all, especially vulnerable people. The challenge is sponsored by Cardinal Peter Kodwo Turkson of Ghana, Prefect of the Holy See Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.
The 2019 Challenge “seeks to address forced displacement by empowering one million families by 2021 – supporting the vision of the [United Nations’] Sustainable Development Goals,” Sister Mary Ellen explained. “What the participants of the challenge are trying to do is help people stay in their homes and to find ways to empower them if they are forced to migrate."
Sister Mary Ellen was invited to the conference by Eric Harr, Co-Founder and CEO of The Laudato Si’ Challenge, because of her long-time involvement in environmental sustainability, first with Dignity Health and now with CommonSpirit Health.
Sister Mary Ellen explained that the event brings together leaders from the public, private, and faith sectors to make specific commitments to empower one million vulnerable families facing forced migration to “be the protagonists in their own solutions” by 2021 – supporting the vision of the Sustainable Development Goals “as a human dignity narrative, that leaves no one behind.”
About 20 organizations made commitments during the Challenge, she said. Commitments included opening schools in Jordan for the children of Syrian refugees and providing migrants and refugees with simple but livable homes made from 3D printing. The Challenge provides an opportunity for organizations to make specific commitments with partners.
Sister Mary Ellen said she was invited to the event, in part, to give a presentation on the sustainability efforts of CommonSpirit Health. Along with helping people to deal with the effects of climate change, she said, “we are moving upstream to mitigate its effects. This includes reducing our own climate footprint, empowering our health care leaders to speak out about the connection between our health and climate change, and working to ensure that not only are our buildings strong and resilient in the face of extreme weather events, but that our communities and the populations we serve are strong and resilient as well.
She also announced CommonSpirit Health’s own commitment “to expand our Violence and Human Trafficking Prevention Response Program to an additional 10 to 15 families in the next one to three years,” she said. CommonSpirit’s program trains doctors, nurses, and staff members to recognize the signs of human traffickers and their victims and to make sure that the victims receive “trauma-informed care” in a safe environment.
Human trafficking incidents tend to increase during disasters caused by climate change and environmental degradation, Sister Mary Ellen said. Climate change can also result in conflict, poverty, droughts, and forced migration – all of which make people more vulnerable to human trafficking, she said.
CommonSpirit hopes to add another component to the program, Sister Mary Ellen said. “We want to expand our community-based, community-owned program focused on preventing vulnerable populations from being victims in the first place,” she said. Ideally, the program would draw people from law enforcement, health care, and schools, as well as local politicians and concerned citizens and survivors, who would work together to address an area of concern to the community: human trafficking, domestic abuse, or child abuse, she said.
While organizations have already been working on helping people who are displaced, Sister Mary Ellen believes that the 2019 Challenge’s connection to Pope Francis and to Cardinal Turkson brings these efforts to a new level. Cardinal Turkson will send out a challenge to the Catholic community including parishes, schools, universities, and hospitals to become involved in these efforts.
Sister Mary Ellen said attending the Laudato Si’ Challenge and watching the development of partnerships brings her hope. “If we work together, our communities will be healthier and more resilient,” she said. “We’re going to be a much stronger community because of the relationships we’ve built up, more respectful of one another. Everyone will be at the table so everyone’s voice will be heard.”