What's Happening

February 10, 2025, Adrian, Michigan – The General Council of the Adrian Dominican Sisters, on behalf of the Sisters and Associates, issued the following statement, decrying the Trump Administration’s efforts to dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the negative implications this action could have on the lives of vulnerable people throughout the world.
 
As women of faith who believe in the inherent dignity of all persons and are impelled by the Gospel call to love our neighbors, we are deeply distressed by the Trump Administration’s actions to dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). This is the agency responsible for making real our core American value of caring for others in need by providing humanitarian aid to vulnerable neighbors throughout our common Earth home. Because of its broader influence, the dismantling of USAID is having a devastating impact on the entire humanitarian aid sector – with frightening life-or-death implications for people in dire need around the world, especially women and children.
 
For decades, under Republican and Democratic administrations, this agency has provided vital aid to help end chronic poverty, combat the spread of infectious diseases and reverse environmental degradation. It has been on the frontlines of global emergencies, providing disaster relief following earthquakes, floods, droughts, typhoons and the ravaging effects of wars. Care packages have been delivered worldwide under the name “of the American people.”
 
To help carry out its mission, USAID contracts many private and public organizations, including groups like Catholic Relief Services (CRS). The shutting down of USAID has “set off a domino effect” on other aid providers, according to the New York Times, with at least 10,000 American jobs in the humanitarian sector already gone. According to news reports, program shutdowns and layoffs at CRS have already begun in response to the funding freeze. American farmers are also among those impacted as they supply more than 41% of food aid that USAID sends around the world, per the Washington Post.
 
A court order has temporarily restrained the dismissal of nearly 3,000 USAID employees, including those stationed overseas with their families. They are now all in legal limbo awaiting a court determination that could take weeks or months to resolve.
 
Our hearts ache for all the good public servants and their partners in the humanitarian aid sector who have dedicated their lives to helping others and are now facing unjustifiable job losses. We are anguished by the impact of the freezing of funds that the American people through lawful acts of Congress have designated for ending famines, halting the spread of HIV, providing disaster relief, and offering other urgently needed humanitarian aid.
 
We call on members of Congress to exercise their constitutional authority over the nation’s revenue and immediately reinstate the funding that Congress appropriated for USAID. This expenditure represents less than one-half of 1 percent of total government spending – yet it has enormous implications for the common good of God’s people and planet.
 

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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.
 

February 5, 2025, Bangalore, Karnataka, India – Adrian Dominican Sister Durstyne Farnan, OP, spoke recently to Dominican Justice Promoters from the Asia-Pacific Region about the importance of partnering with the United Nations. She was invited to speak at the 12th Conference on Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation for the Dominicans’ Asian-Pacific Region, held January 11-15, 2025, at the Montfort Spirituality Center in Bangalore, Karnataka, India.

Sister Durstyne spoke as the Dominicans’ United Nations NGO, as well as the International Dominican Sisters Justice Promoter. She was invited to speak at the conference by Sister Ameline Intia, OP, a Justice Promoter from the Philippines who attended the United Nations’ 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW68), held at the UN March 11-22, 2024. Sister Durstyne hosted 10 Dominicans at the event.

Sister Durstyne said she spoke to the Dominican Justice Promoters about the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), in which participating nations set goals in 17 areas as a “shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and planet, according to the UN website. The inter-related goals cover areas such as hunger, poverty, education, peace, and sustainability.  

Sister Durstyne explained that each nation works on the SDGs separately, setting their own target goals and objectives that must be met to achieve the SDGs. Only 17 percent of the work has been complete, with a target date of 2030. This summer, the UN will host a High Level Political Forum in which representatives of each country gives a review of their status on five of the 17 SDGs. 

Sister Durstyne also spoke to the justice promoters in general about her role as the Dominican UN representative in New York. “This [was] the first time anyone is addressing them about this,” she said. “It was a fabulous opportunity to address them about how we can partner with each other.”

During the conference, the justice promoters also crafted their mission statement and goals for their work in the Asia-Pacific Region for the next three years. Goals included organizing, mobilizing, and strengthening their capacity in justice, peace, and integrity of creation; developing and maintaining common programs in the areas of migration, climate emergency, misinformation, and all forms of violence; partnering with stakeholders; and networking with the Dominican representatives at the UN.

In plenary sessions, justice promoters from each country gave reports on the status of work in their country and listened to talks. The conference also included time for prayer, liturgy, the rosary, meals, and breaks. For Sister Durstyne, one of the highlights was a series of dances performed by the novices of the Dominican Sisters of the Presentation – the largest Dominican congregation in the world.  

“People need to know the Dominicans for Justice and Peace are very active in their countries,” Sister Durstyne said. “They’re really working with the marginalized in their countries.” She gave the example of the Dominican Sisters of the Presentation, whose ministries include a pre-K school for 190 children in the slums. “What they are doing is amazing,” she said. 

She also spoke of Father Praveen Monteiro, OP, of India, whose parish organizes about 56 programs, from awareness for the National Day of the Girl Child, International Women’s Day, and human trafficking to summer camps for the children and a program in which women learn to be tailors.

In Gujarat, in northern India, the Dominican Sisters of the Rosary are helping the women to reclaim some of their traditional embroidery skills to generate some income, she added. 

A sightseeing day during the conference gave Sister Durstyne the opportunity to visit another part of India and to interact with the people. “We went to see palaces and dancing waters in the fountains,” she recalled, but they also experienced the hospitality of the Dominican Sisters of the Presentation. “They gave us each a wreath of chrysanthemums,” she recalled. 

But the Sisters didn’t need to travel far in India to experience the hospitality. Sister Durstyne recalled receiving another wreath of flowers during a meeting in Bangalore, as well as an invitation to join a local family’s celebration of their baby’s baptism. “It was a full moon night,” she said. “People were dancing and [we had] lots of food and sodas … The hospitality of the people is just so striking.”

Looking back on her time in India, Sister Durstyne said, “It was a wonderful experience. We had a great opportunity to talk about the Dominican NGO and why it’s so important for us Dominicans to be part of it.”
 

Caption for above feature photo: Novices of the Dominican Sisters of the Presentation, from India, performed a series of dances during a recent meeting of Dominican Justice and Peace Promoters of the Asian-Pacific Region.