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January 24, 2025, Adrian, Michigan – The General Council of the Adrian Dominican Sisters, on behalf of the Congregation’s Sisters and Associates, issued the following statement in response to President Donald Trump’s pardon of individuals who were convicted for their roles in the January 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol.

 
President Trump’s pardon of 1,500 individuals involved in the January 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol is unprincipled and dangerous.
 
It is a blanket affirmation of the criminal behavior of individuals who attempted to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, assailing our democracy and injuring more than 140 police officers who valiantly put their lives on the line in defense of our Capitol and the members inside. One of the officers, Brian Sicknick, died of severe injuries and several others subsequently died by suicide.
 
As women of faith, we deeply believe in the virtue of mercy – particularly in giving mercy to those who repent and ask for forgiveness. In Hebrew, the word for mercy is rachamim, which has the same root words as “womb.” Mercy is akin to showing the love a mother has for her child. It also is translated as hesed, which means steadfast love – the enduring love that inspires compassion.
 
This was clearly not an act of mercy. It was an act of contempt.
 
It was an act of contempt for the U.S. Congress, the Constitution, the rule of law and all those who enforce it. It was an act that gives license to those freed from serving their court-ordered sentences, as well as others, to engage at will in acts of violent political opposition that endanger public servants and democratic institutions. It dishonors the brave law officers recognized by members of Congress of both parties on December 6, 2022, with their highest honor, the Congressional Gold Medal.
 
The pardons are not merciful; they are alarming.
 
We pray for the safety of all who continue to put their lives on the line to protect our democracy – in deep gratitude for their faithful and courageous service – and for all who now are at greater, unpardonable, risk.  

 
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Members of the Adrian Dominican Sisters General Council are Sisters Elise D. García, OP, Prioress; Bibiana “Bless” Colasito, OP, and Frances Nadolny, OP, General Councilors; Lorraine Réaume, OP, Vicaress and General Councilor; and Corinne Sanders, OP, General Councilor.

January 8, 2025, Adrian, Michigan – The General Council of the Adrian Dominican Sisters wrote to President Joe Biden, praising him for commuting the sentences of 37 men on Federal Death Row to life in prison without the possibility of parole, and further encouraged him in his last days of office to commute the sentence of the remaining three men on Federal Death Row and four men on Military Death Row. The letter reads as follows.

January 8, 2025

President Joe Biden
The White House 
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, D.C. 20500 

Dear Mr. President,

As you prepare for your visit on Friday with Pope Francis, we write on behalf of the Adrian Dominican Sisters to extend our deep gratitude to you for your principled decision to commute the sentences of 37 men on federal death row to life in prison without possibility of parole. As Catholic women of faith who believe in the inherent dignity of all human beings and the sacred value of life, we have long opposed the death penalty. 

We ask that in your final days in office, you extend that commutation to the remaining three men on federal death row and the four men on military death row. We believe that heinous acts of violence must be addressed resolutely by our system of justice – not by acts of violence that debase our nation and burden individual civil servants with carrying out executions.

We ask that you bring a decisive end to the practice of capital punishment in your term as President. We pray that this moral act will be a prelude to our nation’s return to the league of nations, a majority in the world, that have abolished state executions.

Sincerely,

Sisters Elise D. García, OP, Prioress; Bibiana “Bless” Colasito, OP, and Frances Nadolny, OP, General Councilors; Lorraine Réaume, OP, Vicaress and General Councilor; and Corinne Sanders, OP, General Councilor.

General Council of the Adrian Dominican Sisters