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October 4, 2024, Adrian, Michigan – In response to the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene, and on behalf of all Adrian Dominican Sisters and Associates, the Leadership Council of the Adrian Dominican Congregation issued the following statement.
Our hearts ache as we see apocalyptic images of the devastation left by Hurricane Helene, which took the lives of more than 200 people across six states. More than half of the victims were in North Carolina, including the county surrounding Asheville, a city that to many “seemed like a refuge from some of the worries that come with a warming planet,” according to the New York Times.
We pray for those who lost their lives and for their grieving loved ones, for the hundreds of persons still missing, and for the tens of thousands whose homes or livelihoods were destroyed and are struggling to recover. We also pray in gratitude for all the local, state, and federal emergency workers, members of the National Guard and the many nonprofit organizations and faith-based institutions that are reaching out to provide needed assistance – along with the many Samaritan neighbors selflessly helping others across ravaged neighborhoods.
As we all focus on offering urgently needed support, along with prayer, let us also take time in this national election season to carefully examine the positions on climate change of political leaders seeking office in state legislatures, gubernatorial races, the U.S. Congress, and the White House. As air and ocean temperatures rise due to human-induced global warming, supercharged hurricanes and tropical storms are causing unprecedented ocean surges and rainfalls. “This has the fingerprints of climate change on it,” said North Carolina’s state climatologist Kathie Dello on the effects of Hurricane Helene.
As women of faith who reverence the profound Mystery of creation – God’s gratuitous gift, our common Earth home – we call on all elected leaders and those seeking to lead us to commit to policies that will take us off the catastrophic path we are on by addressing climate change. On this Feast of St. Francis, we Dominicans join in his prayer: “First do what is necessary. Then do what is possible. And before you know it you are doing the impossible.”
Members of the Adrian Dominican Sisters Leadership Council include Sisters Bibiana Colasito, OP, General Councilor; Margaret Coyne, OP, Chapter Prioress; Sara Fairbanks, OP, Mission Prioress; Judith Friedel, OP, Chapter Prioress; Elise D. García, OP, Prioress of the Congregation; Mary Jane Lubinski, OP, Mission Prioress; Marie Yolanda Manapsal, OP, Chapter Prioress; Frances Nadolny, OP, General Councilor; Mary Priniski, OP, Chapter Prioress; Lorraine Réaume, OP, Vicaress and General Councilor; Corinne Sanders, OP, General Councilor; and Mary Soher, OP, Mission Prioress.
September 23, 2024, Adrian, Michigan – In response to unfounded statements against Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, made during and following the September 10, 2024, presidential debate, the Leadership Council of the Adrian Dominican Sisters issued the following statement on behalf of Adrian Dominican Sisters and Associates.
As we enter the final weeks of a national election in a deeply divided nation, with dangerous undercurrents of violence and threats to our democracy, we are deeply troubled by hateful language in political discourse – especially when fabricated to demonize immigrants. It not only violates their inherent dignity as persons made in the image of God but also places them and countless others in peril. This mean-spirited discourse is incendiary, giving rise to bomb threats that have closed or locked down schools, hospitals and other public spaces in our neighboring state of Ohio.
As women of faith who know and have worked with Haitians and many other migrants forced to leave beloved homes for the safety of their families, we are sickened and alarmed by the unfair, painful characterizations that endanger people already fleeing violence. In a nation gifted by the richness of our diversity, we pray for and are committed to building a beloved community.
We call on all candidates for public office, especially those seeking our nation’s highest office, to engage in civil discourse characterized by respect, decency, and basic human kindness. “In God’s hand is the life of every living thing, and the breath of every human being” (Job 12:10).