What's Happening

April 30, 2018, San Francisco, California – Sister Mary Ellen Leciejewski, OP, Vice President of Corporate Responsibility for Dignity Health, sees great environmental benefits from the health system’s recent policy of removing plastic straws and stirrers from its hospital cafeterias. Patrons in the cafeterias appreciate the ecological benefits – such as decreasing the amount of plastics in the landfill and keeping marine animals safer. The new policy is expected to prevent the use of 4 million plastic straws per year Read the Catholic Health World article by Julie Minda.

A related article on Sister Mary Ellen and Dignity Health’s reduction of plastic straw use can be found in a recent article in The National Catholic Reporter. Scroll down about two-thirds of the way to find the portion of the article focusing on Sister Mary Ellen.

June 1, 2017, Adrian, Michigan – The General Council of the Adrian Dominican Sisters issued the following statement in response to President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement.

President Trump’s decision today to pull the United States out of the historic Paris Climate Agreement is politically, economically, and morally indefensible.

It diminishes our standing as a world leader, aligning us with Syria and Nicaragua as the only non-signatories to the landmark accord signed in December 2015 by 195 nations. It blunts our competitive edge in an emerging renewable-energy based global economy. And it threatens to condemn Earth, our common home, and future generations to potentially catastrophic climate change.

We Adrian Dominican Sisters intend to redouble our efforts, in union with concerned people around the world, to help create the “new and universal solidarity” that Pope Francis calls for in his encyclical, Laudato Si, and “cooperate as instruments of God for the care of creation.” (14)