What's Happening

February 21, 2022, Adrian, Michigan – Knowing the common roots of the three Abrahamic religious traditions – Judaism, Christianity, and Islam – can help Christians to better understand and appreciate their own faith tradition. In this series of talks offered in person and online, Sister Susan Van Baalen, OP, walks participants through the roots of Judaism: its theology, Scriptures, household rituals, Sabbath observances, and festivals and holidays.

Sister Susan Van Baalen, OP

“Appreciating and Celebrating Jewish Holidays” is offered both in person at Weber Retreat and Conference Center and via live stream from 1:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. EDT Tuesdays, March 15, 22, and 29, 2022. 

Sister Susan, a Dominican Sister of Adrian, worked in an environment that required her to explore the depth and breadth of world religions and has taught world religions at the graduate and undergraduate level. 

The cost for the in-person participation is $25 for the series. All guests will be screened for COVID-19 and required to wear masks. The cost for online participation is $15.

Registration is required and is available at www.webercenter.org; click on “programs.” Registrations may also be made by calling 517-266-4000 or emailing webercenter@adriandominicans.org. Limited scholarships are available.

Weber Center is located on the campus of the Adrian Dominican Sisters’ Motherhouse, Adrian. For information, call the Weber Center at 517-266-4000.

February 17, 2022, Washington, D.C. – Sisters Donna Markham, OP, and Norma Pimentel, MJ, are defending the humanitarian and Gospel ministries to immigrants at the U.S.-Mexico border by Catholic Charities USA (CCUSA) against Catholic detractors who accuse them of luring immigrants across the southern border and even engaging in human trafficking. 

CCUSA and its agencies – including the Humanitarian Respite Center in McAllen, Texas – have received hateful, furious phone calls and unfair coverage on Fox News and other media outlets. 

“Our work is humanitarian,” said Sister Donna, President and CEO of CCUSA, told America Magazine. “It is grounded in our faith.” She noted that Catholic Charities has been doing this work – mandated by the Gospel – since 1910. “This is really our identity, and we don’t have any intention of stopping this ministry.”

As Executive Director of Catholic Charities of the Rio Grand Valley, based in Brownsville, Texas, Sister Norma defended her agency’s work at the respite center in McAllen, Texas. The respite center serves people who have left their homeland because of “dire circumstances” and who have been allowed to enter the United States by the federal government, she told America. “We simply offer humanitarian assistance in their time of crisis.”

Read the entire article, written by Kevin Clarke. In addition, read a statement by the General Council of the Adrian Dominican Sisters, standing by the work of CCUSA.