What's Happening

The Horror of More than 13,750 Children Killed in Gaza is at the Heart of the Congregation’s Call for an End to War, Increased Humanitarian Aid,  
and the Return of Hostages

May 3, 2024, Adrian, Michigan – On behalf of the Adrian Dominican Congregation, the Leadership Council signed on to an open letter from U.S. Catholics initiated by Pax Christi USA. The letter expresses “our anguish over the ongoing violence in Israel-Palestine.” The Adrian Dominican Leadership Council also calls for an end to the war, more humanitarian aid to those suffering from the war, and the release of all hostages.

We are horrified, anguished, and deeply pained by the continuing war in the Holy Land resulting in the slaughter of innocent children, women, and men in Gaza under the administration of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. We join other US Catholic leaders in calling for “an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza and adherence to international law by all parties.”

We are witnessing:

• The horror of more than 13,750 children killed since the assault on Gaza began, nearly half of the 34,000 Palestinians estimated to have died. 
• The recent airstrikes that killed seven humanitarian aid workers on clearly marked vehicles run by the World Central Kitchen, bringing the number of humanitarian aid workers killed in Gaza to at least 224, according to the United Nations. 
• The inadequate supply of food, water, medicine, resulting in death by starvation of 28 children, and other women and men, with the UN World Food Program warning that famine is “imminent” if humanitarian aid is not increased “exponentially.” 
• The shutdown of two-thirds of Gaza’s hospitals and nearly 80% of its healthcare facilities, with insufficient medications and staffing leaving untold numbers without medical care and many undergoing surgeries, including cesarean sections, without anesthesia. 
• 180 children born each day in Gaza where a mother struggles to obtain two cups of water daily when she needs 16 cups a day to nurse her baby.  

Our awareness and understanding of these catastrophic events are compromised by the unprecedented number of journalists in Gaza who have died. Although identified as “PRESS,” 100 Palestinian journalists have been killed covering the war during the past five months.

We are women of faith – women of the same Abrahamic faith as the Muslim women and girls under assault in Gaza; women of the same Abrahamic faith as the Jewish women and girls under assault in Israel on October 7. As women of faith, we join the international call and the call of US Catholic leaders for a permanent ceasefire, a return of all hostages, and unblocked road access for delivery of urgently needed humanitarian aid. 

We call on President Biden and Congress to stop supplying Israel with US weapons. It is unconscionable that our bombs and artillery are raining death and destruction on Palestinian children, their mothers and fathers. This military support runs counter to the moral call for a permanent ceasefire and all attempts to bring in desperately needed humanitarian aid.

We join Pope Francis who recently said, “Every day, in my heart, I carry the pain and suffering of the populations in Palestine and in Israel due to the ongoing hostilities.” He called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and throughout the region, “so that the hostages may be freed and return to their anxiously awaiting loved ones, and so that the civilian population may have safe access to necessary and urgent humanitarian aid.” 

Pope Francis said, “Enough, please. Let us all say: Enough, please! Stop the war!” 

We say, Amen.
 

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Members of the Adrian Dominican Sisters Leadership Council are Sisters Bibiana “Bless” Colasito, OP, General Councilor; Peggy Coyne, OP, Chapter Prioress; Judy Friedel, OP, Chapter Prioress; Elise D. García, OP, Prioress; Mary Jane Lubinski, OP, Mission Prioress; Maria Yolanda "Yollie" 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; Mary Soher, OP, Mission Prioress; and Sharon Spanbauer, OP, Mission Prioress.

February 15, 2024, Adrian, Michigan – The Adrian Dominican Congregation was one of 12 signatories – religious congregations and bishops from the Northwest United States – to a statement calling for a humanitarian ceasefire of the war in the Middle East and a return to negotiations for a two-state solution to the continuing conflict in Israel.

“We deplore the violence of the Hamas attack against Israel, just as we deplore the disproportionate violence against Palestinians in Gaza with months of indiscriminate bombing by Israeli forces – all while medical and humanitarian assistance are withheld from innocent civilians,” the statement reads. The religious leaders also noted their “great concern” over the widening conflict and the “significant increase” in anti-Semitism and Islamophobia throughout the world.

“As Catholics, we pray for a peaceful end to the war in Israel and Gaza, which is destroying innocent lives and devastating families, and invite all people of faith to pray and advocate for a peaceful resolution,” the religious leaders wrote. 

Based in Adrian, Michigan, the Adrian Dominican Sisters in 2003 merged with the Edmonds Dominican Sisters, who were based in the Archdiocese of Seattle.  

Read the entire statement.