What's Happening

July 21, 2017, Adrian, Michigan – The General Council of the Adrian Dominican Sisters issued the following statement in solidarity with the people of Detroit.

The Adrian Dominican Sisters join with our brothers and sisters in Detroit in “looking back to move forward” on this 50th anniversary of the four-day uprising that began on July 23, 1967. We recognize that much remains to be done to end the institutional racism that gave rise to the rebellion 50 years ago that tragically left 43 dead and 342 injured – and that continues to do violence to people of color in Detroit and other parts of our nation today. 

As Catholic Sisters of predominantly white Euro-American heritage, we acknowledge our own complicity in the sin of institutional racism, which privileges some and dehumanizes others. We pledge our lives and resources – through our literacy centers and individual ministries in social and environmental justice, non-violent peacemaking, education, and local parishes – to do all we can to help build the “beloved community” that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. dreamed of and Jesus modeled.

July 8, 2016, Adrian, Michigan – The Adrian Dominican Sisters have issued the following statement in the wake of recent shootings of African American citizens by police and the sniper attack on Dallas police officers.

We are deeply pained and outraged at the increase in the number of police killings of innocent African American citizens – an alarming indicator of the way Black people are being dehumanized, marginalized and devalued. We cry out with our Black brothers and sisters that #BlackLivesMatter – the epidemic killings must stop!

We also deplore the horrifying sniper killings of police officers that took place yesterday in Dallas. As Rev. Martin Luther King said, “Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars.” 

The race-based violence in our country is, as President Obama said, “an American issue” that confronts every one of us, individually and systemically. We pray for all victims of violence and their grieving families. And we call on all of us to engage in personal and national soul-searching on the evils of our socialization in racist systems and the steps we must take to detoxify our hearts and the heart of our nation. We may again draw on Rev. King and his Christ-inspired words for guidance: “Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”

The Adrian Dominican Sisters will join at noon (CDT) today in the call for prayer issued by Dallas Mayor Mike Rawling as a way to begin “to heal wounds not create them.”