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November 11, 2015, University Center, Michigan – Sister Cheryl Liske, OP, community organizer and executive director of Gamaliel of Michigan, had the “distinct pleasure” of addressing some 425 delegates from 87 congregations of Community of Christ during their 2015 Fall Conference. Held November 6-8 at Saginaw Valley State University, the conference focused on “Liberating Disruption.”
The purpose of the 250,000-member Community of Christ Church is to “proclaim Jesus Christ and promote communities of joy, hope, love, and peace,” with love as the “proper foundation of our relationship with others.”
In the first of three talks, Sister Cheryl spoke of her 25 years of work at Gamaliel, “founding and creating all five of the faith-based organizations in Detroit Metro, Saginaw, Kalamazoo, Battle Creek, and Lansing.” In describing her membership in the Dominican family, she noted St. Dominic’s movement from serving as canon in the monastic community to the foundation of the Order of Preachers to serve “people who longed for the Church to reach out to them, come to them in their every day lives, and live like them…in their towns and villages.”
In her second, longer talk, Sister Cheryl focused on helping the Community of Christ delegates to understand the tools of community organizing that they could use in their own outreach to the world. “All of the trainings, issue work, and ongoing contact …creates in our member organizations a kind of ‘culture’ that enhances the work of the church,” she said.
Sister Cheryl introduced the delegates to a number of attitudes that are “foundational to community organizing”:
In a third talk, Sister Cheryl was invited to reflect on the Community of Christ as an outsider looking in. “I told them…that because of their team-like structure they were less like Superman – a single, solitary man of steel living in an ice palace – and more like Supergirl (in the new television series) – someone who lives in a little apartment [and] gathers a team around herself…in order to do the good things she wants to do.”
Adam Bouverette, part of the five-member Interim Michigan Mission Center President Team, thanked Sister Cheryl for addressing their organization and for learning about its purpose and mission. “We have no doubt that your affirmation and agitation will help us take steps toward abolishing poverty, ending needless suffering, and pursuing peace on Earth,” he said.
November 11, 2015, Miami Beach, Florida – Every year, Barry University’s Founders’ Week in November includes special celebratory events. This year, marking the University’s 75th anniversary, Founders Week’ events are even more special.
The Founders’ Week celebration of Barry’s Adrian Dominican Legacy included lunchtime breakout sessions with Adrian Dominican Sisters on Tuesday, November 10. That evening, author Jo Pizza gave a keynote address, “If Nuns Ruled the World,” including book signing. Serving on a panel with her were Adrian Dominican Sisters Carleen Maly, OP, director of Adrian Rea Literacy Center in Adrian; Kathy Nolan, OP, director of the Congregation’s Office of Global Mission, Justice, and Peace; and Nancyann Turner, OP, director of the Rosa Parks Children and Youth Program at the Capuchin Soup Kitchen in Detroit. Special events on Wednesday, November 12, included a one-woman play on the life of St. Catherine of Siena by Sister Nancy Murray, OP.
As a further celebration of the Adrian Dominican heritage, Barry University established their Living History Project, “Founding our Future.” Featured on Barry’s website are video interviews with 25 Adrian Dominican Sisters who have influenced the University through their service as administrators, faculty and staff members, and members of the Board of Trustees.