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August 23, 2021, Detroit – Sister Nancyann Turner, OP, felt inspired to participate in Detroit’s Healing Memorial, a large-scale participatory public art installation that recognizes the depth of loss in Detroit and all Southeast Michigan during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

A collaboration between the City of Detroit Office of Arts, Cranbrook Art Museum and the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy, this memorial will offer support and healing for residents of southeast Michigan who experienced all forms of loss, including physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, social, occupational, and environmental. 

The floor to ceiling installation will be adorned by handmade fabric pouches or small fabric envelopes containing a written dedication such as a blessing, a remembrance or a prayer. The cumulative personal dedications will come together to form a dramatic installation at the TCF Center in Downtown Detroit. The exhibit will be unveiled on Tuesday, August 31, 2021, the official COVID-19 Memorial Day in Detroit.

Sister Nancyann Turner, OP

Sister Nancyann, an artist, created a memorial for each Adrian Dominican Sister who died of COVID-19 this past year, as well as several more memorials for young adults who had participated in Capuchin Soup Kitchen programs during their childhood. Sister Nancyann had served as Program Director of the Soup Kitchen’s Rosa Parks Children’s and Youths’ Program.

For Sister Nancyann, creating the pouches was a sacred endeavor. “As I created each one, floods of memories came to me and I felt connected to each Sister and found myself praying to her,” she said. “I knew well many of the deceased Sisters and felt myself blessed as I worked on each memorial. Within each one, I wrote a brief letter and prayer to that particular Sister for whom the memorial was being made – 14 in all. I felt peace and solace in making our remembering tangible.”

Sister Nancyann noted that many people have been in grief and in communal lament for the past 18 months. “We have wept and we have mourned,” she said. “We have become so much more conscious of the pain surrounding an enormous number of people – way beyond our family, our Congregation – beyond our country. Our expansive grief has also reminded us that we are not alone … we are all in this together. We care for each other in new ways and we will assert hope and work for justice.” 

Submitted by Sister Nancyann Turner, OP

Feature photo: These are among the pouches created by Sister Nancyann Turner, OP, that will contain blessings or messages in honor of the Adrian Dominican Sisters who died of COVID-19 in early 2021. Photo by Sister Nancyann Turner, OP

June 4, 2018, Adrian, Michigan – Dealing with the death of a loved one is difficult, but when that death is the result of an addiction, grief can be complicated. Grief is often accompanied by anguish, anger, confusion, embarrassment, shame, intense doubt, and questions about what you “might have done” to save your loved one.

Joan Ebbitt, MSW, spiritual director and clinical social worker, will discuss this complicated grief, drawing on her experience counseling alcoholics, other addicts, and family members who lost them. Her workshop, “Coming to Grips with Death from Addiction,” will be offered from 7:00 p.m. Friday, June 29, 2018, through 5:00 p.m. Saturday, June 30, 2018 at Weber Retreat and Conference Center.

The cost for the program, including meals, is $125 for single occupancy, $80 per person for double occupancy, and $50 for commuters. To register, call 517-266-4000; email webercenter@adriandominicans.org; or visit www.webercenter.org.

Weber Center is on the campus of the Adrian Dominican Sisters’ Motherhouse, 1257 E. Siena Heights Drive, Adrian. Enter the Eastern-most driveway of the complex and follow the signs to Weber Center.