What's Happening

April 21, 2017, Flint, Michigan – Sister Carol Weber, OP, co-founder and co-director of St. Luke’s N.E.W. Life Center, was one of seven to be inducted into the Genesee Regional Women’s Hall of Fame.

Also inducted that evening were Sister Judy Blake, CSJ, who co-founded and co-directs the center with Sister Carol; Dr. Mona Hanna-Attista, MD, the pediatrician who discovered the lead poisoning in Flint children during the recent water crisis; Dr. Susan J. Goering and Dr. Beverly Walker-Griffea, who are active in the Flint and Genesee County communities; Angie Hendershot, lead anchor at ABC-12 News in Flint; and Mildred Doran, who was lost in the Pacific Ocean in 1927 in her attempt to be the first woman to fly across the ocean.

The inductees were presented April 20 during the Eighth Annual Awards Dinner hosted by the Zonta Club of Flint at the Flint Institute of the Arts. The Zonta Club of Flint is part of Zonta International, a women’s service organization that strives to advance the status of women. The inductees’ pictures and stories will be permanently placed in the Sloan Museum in Flint.

“It was pretty overwhelming when I thought of the caliber of women that we were up there with” Sister Carol said about the induction ceremony. “It was a really powerful moment, and everybody was so attentive.”

About 14 people supported Sister Carol and Sister Judy at the ceremony, including Sister Carol’s brother and niece, and women who are employed at the N.E.W. Life Center. “The women were so moved to be there,” Sister Carol said. “It was great to see how excited they were for us.”

In her response to the award, Sister Carol said, “I just go about my day doing what I need to do because I know that’s what I’m called to do.” She sees the Center as a “work of God,” and spoke about “the hope that women can bring to Flint when we band together.” 

Sisters Carol and Judy have been working since 2000 with the people of Flint, first serving them through street ministry. They opened the N.E.W. Life Center in 2002 to offer a variety of programs, including a literacy center, employment preparation, a sewing co-op, and a food pantry. 

When Flint’s water was found to be contaminated by lead, St. Luke’s N.E.W. Life Center became a bottled water distribution center and then offered a support and nutrition program for pregnant women and mothers of small children, helping them to prepare nutritious meals to offset the effects of the lead in their children’s systems.

Read a related article by ABC-12 of Flint.

April 20, 2017, Adrian, Michigan – Sister Patricia Siemen, OP, Prioress of the Adrian Dominican Congregation, has been elected as one of two U.S. delegates to the International Union of Superiors General (UISG). She will begin a three-year term in November 2017.

Sister Pat was elected by the major superiors – leaders of Catholic Sisters’ congregations – of the U.S. Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) to represent the 141 congregations that are members of the international organization. 

“It is a profound honor and humbling to have the opportunity to listen and learn from women who, with their people, are living through times of great oppression, poverty, and ecological devastation,” Sister Pat said. “As one of two U.S. delegates, I commit to bring their stories of mission and authentic gospel living to us and other congregations of women religious living in the United States.”

Sister Pat will be one of 12 delegates from North, Central, and South America who will work together in the Americas Constellation of the UISG. The delegates will work together to promote religious life and to “build bridges that will span distances, borders, and boundaries in order to create ways for members to be in communications, in community, and in community.” 

Major superiors of women’s congregations throughout the world gather each summer for an assembly in Rome. The UISG was founded in 1951 to “create an international forum, a way for women religious to be in dialogue with each other, with the Church authorities and with global organizations.”