What's Happening

September 23, 2024, Adrian, Michigan – In response to unfounded statements against Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, made during and following the September 10, 2024, presidential debate, the Leadership Council of the Adrian Dominican Sisters issued the following statement on behalf of Adrian Dominican Sisters and Associates.  

Statement of Leadership Council of the Adrian Dominican Sisters 

As we enter the final weeks of a national election in a deeply divided nation, with dangerous undercurrents of violence and threats to our democracy, we are deeply troubled by hateful language in political discourse – especially when fabricated to demonize immigrants. It not only violates their inherent dignity as persons made in the image of God but also places them and countless others in peril. This mean-spirited discourse is incendiary, giving rise to bomb threats that have closed or locked down schools, hospitals and other public spaces in our neighboring state of Ohio. 

As women of faith who know and have worked with Haitians and many other migrants forced to leave beloved homes for the safety of their families, we are sickened and alarmed by the unfair, painful characterizations that endanger people already fleeing violence. In a nation gifted by the richness of our diversity, we pray for and are committed to building a beloved community.

We call on all candidates for public office, especially those seeking our nation’s highest office, to engage in civil discourse characterized by respect, decency, and basic human kindness. “In God’s hand is the life of every living thing, and the breath of every human being” (Job 12:10). 

Members of the Adrian Dominican Sisters Leadership Council include Sisters Bibiana Colasito, OP, General Councilor; Margaret Coyne, OP, Chapter Prioress; Sara Fairbanks, OP, Mission Prioress; Judith Friedel, OP, Chapter Prioress; Elise D. García, OP, Prioress of the Congregation; Mary Jane Lubinski, OP, Mission Prioress; Marie Yolanda Manapsal, OP, Chapter Prioress; Frances Nadolny, OP, General Councilor; Mary Priniski, OP, Chapter Prioress; Lorraine Réaume, OP, Vicaress and General Councilor; Corinne Sanders, OP, General Councilor; and Mary Soher, OP, Mission Prioress.  

September 6, 2024, Adrian, Michigan – Sister Attracta Kelly, OP, an attorney and Director of the Adrian Dominican Sisters’ Office of Immigration Assistance, offers a presentation on two days on the Latest in Immigration Law. 

Her presentation is from 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Thursday, September 12, 2024, in the Weber Center Auditorium. It is repeated from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. Friday, September 13, 2024, in the Rose Room of the Dominican Life Center on the Adrian Dominican Sisters Motherhouse Campus, 1257 E. Siena Heights Drive, Adrian. Please note that this is a change in venue for the Thursday evening presentation only. Both presentations will be livestreamed on the Congregation's public website at https://adriandominicans.org/live-stream.

Prioress of the Adrian Dominican Sisters from 2010 to 2016, Sister Attracta earned her law degree, Juris Doctor, from Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. in 1996. She was on staff with the Jesuit Refugee Service in Dublin, Ireland, from 1997 to 1999 and Director of the Immigrants Legal Assistance Project in Raleigh, North Carolina from 1999 until she was elected Prioress.

The presentation is free and open to the public. No reservations are required.