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Sister Carol Weber, OP, speaks from the heart as she thanks the Flint Jewish Federation on behalf of the people she serves for the Don Riegle Award.

September 27, 2024, Flint, Michigan – Sister Carol Weber, OP, Co-founder and Executive Director of St. Luke N.E.W. Life Center, was one of three recipients of the 33rd Annual Donald Riegle Community Service Award in recognition of her “outstanding leadership in improving the well-being of the Greater Flint Community.” The award was presented by the Flint Jewish Federation during a special program on September 12, 2024, at the Flint Institute of Arts.

The award is named for Donald W. Riegle, Jr., a former senior United States Senator representing Michigan. Known as a “champion of Soviet Jewry,” he retired after serving in the Senate for three terms and 10 years in the U.S. House of Representatives. Also recognized during the evening were David Gibson and Carol Hurand. 

Proceeds from the annual event have been donated to Jewish Community Services to resettle 415 people from the former Soviet Union and Russian-speaking Muslim families from Uzbekistan.

“It was a beautiful experience,” Sister Carol said, noting the program was open to all. The program included talks by a rabbi and a Protestant minister, a performance by a harpist, hors d’oeuvres, and the award presentation. Sister Carol and the other two award recipients received a certificate of special Congressional recognition from U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee (D-MI) and paintings.

Sister Carol was accompanied that night by family members and by Sisters Mary Priniski, OP, her Chapter Prioress, and Theresa Mayrand, OP, who also is in ministry at St. Luke N.E.W. Life Center. 

“I accepted the award on behalf of the people who trust us with their lives,” Sister Carol said during an interview after the program. “I’m just an instrument. The award was for people who change their lives – for those who do extraordinary things in the community.” She said she thanked her family and her religious community “for being there and for their support – not just that night but always.”

Sister Carol founded N.E.W. Life Center with the late Sister Judy Blake, CSJ, with whom she served for years as Co-director. The N.E.W. Life Center has had a tremendous impact on the lives of the people in Flint, Sister Carol said. Its 2023 impact report stated that the food pantry served 300 families per month; eight literacy learners earned GEDs; 854 people visited the eye clinic; nearly 1,000 people received Christmas gifts and food; and 122 pregnant women or mothers of children six months and younger attended the Center’s baby showers. 

In addition, through the Resilient Communities initiative of the Adrian Dominican Sisters, the Center works with other organizations in the Resilient Women program, which offers “unwavering support” to women who have been in abusive relationships or difficult situations. The program offers counseling, employment preparation, on-the-job training, and services such as childcare that could eliminate barriers to employment for the women.

“Many of them have gotten jobs,” she said. “Many have been able to get housing. But most important is they’ve grown in their own person and their own self-esteem, that they don’t have to take [the abuse] they’ve been receiving. They’re able to go beyond the hurt and the abuse.”

Sister Carol was quick to point out that the Center relies on its partnership with other organizations and individuals to offer its many programs. “We do a lot of partnering,” she said. “We don’t do any of this on our own.” The Center receives about 12 large grants from foundations but also has a “really good, substantial donor base.”    

Whatever programs or services people receive from the Center, they come into a place that offers respect and a sense of welcome. “We train our employees [so] that anyone who walks through that door is received without judgment,” Sister Carol said. “We’re a center of second and sometimes third chances.”

Sister Carol not only respects the people who come from the Center but values the lessons they bring. “I’ve learned from them what it’s like not to have what I have, even family support,” she said. “Everyone’s story is critical to them and I need to listen, not only to what they’re saying but what they’re not saying. I’ve learned that everyone really wants to be heard and they want someone to just spend time with them. Personally, I’ve learned to trust God a lot more.”

 

Left: Sister Carol Weber, OP, displays Shepherdess, a painting she received from the Flint Jewish Federation. Right: From left are Sister Carol Weber, OP, David Gibson, and Carol Hurand, 2024 recipients of the Donald Riegle Community Service Award.

September 24, 2024, Adrian, Michigan – A new immigration procedure announced last month by the Biden Administration could provide a “smoother, simpler process” for spouses and stepchildren of U.S. citizens to gain permanent legal status in the United States, Sister Attract Kelly, OP, JD, said. The process, Parole in Place, allows qualified spouses and stepchildren to apply directly through the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) began on August 19, 2024. However, the process is temporarily halted while it is being challenged in the courts.

Sister Attracta, Director of the Adrian Dominican Sisters Office of Immigrant Assistance and an immigration attorney, said in a September 13, 2024, presentation that the Parole in Place policy would allow approximately 55,000 immigrants to adjust their status while remaining in the United States. 

Before the policy took effect, Sister Attracta explained, the only way for the undocumented immigrant spouse of a U.S. citizen to obtain permanent legal status “was to go back to [their] home country and maybe [they] might have to stay there for three years, even a year, or five years, or 10 years, or sometimes more,” until they could meet with a U.S. Consul in their home country. “So that’s why Parole in Place would make an enormous difference,” she said. “It would mean they would not have to worry about going back to their home country” and possibly not being allowed to return to the United States and their family.

However, Sister Attracta noted that the “Parole in Place” or “Keeping Families Together” process has been temporarily halted due to a lawsuit against Homeland Security by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and a coalition of 16 states. She praised undocumented immigrants and their families who found the courage to file a motion on August 26, 2024, to defend the plan.

Should Parole in Place be reinstated after the court case, the Adrian Dominican Sisters Office of Immigration Services will be available to help spouses and stepchildren of U.S. citizens begin the application process for permanent legal status. Call 517-266-3526.

Learn more about the immigration system and Parole in Place by watching the entire presentation.