What's Happening

March 7, 2024, Adrian, Michigan – Adrian Dominican Sisters Lorene Heck, OP, and Mary Priniski, OP, recently made their second trip to the Amazon Rainforest in Ecuador, renewed their acquaintance with the local Achuar people, and learned from them about their cultures and the need to preserve the rainforest and all of Earth.

In a February 14, 2024, presentation, Sisters Lorene and Mary recounted their experiences of traveling from one rainforest village to another on three-hour canoe rides, hiking in the jungle, being reunited with members of the Achuar community, and their many encounters and lessons learned from the Achuar communities. 

Their trip at the end of 2023 was a follow-up to their first tour of the Amazon Rainforest in Ecuador in November 2022. The 2022 trip gave Sister Lorene, Director of the Congregation’s Ministry Trust Fund, the opportunity to experience firsthand the Ecotourism project of the Achuar people, funded in part by a Ministry Trust grant. 

“The Ministry Trust Fund has made it possible for the Achuar to train guides for ecotourism,” Sister Lorene explained. “The Ministry Trust member initiative was introduced to the Achuar people by [the late] Sister Judy Bisignano, for whom the rainforest was a life-changing experience.” 

Sister Judy was the founder of Maketai, Inc., a nonprofit organization that supports the projects of the Achuar people. “Maketai means thank you, and [the Achuar people] are extremely grateful for any people who come and visit them because they really want people to know the importance of the rainforest and make a commitment to the maintenance of the sustainability of the rainforest,” Sister Mary explained. “Their big goal is to unite all the Achuar communities to work together to protect the rainforest.”  

The Ministry Trust also granted funds to the Achuars’ reforestation project, which involved planting 10,000 saplings. The Achuar community makes use of trees to build their homes. Reforesting is “part of their desire to preserve the rainforest and to be responsible stewards of the rainforest,” Sister Lorene said.

The importance of the rainforest is one of the lessons the Achuar people strive to teach the eco-tourists who visit them. But the lesson extends beyond the rainforest to the need to protect all of Earth. “When I think of what they’re doing [in Ecuador] and what we’re doing with our land, it’s all of a piece,” Sister Mary said. “How do we really allow for the Earth to flourish? We need to do our part here as they’re trying to do their part there.”

Watch a video recording of the presentation.

Feature photo at top: Sisters Mary Priniski, OP, left, and Lorene Heck, OP, talk about their recent experiences in the Ecuadorian rainforest.

By Sister Nancyann Turner, OP

February 26, 2024, Detroit – Some 45 people representing eight Catholic parishes, the Synod of the Covenant Presbyterian Church, an elder in the Christian Community Church, and three religious orders met on February 17, 2024, to share conversation and reflection on race.

This was the first of four meetings to be held at different areas within the Archdiocese of Detroit during the next four months. The series is funded in part through a grant from the Capuchin Franciscans, a religious order of men within the Catholic Church.

The series was initiated by the Archdiocese of Detroit Anti-Racism Coalition. Leaders of the day included Adrian Dominican Sister Cheryl Liske, OP; Angela James, Director of the Gamaliel Race and Power Institute; and Minister DeJuan Bland, lead organizer of Detroit’s Metropolitan Organizing Strategy Enabling Strength (MOSES), a community-organizing nonprofit organization that develops strong grassroots leaders and organizes campaigns to address social justice issues.

Adrian Dominican Sisters Ellen Burkhardt, OP, Cheryl Liske, OP, Anneliese Sinnott, OP, and Nancyann Turner, OP, are among the members of the Detroit Anti-Racism Coalition. Steven Wasko of Our Lady Gate of Heaven/St. Suzanne Parish leads this coalition.

The group that met February 17 discussed examples of personal, interpersonal, and institutional racism, but the primary focus of the meeting was on understanding structural and systemic racism and the many places where it exists.

Attendees shared in small groups their reasons for attending this gathering about racism and what they felt was at stake. Each person also set some personal goals for these Sacred Conversations. The closing ritual included the anointing of hands as a sign of continuing this work.  

The next Sacred Conversations on Race is scheduled for Saturday, April 13, 2024, at St. Mary of the Hills in Rochester Hills, Michigan.

 

Feature photo at top: Leaders at the first Sacred Conversations on Race discussion are, from left, Angela James, DeJuan Bland, and Sister Chery Liske, OP.