What's Happening

November 19, 2024, Lansing, Michigan – Thirteen Adrian Dominican Sisters and Co-workers were among more than 180 advocates at Michigan’s State Capitol on November 12, 2024, calling for the passage of a set of bills that would restore the right of all Michigan residents – including undocumented immigrants – to apply for a driver’s license. 

The Drive SAFE (Safety, Access, Freedom, and Economy) bill package would make non-commercial Michigan driver’s licenses and state identification cards available to applicants who do not have proof of U.S. citizenship or immigration status. The legislation also provides that all drivers be trained, screened and tested, and required to carry auto insurance, enhancing the safety of Michigan roads. The involved bills include Senate Bills 265, 266, and 267, and House Bills 4410, 4411, and 4412.

The bills have the support of communities of Catholic Sisters in Michigan. “As women of faith we support this legislation because it honors the inherent dignity of all persons and supports the safety and welfare of all Michigan residents,” the Sisters said in a joint statement issued on the day of the advocacy. They added that having driver’s licenses and state IDs gives residents the ability to care for their families and get to and from work or school without fear of being arrested, detained, and deported.

The coalition of advocates was organized by Strangers No Longer (SNL), a network based in southeastern Michigan which, inspired by Catholic social teaching, provides “education, direct support, and advocacy to promote humane immigration policies.”

SNL organized a similar Advocacy Day in Lansing in February 2023 for the Drive SAFE bills, which never made it out of the committee and were never brought to the floor for a vote.

This year’s Advocacy Day involved an opening talk with Senator Stephanie Chang (D.-District 3), co-sponsor of SB 267; team visits to assigned legislators; talks with the advocates by supportive legislators; and an afternoon visit to the House Chambers. 

Michigan State Senator Sarah Anthony (D-District 21), second from left, addresses, from left, Sisters Joyce Caulfield, OP, Sharon Weber, OP, and JoAnn Fleischaker, OP.
 

Members of the Adrian Dominican contingent included Sister Attracta Kelly, OP, an immigration attorney and Director of the Adrian Dominican Sisters Office of Immigration Assistance, as well as Sisters Joyce Caulfield, OP, Dorothy Dempsey, OP, JoAnn Fleischaker, OP, Virginia King, OP, Patricia Leonard, OP, Carleen Maly, OP, Joanne Peters, OP, June Racicot, OP, Beverly Stark, OP, and Sharon Weber, OP. 

In addition, two Co-workers from the Office of Immigration Assistance participated. Laura Negron-Terrones, office manager, joined the Adrian Dominican Sisters, while Sarah Nash, an attorney and an Associate of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (IHM), attended with the IHM Sisters from Monroe, Michigan.

In an interview after the Advocacy Day, several members of the Adrian Dominican contingent spoke of their experience in Lansing, their commitment to immigrants, and the urgency of passing the Drive SAFE bills. 

“There’s very little time” to pass the Drive SAFE package, said Sister Attracta. Once the legislators return from their Thanksgiving break, they’ll have only two weeks in December to pass the bills. “The lame duck session is the only chance they have to get it passed,” she said.

Many of the Sisters see the need for the legislation in their work with immigrants. Sister Carleen, Director of the Adrian Rea Literacy Center in Adrian, said many of the adult learners who come to the center are hampered by not having a driver’s license. “They’re fearful every time they get into the car,” she said. She is also struck by “the number of wives and mothers who may have a car in their driveway, and it’s working fine, but the women are fearful even to get into the car and drive their child to the doctor.”

Sister Attracta has also seen the difficulty that her clients face through their inability to obtain a driver’s license. One client, she said, was driving home late from work during a snowstorm and was stopped because snow covered his license plate. He was given a ticket and told to report to the court. An officer of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was waiting for him at court, arrested him, and put him in detention. 

“That all happens because they don’t have a driver’s license,” Sister Attracta said. “That’s why we got involved in this in the first place, because we know what people are going through.”

Sister June was motivated to be involved in the Advocacy Day through her experience in ministering in Georgia. “We had a center that assisted people in poverty,” she said. “When Hispanics came, they wanted a translation of the driver’s manual.” At that time, she said, undocumented immigrants were permitted to apply for a driver’s license. “When I heard they couldn’t do this in Michigan, I thought I wanted to do this for them,” she said. 

Sister JoAnn has been involved for years in advocacy for immigrants. “I became interested in immigration when I went to Chicago and was in a group called Sisters and Brothers of Immigrants,” she said. “We met monthly and did advocacy and public demonstrations. Sister Dot, and Sister Anne Guinan, OP, also participated in early morning prayer on Fridays in front of the deportation center in Chicago.

Advocates in Lansing found encouragement from their experience. One legislative visit was with Senator Sarah Anthony (D-District 21). “She was totally delighted that we were there because she was a co-signer of the bill,” Sister Attracta said. 

Sister Carleen found hope from talking with a staff member of Senator Jeremy Moss (D-District 7), also a co-sponsor of the bill. “My heart just got a little more excited,” she said.

Sister Attracta also found hope from the presence of so many advocates at the state capitol. “Just seeing that many people willing to give up their day and drive to Lansing” was encouraging, she said. 

Feature photo at top: Adrian Dominican participants in the Strangers No Longer Advocacy Day in Lansing were, seated, from left, Sister Patricia Leonard, OP; Co-worker Laura Negron-Terrones; and Sisters Attracta Kelly, OP, Dorothy Dempsey, OP, June Racicot, OP, and Beverly Stark, OP, and standing in back, from left, Sisters Virginia “Ginny” King, OP, JoAnne Fleischaker, OP, Joanne Peters, OP, Joyce Caulfield, OP, Carleen Maly, OP, and Sharon Weber, OP.

November 18, 2024, Los Angeles – Sister Corinne Florek, OP, is a risk-taker. Her risks do not involve physical danger, but in trusting investment money to new community organizations that are trying to make a difference in people’s lives. 

As a speaker on a history panel at the 40th Annual Conference of Opportunity Finance Network (OFN), held in Los Angeles in late October, she encouraged others to take risks, too. OFN is a national network of Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs), which offer loans and other financial services to organizations in underserved communities.

Speaking on the panel to an audience of CDFI professionals, Sister Corinne reminded them, “What you have learned about risk does not apply to your situation. The risk you’re taking is with people."

Sister Corinne has years of experience in making low-interest loans to community organizations. She worked for a year for the Institute for Community Economics (ICE) and then worked for the Campaign for Human Development (CHD), a Catholic social justice organization of the U.S. Catholic Bishops, which uses donations from parishioners to give grants to community organizations. 
 
Sister Corinne’s experience in community investments includes serving on the Adrian Dominican Sisters’ Portfolio Advisory Board (PAB), which has been making community investments since 1978; serving as one of the founders of the Religious Communities Investment Fund (RCIF), in which communities of Catholic Sisters pool their money to invest in community organizations; and began the Mercy Partnership Fund, later succeeded by Mercy Investment Services, for the Sisters of Mercy.

“When we first started, we were using money that would have been our retirement money,” Sister Corinne said. “I used to tell people that if you don’t pay us back, I won’t have retirement funds.” Now, the PAB and other investment funds use separate sources of funds. 

Whether serving on the PAB, the RCIF, or the Mercy Partnership Fund, Sister Corinne has approved numerous loans to CDIFs and has been known as the “Godmother of CDIFs.” 

Now, she is concerned that CDFI professionals might not take the risk needed to serve community organizations. “My main concern is that as we get more and more people with training, they’ll take less risk,” she said. “You need to get out there and visit these groups and their communities. That’s an important part of your job.”

With that in mind, Sister Corinne frequently took Sisters serving on the PAB on bus trips to Detroit or Chicago to visit the organizations in which the PAB invested. She wanted them to meet the people they were working with. “It’s all about relationships,” she said. “Money is a vehicle, but it’s more about relationships.”

Sister Corinne said she started RCIF because many communities of Catholic Sisters wanted to invest in community organizations but did not have the staff. The communities “could put $25,000 in and we’d lend it out and send them the stories,” she said. “I was always clear to send them their stories so the Sisters could see what was happening” with their money, making them feel more connected to the people served through their loans.

Feature photo at top: Sister Corinne Florek, OP, who has been associated with Opportunity Finance Network (OFN) for several years, receives the Ned Gramlich Lifetime Achievement Award from OFN during an OFN conference in November 2010. Adrian Dominican Sisters File Photo, Courtesy of Opportunity Finance Network.