What's Happening

April 8, 2026, Adrian, Michigan – Several Adrian Dominican Sisters and Associates were among an estimated 8 million people who participated in more than 3,000 No Kings rallies across the United States and around the world.

The No Kings rallies – held three times since the inauguration of President Donald Trump – have been organized by a coalition of grassroots organizations to give participants the opportunity to stand up peacefully in favor of democracy and against policies and actions that undermine it and could lead the United States into a monarchy or dictatorship.

Several of the Adrian Dominican participants of the March 28 No Kings rally took time to reflect on the experience.

Sister Kathleen Schanz, OP, participated in one in St. Paul-Minneapolis, Minnesota, at the site of the fatal shootings of Renee Nicole Good, 37, and Alex Pretti, 37, by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in January 2026. Sister Kathleen marveled at the size of the rally, which drew about 200,000 people. “I was deeply moved as I witnessed and participated in this event with this city and its people, who have experienced so much violence over these last months,” she said. “Inspiring!”

Associate Connie Brady attended a rally in Felton, California, and described the No Kings events as “a path to show up and speak out, with my community, in a nonviolent expression of opposition to oligarchy. The issues are too important to remain silent.”

Connie also sees the rally she attended as an “experience of hope. Hope that grassroots strategic actions will shape political outcomes and protect free and fair elections. Hope that we can elect public officials who respect human and climate rights and will enact structural reforms to protect them.”

Connie also found hope from a young mother who stood beside her and explained her own reasons for attending the rally. “We’re here because everyone has a right to be free and say the things they believe,” Connie recalled the young woman saying. “See everyone here and think about all the other people in the world. They deserve to be safe and happy and have a nice warm bed at night just like us.”

Associate Sharon Pikula stood up for her beliefs during the No Kings rally in Olympia, Washington. Along with members of the International Dances for Peace organization and with others at the rally, she expressed her beliefs through dance, voice, and movements on the Capitol lawn.

“It was delightful as well as purposeful,” said Sharon, who frequently joins the local group as they share simple songs of peace from “a wide variety of religions, spiritualities, and cultures.” She spoke of the “great energy and hope” that arises when a group of people “join their voices and hands together.”

Sharon was especially struck by the words of Circle Round for Freedom by Linda Hirschhorn: “Circle round for freedom, circle round for peace, for all of us imprisoned, circle for release. Circle for the planet, circle for each soul, for the children of our children keep the circle whole.” At the words “circle for release,” Sharon said she “prayed for those in immigrant detention centers, those imprisoned by war and prisons created by our families and societies and, yes, our own doing.”

Sharon sees the need to add music and movement “to move us ever so slowly down the path of oneness and see the light of Christ in all. I could easily imagine St. Dominic joining our circle as a way of broadening out his nine forms of prayer. He would be right with us.”

At her rally in Florida, Sister Rosemary Finnegan, OP, was impressed by a young woman, mother, and artist she and her fellow parishioner, Meghan, met during the rally. The woman had traveled to Ukraine and studied art in Russia. “This is her first rally and she participated because she wants a better world for her 2- and 4-year-olds.” 

“This encounter is an example of the community spirit and camaraderie that existed in all the rallies I attended,” Sister Rosemary said. “They have one purpose, however, and that is to change this regime and establish order and freedom once again.”

Associate Noraleen Renauer, who attended the rally in Ann Arbor, Michigan, said she participated because “I wanted to be counted. Walking into the crowd (with cane), I found everyone there: Millennials, Boomers, Gen. Z, and children.” Noraleen said the atmosphere of the rally was one of peace and camaraderie. “We were ‘everyday’ Americans, gathered to stand for democracy and the Constitution; This was why we were marching. I thought to myself, ‘This is the Body of Christ,’ as tears welled up in me.”

Noraleen noted that, 24 hours later, she was in another march: the Palm Sunday procession. “In each instance, I saw the American culture of individualism being transformed into the Beloved Community,” she said.

Numerous Adrian Dominican Sisters, Associates, and Co-workers gathered at the No Kings Rally in Comstock Park, Adrian. Sister Theresa Mayrand, OP, perhaps captures what many of them experienced. “I was impressed with the peacefulness at the rally – the smiles, the friendliness of those who participated,” Sister Theresa said. “It was cold, yet people came to show their conviction of the importance of democracy and their resistance to the chiseling away of human rights. They came to stand up for immigrants and for liberty.”

 

Feature photo at top: From left, Sisters Joyce Caulfield, OP, Corinne Florek, OP, Rosemary Abramovich, OP, Kitty Bethea, OP, and Beverly Stark, OP, participate in the No Kings rally in Comstock Park, Adrian. Photo submitted by Sister Sharon Spanbauer, OP

March 24, 2026, Winter Park, Florida – “There are many deaths that happen with the death penalty – not only the prisoner but certainly the death of hope for the prisoner’s family and the death of another piece of our human soul because we deny the dignity of that person [who was executed].”

That was the reflection of Sister Rosemary Finnegan, OP, who attended a recent anti-death penalty rally, along with Adrian Dominican Sisters Marie Skebe, OP, and Janet Stankowski, OP. Sisters Rosemary and Marie both live in Florida, the site of many of the executions in the United States, and Sister Janet was visiting from Detroit.

The rally – attended by about 40 people – was held at St. Margaret Mary Church in Winter Park, where Sister Rosemary has ministered. It began with a candlelight prayer vigil led by parishioners and a talk by Abraham Bonowitz, Co-founder and Director of Death Penalty Action. Participants were invited to ring the Delaware Bell, originally used in Delaware at the time of state executions. Delaware has since abolished the death penalty and has given the bell to Abraham for his use in advocacy across the country.

The event continued with a talk by SueZann Bosler, whose father was brutally attacked and killed, and who herself was attacked at the same time and almost died. She spoke against the death penalty for the man who killed her father and attacked her.

Sisters Marie and Rosemary have been long-time advocates against the death penalty since a hearing more about the issue at the Sisters’ Florida Mission Chapter in 2017. “Dale, an attorney and chaplain on death row in Florida, gave a presentation to our assembly which was overwhelmingly powerful,” Sister Marie said. “By the end of the Assembly, the Florida Chapter came up with an initiative” to advocate against the death penalty. 

The initiative, Standing Together in Solidarity Against the Death Penalty, is intended to reinvigorate a movement among Adrian Dominican Sisters, Associates, Co-workers, and seekers centering on the Congregation’s April 2002 corporate stance against the death penalty.

Part of Sister Marie’s ministry as chair of the committee is to send email notices to Sisters and Associates when someone is to be executed in the United States – and to ask for their advocacy on behalf of that person. Since she began sending out those notices in September 2024, Sister Marie said, at least 60 executions have been scheduled across the United States. The State of Florida alone executed 19 people in 2025. 

Sister Marie noted the cruel methods used to execute inmates. “We’ve seen [the form of execution] go from lethal injection – which sounds clean but is horrible – and we’ve come up with another horrible [technique] of gas suffocation,” she explained. South Carolina has added the option of a firing squad. All of these techniques, she said, can easily fail at first, adding to the suffering of the person being executed.  

In spite of their long-time advocacy against the death penalty, Sisters Rosemary and Marie gained new perspectives during the recent rally. Rosemary said she was especially touched to hear the story of SueZann Bosler. She noted that justice authorities were empathetic to what she suffered as a victim and the daughter of a victim – but not to her stance against the death penalty. 

Victims who speak out against the death penalty “receive absolutely no support from the prosecution team,” Sister Marie added. SueZann “could not get the point across …. The judge threatened to put her in jail if she made one more statement against the death penalty. It made no sense.” 

Recent events demonstrate that the lack of respect for human life, as the death penalty shows up in other areas of our society. “Our humanity is destroyed,” Sister Marie said. “In destroying our own humanity, look what happens with the wars. We can wipe out 150 girls in a school [in Iran]. If we can’t reverence one life, how can we reverence many lives?”

Still, Sisters Rosemary and Marie point to many people in the United States – particularly in Florida – who are working toward the end of the death penalty. Sister Marie spoke of parishioners of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Daytona Beach who travel by bus to the execution site when one is scheduled. They watch for a signal that the execution has taken place – such as witnesses leaving the prison – and begin a vigil service for the person who was executed. 

Sister Rosemary said her parish, St. Margaret Mary, is also involved in efforts against the death penalty. “We used to have a vigil the night before a scheduled execution,” she said. “But they have become so common now that we have the vigil once a month and name the names [of those to be executed] for that month.” During Mondays in Lent, she said, the parish zeroes in on a particular social justice issue. The parish recently showed a movie about an executioner who became involved with men on Death Row and eventually opposed the death penalty.

Reporters from the Florida Catholic attended the rally and posted videos. They can be viewed here and here.

Caption for above feature photo: From left, Adrian Dominican Sisters Marie Skebe, OP, Janet Stankowski, OP, and Rosemary Finnegan, OP, with Abraham Bonowitz, Director and Co-founder of Death Penalty Action, during a recent action against the death penalty.