News | Live Stream | Video Library
Contact Us | Employment | Donate
January 31, 2020, Adrian, Michigan – During the January 28, 2020, liturgy for the Feast of St. Thomas Aquinas – a Dominican scholar, writer, and Doctor of the Church – Adrian Dominican Sisters and Co-workers in St. Catherine Chapel heard the call to continue to preach the Word of God in a troubled world. They were challenged by a brother Dominican, Bishop José Raul Vera López, OP, Bishop of the Diocese of Saltillo/Monterey in Mexico.
Bishop Vera has extensive experience in ministering in a world of trouble and violence. He was Bishop of Chiapas, Mexico, in 1994 during the Zapatista resistance. That year, indigenous people of Mexico fought the government for their basic rights for everything from land, work, and housing to education and independence.
“Bishop Vera is known for his courageous pastoral support of the indigenous peoples of his diocese,” Prioress Patricia Siemen, OP, explained. “He remains an outspoken advocate for the human rights of migrants and asylees remaining on the Mexican side of the border.”
Bishop Vera came to Adrian to visit his friend, Sister Pauline Quinn, OP, who years ago made private vows as a Dominican Sister and has been living at the Dominican Life Center in Adrian with her service dog, Pax. Her varied ministries included working with Bishop Vera and organizing and promoting a program in which prison inmates are trained to take part in the early training of service dogs.
During his homily – preached in Spanish and translated by Sister Patricia Harvat, OP, General Councilor – Bishop Vera encouraged the Sisters and Co-workers to continue to preach the Word of God, following the examples of St. Thomas Aquinas and Sister Pauline.
“Today, on the Feast of St. Thomas Aquinas, remember that St. Thomas did not leave the Word of God to himself,” Bishop Vera said. “He preached with great passion from his great knowledge and his understanding of what the Word of God was for him. … St. Thomas abandoned himself to the Word of God, but he not only abandoned it in study and understanding, but he lived the Word of the Lord.”
Bishop Vera held up Sister Pauline as another example of a Dominican who preached with her life and her connection to other people, as well as her words. “I have seen Sister Pauline working very closely with me for many years, and it has been just a marvel to see all that she was able to do,” Bishop Vera said. “Sister Pauline was with the indigenous people and it was very, very dangerous at the time – and scary.”
Bishop Vera noted the many challenges and difficulties facing the world today. “The Church needs to respond to the Word of God and to all of these challenges with great passion,” he said. “All of us are called to preach the Word of God to all men and women, wherever they are.”.
Feature photo: Bishop Raul Vera, OP, preaches during the January 28, 2020, Mass celebrating the Feast of St. Thomas Aquinas. Sister Patricia Harvat, OP, General Councilor, stands ready to translate his homily from Spanish to English.
January 27, 2020, Washington, D.C. – Catholic Charities USA (CCUSA) joined a coalition of organizations involved in the Opportunity Starts at Home Campaign, focused on making affordable housing a national priority. Leaders of these organizations participated in a panel discussion during a special event, “Broadening the Movement: Housing as a National Priority in 2020,” held January 16, 2020, at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.
Sister Donna Markham, OP, PhD, President and CEO of CCUSA, spoke of her agency’s involvement in meeting the critical needs that are facing people today – including housing. CCUSA is charged with the domestic humanitarian work of the Catholic Church in the United States and its territories, serving 12.5 million people in need each year.
“As a faith-based organization, assisting vulnerable people claim a life of dignity is not just another part of our work – it is a moral imperative,” Sister Donna said. “Our long-standing Catholic social teaching says that we are obligated to make a preferential option for those who are poor and vulnerable. And we’ve got a [housing] crisis on our hands.”
Sister Donna became aware of the compelling need to address the housing shortage after a theological reflection process that involved 58,000 CCUSA employees from across the country. The issue of the lack of affordable housing “arose in every single Catholic Charities agency, in every state, and in every territory of the country,” she said. “We have been operating over 35,000 units of housing of all types when I came into this job five years ago. But now we really felt the imperative to ramp that up significantly.”
Other panelists were Diane Yentel, President and CEO of the National Low Income Housing Coalition; Irma Esparza Diggs, Senior Executive and Director of Federal Advocacy for the National League of Cities; Fatima Goss Graves, President and CEO of the National Women’s Law Center; and Dr. Megan Sandel, MD, MPH, principal investigator with Children’s HealthWatch and Co-Director of the Grow Clinic at Boston Medical Center. Mike Koprowski, National Director of the Opportunity Starts at Home Campaign, facilitated the discussion.
“Opportunity Starts at Home is an unprecedented, multi-sector campaign with leaders from many fields working toward increased investments to house the lowest income people,” Ms. Yentel said. “We’re here because 2020 is such a consequential year for our work.”
Dr. Sandel said “the United States will spend $111 billion over the next 10 years in avoidable healthcare costs because of housing instability. When people say we don’t have the money to tackle the housing crisis, I say that we’re spending it now and getting bad outcomes. Why don’t we spend it better and get better outcomes?”
Mr. Koprowski emphasized that housing is an issue for all Americans, regardless of their party affiliation. “Housing isn’t a blue state issue or a red state issue – it’s a purple issue,” Mr. Koprowski said. “There is a growing recognition that housing is inextricably linked to nearly every measure of having a quality life."
Watch the panel discussion on the housing crisis. Sister Donna’s talk can be found at the 20-minute mark. Her description of CCUSA’s Healthy Housing Initiative can be found at about the 37-minute mark, in response to a question from Mr. Koprowski.
In addition, read the Global Sisters Report article by Dennis Sadowski of Catholic News Service about the panel discussion, beginning with quotes from Sister Donna about the housing crisis.
Feature photo: Sister Donna Markham, OP, PhD, right, President and CEO of Catholic Charities USA, speaks with Dr. Megan Sandel of Children’s HealthWatch during a panel discussion on housing. Photo Courtesy of Catholic Charities USA