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October 17, 2023, Adrian, Michigan – The General Council of the Adrian Dominican Sisters issued a statement today supporting the call of the churches in Jerusalem and Pope Francis for global prayer for an end to the escalating conflict in the Holy Land. Below is the statement.

Statement of the Adrian Dominican Sisters 

Today we join people of faith around the world in prayer and fasting for peace in the Holy Land, as called for by the churches of Jerusalem and echoed by Pope Francis.

More than 1,400 children, women and men were massacred in a horrific attack by Hamas last week. Israeli airstrikes against Hamas in the Gaza Strip are now estimated to have killed more than 2,800 Palestinians, including children, women and men. Fighting along the northern border of Israel has escalated. The Israeli blockade of food, water and electricity in Gaza has created a humanitarian crisis for more than 2 million inhabitants of the 140 square-mile area. At least 199 Israeli children, women and men, including foreigners, are still being held hostage by Hamas. 

“Prayer is the meek and holy force to oppose the diabolical force of hatred, terrorism, and war,” Pope Francis said. Let us all join in this meek and holy force of global prayer today for a resolution to this dire and escalating conflict that restores God’s justice, love, and peace in the Holy Land and in the hearts of all the children of Abraham. 

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A Rosary Prayer for Peace, open to the public, will begin at 4:00 p.m. today in St. Catherine Chapel at the Motherhouse of the Adrian Dominican Sisters, 1257 E. Siena Heights Dr., Adrian, Michigan.

Members of the Adrian Dominican Sisters General Council are Sisters Elise D. García, OP, Prioress; Bibiana “Bless” Colasito, OP, and Frances Nadolny, OP, General Councilors; Lorraine Réaume, OP, Vicaress and General Councilor; and Corinne Sanders, OP, General Councilor.

March 30, 2023, Adrian, Michigan – The General Council of the Adrian Dominican Sisters, on behalf of the Sisters and Associates, released the following statement affirming the Vatican’s repudiation of the Doctrine of Discovery, which was used to justify the oppression of colonial powers over indigenous peoples.

We Adrian Dominican Sisters wholeheartedly affirm the step taken by the Vatican to repudiate the “Doctrine of Discovery,” a doctrine based on 15th century papal bulls created and used by colonial powers to justify their oppression of indigenous peoples and seizure of lands. It is a step that indigenous people around the globe have long pressed for and that we too joined in support.

The Vatican statement acknowledges that the papal bulls did not “reflect the equal dignity and rights of indigenous peoples” and that it is “only just to recognize these errors, acknowledge the terrible effects of the assimilation policies and the pain experienced by indigenous peoples, and ask for pardon.” 

The statement goes on to say, “Furthermore, Pope Francis has urged: ‘Never again can the Christian community allow itself to be infected by the idea that one culture is superior to others, or that it is legitimate to employ ways of coercing others.’”

We are deeply grateful to Pope Francis for his humble, open-hearted listening to our indigenous sisters and brothers; for honestly naming the Church’s errors; and for clearly calling us forward as human persons, all made in God’s image, never again “to be infected by the idea that one culture is superior to others.”

Members of the Adrian Dominican General Council are: Sisters Elise D. García, OP, Prioress; Janice Brown, OP, and Bibiana “Bless” Colasito, OP, General Councilors; Lorraine Réaume, OP, Vicaress and General Councilor; and Corinne Sanders, OP, General Councilor.