What's Happening

September 20, 2022, Washington, D.C. – Adrian Dominican Sister Donna Markham, OP, President and CEO of Catholic Charities USA, was one of the nation’s faith leaders invited to attend President Joe Biden’s United We Stand Summit, held at the White House on September 15, 2022.

The United We Stand Summit: Taking Action to Prevent and Address Hate-Motivated Violence and Foster Unity drew bipartisan and non-partisan federal, state, local, and tribal officials; civil rights groups; faith leaders; business leaders; and law enforcement officials. Also among the 200 people invited to the summit were Sister Mary Haddad, RSM, President and CEO of the Catholic Health Association of the United States (CHA).  

“This was a full-day summit with the President, Vice President, and several members of the cabinet,” as well as survivors of the Pulse Nightclub massacre, the Tree of Life Synagogue Assault, and domestic terrorist attacks in Buffalo, Philadelphia, Florida, Texas, and Virginia, Sister Donna said. The survivors shared their stories of loss and healing.

The Summit “put forward a shared vision for a more united America, demonstrating that the vast majority of Americans agree that there is no place for hate-fueled violence in our country,” according to a White House fact sheet. The White House also recognized 16 “uniters,” including Valarie Kaur, a civil rights and faith leader who served as keynote speaker for the Adrian Dominican Sisters’ 2022 General Chapter.

Sister Donna noted her special role in the summit as a faith leader. “At the opening, as a faith leader, I was invited to be part of a kind of ‘prayer circle’ around the victims who were speakers and to hold all of those who have been killed in prayer,” she said. 

“The day was packed – and intense,” Sister Donna recalled. She especially noted a bipartisan panel of mayors who discussed their efforts to promote unity in their city and the invitation to attend lunch in the State Dining Room. “It was a powerful day,” she said. “I was honored to be invited.” 

Catholic Charities USA is the national office for diocesan agencies throughout the United States. Its mission is “to provide service to people in need, to advocate for justice in social structures, and to call the entire church and other people of good will to do the same.” 

Catholic Charities agencies serve all people in need in such areas as food and nutrition, affordable housing, social enterprise initiatives, advocacy and social policy initiatives, immigration and refugee services, disaster relief, and leadership development and Catholic identity. Sister Donna is the first female President and CEO in CCUSA’s more than 110 years of history.

September 9, 2022, Adrian, Michigan – The early months of the COVID-19 pandemic brought about death, sickness, isolation, grief – and a great deal of creativity. The creative aspect of the pandemic – as well as the mourning – were showcased by Art in the Time of COVID, an art exhibit at the INAI Gallery near Weber Retreat and Conference Center.

The exhibit featured works by a group of Adrian Dominican Sisters, Associates, and friends who met monthly via Zoom, shared progress on their artwork, and encouraged one another. The exhibit also included a memorial to the 14 Adrian Dominican Sisters who died of COVID-19. Guests were invited to write down the names of the people they had lost to the virus.

Sister Suzanne Schreiber, OP

Featured in a Catholic News Service (CNS) article about the memorial were Sister Suzanne Schreiber, OP, an artist and coordinator of INAI, and Sister Nancyann Turner, OP, who created three quilts that were featured in the exhibit. The artwork “was an effort to both process the COVID reality and the pandemic and all that was going on and a lot of the loss that was happening, and the illness and death that was happening, plus to give expression to our own creative selves,” Sister Suzanne told Gabriella Patti of CNS.

Sister Nancyann Turner, OP, left, and Sister Margaret Heinz, OP, with one of Sister Nancyann’s quilts on display at the Art in the Time of COVID exhibit

Sister Nancyann described the artwork as “another example of feminine creativity” and noted the comfort she derived from her quilting. Working on the quilts helped her “to remember again my mom and my grandmother as I selected and stitched those different colors, which helped me lament but also helped me have hope and peace,” she said.

Read the entire CNS article, as printed in Catholic Review, newspaper of the Archdiocese of Baltimore.