What's Happening

March 28, 2024, New York, New York – Dominican Sisters around the world continue to dedicate their lives to empowering women and work to eradicate poverty, especially in the areas of human trafficking, asylum, and the dangers that women and children face in combat areas.
 
Dominican Sisters from Brazil, Cameroon, and Ireland spoke of their work during a “Dominican Webinar: Our Commitment to Empowerment of Women and the Eradication of Poverty.” Hosted by Adrian Dominican Sister Durstyne Farnan, OP, Dominican Representative at the United Nations, the webinar was held March 19, 2024, during the second week of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) 68, March 11-22, 2024. “We hope you will learn more about the Dominican commitment,” Sister Durstyne said in her introduction. 
 
“Human trafficking is the result of the misery of the economic system that commodifies people and doesn’t respect human rights,” said Sister Sandra Camilo Ede-Brasileira of the Cry for Life Network (Um Grito Pela Vita) in Brazil. The inter-congregational network works to combat and prevent human trafficking, which includes sexual exploitation of women and child labor. “Our network is a space for prophetic action and solidarity, linked to the religious conference of Brazil,” Sister Sandra said.
 
Survivors of human trafficking receive support from psychologists and by participating in handicraft and baking projects, Sister Sandra said. “We can fight for wounded people with a praxis that can free them,” she said. “Our network gives us the creativity to start from different points of view,” developing models that can address the issues of society.
 
Sister Sandra said the network also holds awareness campaigns. “A person who is aware of this reality can really open their eyes to the situation,” she said. 
 
Sister Marie Cleide Pires de Andrade, OP, also from Brazil, works with other Sisters to combat domestic violence and to accompany its victims. “This is the experience of many women in this social context marked by inequality,” she said. A member of the Dominican Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Sister Cleide said the emphasis is on “encouraging self-knowledge and self-esteem” among the women through activities that enhance their daily lives.
 
Sister Cleide used the community garden where the women work as a metaphor for the Sisters’ ministry with the women. “The seeds have been sown, such as spaces for welcome, friendship, listening, and raising awareness,” she said. “We want to continue dreaming and sowing seeds of joy and hope.… We are bearers of light.”
 
Sister Linda Nkechi Korie, OP, a Dominican Sister of Blessed Imelda, helps women combat poverty through services such as childcare. The Sisters of Blessed Imelda have worked for women’s empowerment for the past 40 years and now have six communities in three regions, building schools wherever they are, she said. 
 
She focused on efforts to educate girls and women, noting that 129 million school-age girls are not attending classes. “Early marriage, poverty, low family income, large distance to schools, lack of school infrastructure – all these factors contribute to increasing the social gap in the region” because of lack of education, she said. 
 
The Dominican Sisters of Blessed Imelda strive to provide schooling for more girls by offering scholarships. “We have sent 600 to schools, but that’s not enough,” Sister Linda said. She added that the Sisters are also building more schools to make up for many that have been destroyed.
 
In addition, Sister Linda said that the Sisters train women through income-generating skills, such as producing soap, and have employed many women in their schools.
 
Also in Cameroon, Sister Joseph Ngo Ndezeba serves at the St. Dominic Multipurpose Center in Balikumbat, in a conflict zone. “The schools have been shut down for a very long time; therefore, the children have been deprived of education and feel abandoned,” she said. “Girls are prey to unwanted pregnancies and unwanted marriages.”
 
Sister Joseph said the St. Dominic Multi-purpose Center trains girls to care for themselves and their children through education and training in crafts, home management, and masonry to build a decent home for themselves. The center is also opening the first technical school in the region.
 
Sister Marie Williams, the Coordinator of the Dominican Justice and Peace Office of the Dominican Sisters of Cabra, Ireland, spoke of the Young Mothers’ Network. Sponsored by her office, the network serves young immigrant mothers who came to Ireland seeking asylum and are now living in Ireland’s Direct Provision System. This system of accommodation centers provides asylum seekers with room and board, food, and healthcare until they are allowed to live independently. 
 
Sister Marie spoke of the hardships of this system. “The average length of stay is three years, but some have stayed for nine years,” she said. “People don’t have a say in where they live. A person or family could be moved without warning.” In some cases, she said, people are moved into tents.
 
One particular aspect of the poverty faced by families in the Direct Provision System is shame. “The women speak of the humility of being known by a number and only being spoken of by their needs,” she said. “They want to be recognized and valued for themselves.”
 
Sister Marie said that the Young Mothers’ Network offers women and their children a sense of dignity and recognition. Mothers in Direct Provision are invited to monthly peer meetings, where they can listen to talks on topics such as their essential rights. 
 
“When the women in the group give us feedback, they speak to us about the sense of being accompanied and the friendship and support they have found in the group,” Sister Marie said. “They no longer feel alone. This humanizing experience with others helps them the most – simply being there with others.” 
 
The webinar concluded with concerns from young Dominican students. Maddie and Emily – a sophomore and a senior at Dominican High School in Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin – spoke of the small things that young people can do to make a difference in the world. Tatswana and Michelle spoke of aspects of life in their nation, Zimbabwe, that keep women from achieving their potential: the lack of access to finances, early marriage, and teen pregnancies. Erin, Eva, and Katilyn shared a statement by Dominican girls on the importance of education. 
 
The webinar was presented by the Dominican Leadership Conference (DLC) in the United States and the Dominican Sisters International Confederation.

January 23, 2024, Detroit – In December 2023, two Adrian Dominican Sisters were among a crowd of people witnessing a very special place for low-income, single-parent families for years to come. The former Visitation convent, which served as a home and ministry site for Adrian Dominican Sisters, was rededicated as the Fox Family Center to house families in need.

Sisters Josephine “Jo” Gaugier, OP, and Maria Goretti Browne, OP, were invited by the Adrian Dominican Sisters General Council to represent the Congregation at the dedication ceremony on December 14, 2023. Sister Maria Goretti lived in the convent from 1970 to about 1974 while she taught social studies at De Porres High School. Sister Jo ministered in the convent from 1972 to 1978 as a pastoral team member.

“It was very exciting for me to see that this [new] use fits into our initiatives,” Sister Jo said, adding that it was Cass Community Social Services (CCSS) that brought the Fox Family Center into being. The Fox Family Center – expected to invite residents in January – is “the kind of thing that we’d stand side-by-side with [CCSS] to care for that population, mostly African American, some Hispanic, to help them have a place to live, a place to study and look for jobs.”

Sister Maria Goretti said she was “very proud that [CCSS] chose a Catholic convent and acknowledged [its] Catholic roots.” She noted a continuing connection between the Adrian Dominican Sisters and those who developed the Fox Family Center. The Fox family was a significant donor to the Center, and a family member graduated from Dominican High School, founded and sponsored by the Adrian Dominican Sisters.

The former convent has a rich history of service to the Detroit community. Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries purchased it from Archbishop Adam Maida of Detroit and, from 1990 to 2021, used it for Genesis II, a program that allowed children to live with their mothers who were following up on substance abuse treatment. CCSS bought the building and land in March 2020. 

Beginning in 1920, Visitation Convent housed about 30 Sisters at a time. The Sisters who lived there staffed several Catholic schools and engaged in other ministries. During the rededication ceremony, Adrian Dominican Sisters were recognized for their steady presence in the Detroit area during and after the uprising in the 1960s. “They gave us an ovation,” Sister Jo recalled. 

While neither Sister Jo nor Sister Maria Goretti were at Visitation during the uprising, they recalled their presence with the people of Detroit in later years. “Both of us came after [the uprising] and moved into Visitation Parish and convent to work among the people and to teach,” Sister Jo said. She recalled that she and former Sister Judi Engel, now an Associate, mentored the women who served as catechists during summer school Bible study sessions.  

Sister Maria Goretti recalled her recent experience of touring at the Fox Family Center. “It was strange being in the dining room of the convent and the chapel – and going upstairs and finding my old bedroom,” she said. 

While they have fond memories of their lives at Visitation, both Sisters Maria Goretti and Jo are happy for the new use of the former convent and the bright future it promises to the residents. “Remodeling was still going on, even during the dedication,” Sister Jo said. “They painted all the ceilings and walls and reconfigured the first floor.” 

The Fox Family Center will accommodate 75 people with 29 bedrooms, one for each family, with an average of three people per room; a gathering room with Wi-Fi; a large dining room and kitchen with meals prepared and served by staff members; a library; space for programming; offices; an enclosed porch; and 10 washers and dryers. In addition, the landscaped yard will include a three-slide playscape for the children and two carports supporting solar arrays to help offset the Center’s electric bill by an estimated $8,500 per year.

The Fox Family Center will also bring a benefit to other residents of the neighborhood. Sister Jo said that when the Center was being developed, CCSS asked people in the area what they needed. Along with a center for families, they asked for a grocery store, which will be built nearby. The grocery store will be especially beneficial in a food desert, “where children grow up thinking a gas station is a grocery store,” Sister Jo said.

For more information about the Fox Family Center, watch or read an interview by Kim DuGiulio, reporter for Detroit Channel 4, with Faith Fowler, Director of Cass Community Social Services.