What's Happening

July 12, 2024, Adrian, Michigan – An 18-year-old student who was just starting to turn his life around. A teenager who died by suicide. A woman killed in her driveway in front of her young children. A 3-year-old girl killed in her bedroom during a drive-by shooting. A teenage boy who died while playing Russian roulette with his friends.

These are some of the 17 people whose funerals Sister Joan Baustian, OP, attended during her 27 years of ministry in Detroit, beginning in 1989. All of them died through violence – mostly by gun violence, Sister Joan said. They came to Sister Joan’s mind last month as the United States marked June as Gun Violence Awareness Month.

Sister Joan first ministered in Detroit in the 1950s as a teacher, but the violence occurred during her second time of ministry in Detroit. During this time, she ministered primarily in the neighborhood of Rosary Parish. She ministered for a time at Covenant House, which has a home in 34 U.S. cities for youth at risk of homelessness or human trafficking. Her ministries also included teaching in an adult education program. 

Sister Joan retired from formal ministry in the mid-2000s but stayed in Detroit until 2016, serving as a community organizer, continuing to work with the people in the Rosary Church neighborhood – including people from the neighboring Baptist church. The centerpiece was the community garden, in which about eight families regularly received food, she said. “I was there to help the children, the families, the moms, and the grandmoms – to get people connected with what they needed,” she said.

Sister Joan noted that the work of building community in the Rosary neighborhood had a positive effect. “When I first went there, some of the murders happened, but then after all the years of building up community there, we had no more murders,” she said. “It tells you how important building community is.”

In the earlier days, violence was rampant in that part of Detroit. Sister Joan’s first experience of gun violence – and attending the victim’s funeral – was for a 30-year-old man who served with Sister Joan on the board of Genesis, a community organization. He was shot and killed. “That was the first one,” Sister Joan recalled. “He was buried from the Baptist church. That was a hard one and there was a lot of talk. If they ever arrested anybody, I never heard.”

Several other incidents stand out in Sister Joan’s mind. One family – a Black Catholic family who attended Rosary Parish and adopted nine children – had to deal with the shooting death of their oldest son, Edward. Quite a few years later, Sister Joan said, the couple’s granddaughter was shot and killed while washing a car in her driveway, while her children, ages 1 and 2, were nearby. 

When a 3-year-old girl, Destiny, was shot while playing in her bedroom, Destiny’s aunt – who worked with Sister Joan at Covenant House – asked her to attend the funeral. “The church was absolutely packed,” Sister Joan recalled. “The chief of police was there and stood next to the mom, next to the coffin, and promised they would do justice for Destiny. The mother was in absolute hysterics.”

Sister Joan attended all of the funerals, often visiting the families to offer the support that she could. “I couldn’t say much – just listened to them,” she said. “When each one happened, I felt sad. Some you knew personally or knew the family very well. You just get the strength to do it.” 

The experiences “affected me in my activism against gun violence, war, and violence,” she said. In her ministry in Detroit, she has seen much of the root cause of violence: poverty and racism.

Sister Joan noted that she also had many positive experiences in Detroit. The community garden brought many of the neighborhood people together – including a group of prisoners who lived in a former convent, were tracked by GPS, and could go no farther than the garden. They volunteered in the garden when children were not around, she said. 

Sister Joan also offered nutrition classes to the mothers. People in the neighborhood enjoyed summer picnics together, featuring food donated by the church and grilled by the neighborhood men.

Strong communities such as the Rosary neighborhood bring a sense of hope to Sister Joan amid difficult situations. “Violence is such a big part of this country’s history,” she said. “I’m not sure we can change that, but we have to keep trying. I’m very fond of adding at the end, ‘Hopelessness is a terminal disease.’ Even if there’s not much to hope for, you keep hoping.”
 

July 12, 2024, Mosul, Iraq – Sister Donna Markham, OP, traveled a great deal in the early summer, but she counts as most important her visit to the Dominican Sisters of St. Catherine of Siena in Iraq – a community that over the years has had close ties with many of the congregations of Dominican Sisters in the United States.

Sister Donna first met the Sisters from Iraq during her years as Prioress of the Adrian Dominican Sisters from 2004 to 2010. The Congregation sponsored several the younger Sisters to earn advanced degrees in the United States, allowing them to spend some time away from the war in their home country.

“The trip to Iraq was important for the Sisters and for me to see one another,” Sister Donna said. “I have been there several times before for meetings and presentations.” She had planned in October 2023 to accompany Sister Raghad Saeed, OP, back home after she earned her doctorate in physics at the Catholic University of America but, at that time, the trip would have been dangerous.

Sister Donna visited the Sisters in May to offer support as they continue to struggle. In 2014, they had fled their convents on the Nineveh Plain with the incursion of the terrorist group ISIS and had spent years internally displaced. During that time, they ministered to others displaced by ISIS. They established schools and clinics and provided spiritual support and presence. Even after returning home after the Nineveh Plain was secured, they faced the challenges of rebuilding their churches, convents, and places of ministry.

Sister Donna found joy during her recent visit to Iraq as she learned about the Sisters’ ministries and how they continued service to the people. Sister Aman Miriam Mansoor, OP, is principal of a school in Baghdad, while Sister Ban Saeed, OP, conducts Montessori classes. Sister Nadiya Shamees, OP, ministers in a Baghdad hospital as a nurse practitioner. Sister Raghad teaches physics at the University of Mosul. 

Muslim and Christian children attending the school where Sister Aman Miriam ministers learn how to relate with one another as friends, Sister Donna added. “That seems to be a very important part of her ministry, so the children can grow up and not experience each other as enemies. The Sisters are highly regarded as top educators in the country, so parents of all religions are eager to send their children to the Sisters’ schools.”

While Sister Donna appreciated reconnecting with the Sisters, she also learned of the current hardships they face. “Clearly life there remains difficult because the Sisters really have little opportunity to leave the country. Many embassies have been closed to them,” Sister Donna said. 

In addition, the Sisters are seeing many Christian residents leaving Iraq. “Many of their homes were severely damaged by explosives that had been used by ISIS,” Sister Donna explained. “You see homes still burned out. Many Christians don’t see life as safe for their families. The Christian churches in Iraq remain very much in persecution.”

Sister Donna continued: “The Sisters’ resilience, focus on ministry, and efforts to help their people in ministry are remarkable. They pledge to minister there as long as long as there are Christians to minister to. But it’s a rough situation.”

Adding to the sadness of the flight of Christians from Iraq is the fact that many of the Sisters’ family members have left Iraq, Sister Donna said. Consequently, the Sisters remain separated from their own families who have relocated to other countries such as Australia, France, Jordan, Lebanon, and Italy.

Because of these challenges, Sister Donna said, it’s more important than ever for Dominican Sisters from the United States to visit them, if possible. “They were so grateful to have me come,” she said. “Any Dominican Sisters who might feel comfortable enough to visit them provide enormous support in this very tenuous time in Iraq.

“They said to tell the Sisters not to be afraid,” she said. “I certainly did not feel unduly afraid being there. The Sisters are very careful with where I go - they make sure that they’re safe and I’m safe.”

Still, Sister Donna acknowledged that traveling to Iraq can be a challenge. “It’s a very difficult trip and very long,” she said. “You have to be calm. I don’t think there’s imminent danger but, obviously, it can be rather disconcerting to go through so many military checkpoints.”

For those who might find a visit to Iraq particularly challenging, Sister Donna suggested other ways to show support for the Iraqi Dominican Sisters. “They always appreciate prayers,” she said. But they also appreciate connection with the U.S. sisters – if not through visits, then through email or Zoom calls. 

“It’s so important that we stay connected to them,” Sister Donna said. “They don’t need money or things. Their lives are simple and they seem to be doing OK financially. Connecting with the Sisters in any way you can is the greatest gift and support you can give them,” she added.