What's Happening

October 18, 2016, Houston, Texas – Sister Maureen O’Connell, OP, received the Faithful Citizen Award for her ministry with formerly incarcerated women at Angela House in Houston.

The Faithful Citizen Award is given annually to “people who are led by the Holy Spirit and who manifest the Incarnate Love of God for this world in their lives and actions as Catholics.” The award was bestowed October 5 at the Houston Country Club by the Center for Faith and Culture at the University of St. Thomas, founded in 1947 by the Basilian Fathers. 

Sister Maureen, center, with Adrian Dominican Sister Kathleen Schanz, OP (left) and Houston Dominican Sister Carol Mayes, OP. Photo by Gary Fountain, Courtesy of the Center for Faith and Culture

Celebrating with Sister Maureen at the awards ceremony were Sister Kathleen Schanz, OP, recently on the Congregation’s General Council; Sister Maureen’s brother and nephew from California; and members of the Angela House Board. About 300 people attended the award ceremony. 

The women currently residing at Angela House made their presence known by creating cards featuring information about Angela House, their own art work, and quotes about their experience at Angela House. These were placed on the tables to deepen the guests’ understanding of the work of the agency. 

Formerly in law enforcement, Sister Maureen founded Angela House in 2001 to provide a residential program to help formerly incarcerated women to take their place in society. Staff members and volunteers of Angela House provide a variety of services to help the women to make the transition: counseling, spiritual support, job training, help in finding work, and support in making healthy decisions. 

Since it was founded, Angela House has ministered to 338 women, 76 percent of whom have remained out of the prison system and are “clean, sober, and contributing members of our society,” Sister Maureen explained in accepting the award.

“I was shocked, quite frankly,” at receiving the award, Sister Maureen said. “I was really humbled by it.” In her formal acceptance of the award, she gave credit to the “team of professionals and volunteers who work so hard to make a difference in the lives of the women we serve.”

Sister Maureen receives congratulations from the Most Rev. Joseph A. Fiorenza, Archbishop Emeritus of Galveston-Houston, a long-time friend and supporter. Photo by Gary Fountain, Courtesy of the Center for Faith and Culture

In an interview, Sister Maureen noted, “Our women have made poor choices, but the challenge is to help them get beyond the poor choices and make a good life. We live in a culture that has a hard time forgiving people.” As a result, she said, many of the women who finish their sentence in prison are “saddled with a 25-year conviction” that gets in the way of their finding a job. “It’s a never-ending cycle of injustice and total lack of regard for people.”

Among the highlights of her year, Sister Maureen said, are the graduate lunches that occur four times each year, when an Angela House graduate returns to speak to the current residents. “It’s a delight to … see these women be so proud of themselves and so willing to tell their story.”  

Read a related article on the website of the Center for Faith and Culture.

Feature photo: Sister Maureen O’Connell, OP, accepts the Faithful Citizen Award, to the applause of Father Donald Nesti, CSSp. Photo by Gary Fountain, Courtesy of the Center for Faith and Culture 

October 14, 2016, Manila, the Philippines – A group of Adrian Dominican Sisters from the Our Lady of Remedies Mission Chapter, based in Pampanga, the Philippines, are joining a protest in solidarity with 3,000 indigenous peoples from their country. 

The protest, Lakbayan ng Pambansang Minorya, is being conducted on behalf of the indigenous peoples and national minorities and calls on President Rodrigo Duterte to put an end to the plunder and exploitation of the native lands and territories that had been prevalent before he took office. 

Two women leaders take part in the October 13-28, 2016, protest by indigenous peoples.

Participants are setting up camp in Palma Hall at the University of the Philippines October 13-28, 2016, to raise awareness of their plight. The activists’ ultimate goal is to reclaim self-determination and liberation for their people, who have historically been marginalized.

Sister Zenaida Nacpil, OP, Remedies Chapter Prioress, reported a positive beginning of the demonstration. 

“Tribal leaders were welcomed at Palma Hall, University of the Philippines,” she wrote in an email. “Men and women came in their colorful native dress, cried out their lamentations due to the mining and land-grabbing problems on their ancestral lands perpetuated by foreign multinational corporations.” She said this plunder had been “allowed by the previous government leaders at the expense of the tribal peoples’ rights.”

The Remedies Chapter has sent contributions to help feed the participants, along with towels and blankets. In addition, several of the Sisters will attend the protest to show their solidarity with the native peoples. 

The event began with a protest caravan from the major cities and provinces of the Mindanao Province October 8. The remaining itinerary includes an assembly of the Alliance of National Minorities; lobbying and dialogues at the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples, the Department of Justice, the U.S. Embassy, mining companies, and the Philippine Stock Exchange; cultural celebrations; a street tribunal against U.S. imperialism; and a send-off Mass.

The indigenous and minority peoples make up 15 to 20 percent of the Philippine population and include 153 ethnolinguistic groups. These groups have historically struggled against the invading regimes of Spain and the United States, which still has a military presence in the Philippines. In 1987, when the Philippine Constitution was written, the indigenous peoples pushed for “genuine regional autonomy” but have still suffered “decades of national oppression which accounts for our continuing [marginalization].” 

Before President Duterte took office about 100 days ago, the Philippine government “deployed thousands of the Armed Forces … in communities of the Moro [minorities] and indigenous peoples,” according to a concept paper issued for Lakbayan ng Pambansang Minorya. The soldiers “have inundated the countryside where large-scale mining corporations and big agribusiness plantations and other extractive industries enjoy the armed protection of the state at the expense of peoples’ rights to their lands and territories.”    

While the government has declared a ceasefire in the war against the indigenous and minority peoples, internally displaced communities that return to their lands find their rebuilding efforts to be “tenuous” because of the continued presence of the soldiers.   

Many of the minority and indigenous peoples see hope since President Duterte has taken office because of his pronouncements calling for righting the injustices they have endured for years. 

For more information about the protest and the situation in the Philippines, click here.

Feature photo: Tribal leaders of the indigenous peoples of the Philippines gather at Palma Hall, the University of the Philippines, to make known their plight.