What's Happening

October 30, 2018, Adrian, Michigan – The General Council of the Adrian Dominican Sisters issued the following statement in response to the recent murder of 11 people at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh.

Our hearts ache at the horrific anti-Semitic crime that has claimed the lives of 11 of our Jewish brothers and sisters at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, and injured six other people, including four police officers. We pray for the victims, their grieving families and friends, and the surrounding Squirrel Hill community as they mourn and seek healing. 

There is no place in our country for the white nationalist rhetoric and too-often ensuing violence that has been savagely leveled against our black, brown, Muslim, Jewish, Native American, immigrant, and LBGTQ brothers and sisters. We are all God’s children, together comprising the beloved community of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream as inspired by Jesus.

We join with all people of faith and goodwill who refuse to let hatred and fear find a place in our hearts, kindling instead our capacity to love. 

Members of the General Council of the Adrian Dominican Congregation are Sisters Patricia Siemen, OP, Prioress; Sister Mary Margaret Pachucki, OP, Vicaress and General Councilor; Sister Frances Nadolny, OP, Administrator and General Councilor; and Sisters Patricia Harvat, OP, and Elise D. García, OP, General Councilors.

August 22, 2018, Adrian, Michigan – In response to recent rollbacks of regulations by the Environmental Protection Agency, the General Council of the Adrian Dominican Sisters has issued the following statement:

The elimination of Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rules aimed at reducing air pollution from coal-burning power plants not only continues the Trump Administration’s dangerous assault on efforts to address the long-term impacts of deleterious climate change – it also presents a clear and present danger. According to news reports, the rollback of rules could lead to as many as 1,400 deaths, 15,000 cases of respiratory problems, and up to 180,000 school days missed annually by 2030.

This decision comes on the heels of an EPA rollback of fuel-efficiency rules intended to double the fuel economy of US-made cars by 2025, which would have significantly reduced greenhouse gas emissions and tailpipe pollution. It, in turn, follows the Trump Administration’s decision last year to withdraw the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement.

These troubling actions move us, as a people and nation, away from the “new and universal solidarity” that is required to address the existential threat of global climate change. That solidarity, as Pope Francis wrote in Laudato Sí, is with the whole community of life on God’s Earth. “We have forgotten that we ourselves are dust of the Earth (cf. Gen 2:7); our very bodies are made up of her elements, we breathe her air and we receive life and refreshment from her waters” (Laudato Sí).