What's Happening

April 16, 2021, Adrian, Michigan – The Leadership Council of the Adrian Dominican Sisters, standing with U.S. corporate leaders against restrictive voting measures, issued the following statement. 

As leaders of the Adrian Dominican Sisters, representing all regions of the United States, we join hundreds of U.S. corporate leaders in their recent “We Stand for Democracy” call to uphold the right of all U.S. citizens to vote and to oppose “any discriminatory legislation or measures that restrict or prevent any eligible voter from having an equal and fair opportunity to cast a ballot.” 

Following the passage in Georgia, along strict party lines, of legislation that restricts voter access in ways that disproportionately impact communities of color and people who are poor, similar efforts are underway in numerous other states where our Sisters and Associates live and minister, including Arizona, Florida, Texas, and Michigan. These efforts, which include 55 restrictive bills in 24 states, according to the nonpartisan Brennan Center for Justice, are premised on the baseless claim of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election, which witnessed historic voter turnout. 

The right to vote of every citizen of the United States regardless of race, creed, gender, ethnicity, or income is a hard-earned protection now enshrined in the U.S. Constitution. There must be no back-tracking to Jim Crow laws aimed at limiting robust engagement by all citizens in our richly diverse multi-cultural democracy. It is a right that also expresses a fundamental tenet of our faith – our belief in the inherent dignity of every person, made in the image of God. 

The Leadership Council of the Adrian Dominican Sisters is composed of the members of the General Council, including Prioress Patricia Siemen, OP; Vicaress Mary Margaret Pachucki, OP; Administrator Frances Nadolny, OP; and Councilors Patricia Harvat, OP, and Elise D. García, OP; as well as regional leaders, including Adrian Crossroads 
Chapter Prioress Peggy Coyne, OP; Dominican Midwest Chapter Prioress Kathleen Klingen, OP; Dominican West Chapter Prioress Lorene Heck, OP; Florida Chapter Prioress Mary Ann Caulfield, OP; Great Lakes Dominican Chapter Prioress Carol Jean Kesterke, OP; Holy Rosary Chapter and Mission Prioresses Patricia Dulka, OP, and Sharon Spanbauer, OP; Our Lady of Remedies Chapter Prioress Rosita Yaya, OP; and Secretary Marie Joy Finfera, OP. The 14-member Leadership Council issued the statement during its Spring meeting, which was held virtually. 

March 29, 2021, Adrian, Michigan – The leaders of Congregations of Catholic Sisters in Michigan – including the Adrian Dominican Sisters – issued the following statement in response to Ron Weiser’s offensive statement on Michigan’s top three elected women officials.

As women of faith whose congregations have served the people of Michigan – men and women, Republican and Democratic – for 1,084 collective years, we were deeply troubled and alarmed to hear University of Michigan Regent and Michigan Republican Party Chairman Ron Weiser refer to our state’s top three elected women officials as “witches” that the GOP’s “job now is to soften up” so that “when we have good candidates to run against them that they are ready for the burning at the stake.” 

This language is not only abhorrent on its face, it poses a real and present danger to the three elected leaders and to all women in Michigan, giving bullies and abusers public license to vent their anger and vitriol on the bodies of real women in our cities, neighborhoods, and State Capitol. One in three Michigan families are already impacted by domestic violence and over 100 domestic violence-related murders occur in Michigan every year, according to Haven, a national nonprofit promoting violence-free homes and communities. 

In our faith tradition, all people are made in the image of God. This kind of abusive language, displaying misogynistic contempt for women, is abominable. It has no place in our public discourse and is appalling coming from a Regent of one of our nation’s premier educational institutions. Chairman Weiser’s inflammatory aside about “other than assassination” as to how to deal with two Michigan Republicans who voted to impeach President Trump is both shocking and horrifying. No political party should associate itself with such deeply disturbing remarks, much less abide them in its own leader.

We call for Ron Weiser’s resignation as Regent of the University of Michigan and for his removal as Chairman of the Michigan Republican Party, urging party leaders to clearly and unequivocally condemn these dangerous and alarming comments. 

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The Michigan Catholic Sisters issuing this call include the elected leaders of the Dominican Sisters of Adrian ([email protected]); Dominican Sisters of Grand Rapids ([email protected]); Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (Monroe) ([email protected]); Home Visitors of Mary ([email protected]); Servants of Jesus ([email protected]); Marist Sisters ([email protected]); Mission Sisters of the Holy Spirit ([email protected]); Sisters of Mercy of the Americas – West Midwest ([email protected]); and Congregation of Sisters of St. Joseph ([email protected]), who comprise Region 7 of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR).