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July 15, 2022, Washington, D.C. – As the United States reeled under a series of tragic mass shooting incidents, Sister Judy Byron, OP, brought a unique perspective to a panel discussion exploring gun violence. She spoke of the role of socially responsible investors working with gun manufacturers to encourage them to do their part in keeping society safe from gun violence.
Sister Judy is the Coordinator of the Northwest Coalition for Responsible Investment in Seattle, Washington, and Consultant for the Adrian Dominican Sisters’ Portfolio Advisory Board (PAB). She was participating in a panel discussion, “After Buffalo, After Uvalde, After Tulsa: Broken Hearts, Broken Nation, Faithful Action,” as part of Georgetown University’s Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life. John Carr, Co-director of the Initiative, moderated the panel discussion.
Sister Judy noted that women religious have, for 50 years, used investments to promote social justice and the common good through their work as members of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR). “We began to notice that whenever there was a mass shooting, every entity would put out a statement, but we never heard from the gun manufacturers,” she said.
During every shareholder season since 2019, members of the ICCR have brought resolutions to gun manufacturers Smith & Wesson and Sturm, Ruger and Company, asking them to respect human rights and engage in a risk assessment of their products, Sister Judy explained. A coalition of faith-based socially responsible investors led the stockholders of Sturm, Ruger to pass a resolution on June 1, asking the company to prepare a Human Rights Impact Statement on their products.
Sister Judy also spoke to her personal connection to the shootings as a 25-year teacher. “I’m heartbroken,” she said. When she was a teacher, “we had fire drills and earthquake drills, but the children were happy and safe.” After the mass shooting of students and teachers at Sandy Hook Elementary Schools, she realized that the adults of the nation needed to do something to prevent gun violence and keep children safe.
On the positive side, Sister Judy spoke of her pride in the response of the Catholic Church to the mass shootings. “The response has been what it should be,” she said. “We have seen our Church at its best.”
Other panelists spoke of their own response to the shootings. Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller of San Antonio recalled his visit to Uvalde, Texas, after the shooting at Robb Elementary School.
“Something that was very strong in my heart was I need to be there and to connect with the people,” he said. Because the people of Uvalde are so close-knit, finding them was easy, he said. “You got to see suffering, pain, some kind of numbness proper to a shock experience, and a lot of tears.”
He spoke in particular of the need to listen to the stories of the people suffering from the gun violence. “We need to know how to be with the people right there,” he said. “At the level of policy, guns have been idols and we treat them like that – sacred – and with those arms we kill children and [other] innocent people.”
Father Bryan Massingale, Professor of Theological and Social Ethics at Fordham University in New York and author of Racial Justice and the Catholic Church (2010), visited Buffalo, New York, after 10 Black people were killed during a mass shooting at Topps Friendly Market grocery store.
Like all hate crimes, Father Bryan said, the shooting in Buffalo sent a message. “The message we got is that this is a country where our lives are not safe, a country where our lives don’t matter,” he said. “What we see in Buffalo is the end result of years of racial manipulation, the appeal to racial fears, telling white people that their privileged status is in danger.”
Father Bryan reiterated the message of Pope Francis that Catholics cannot turn a blind eye to racism. “The deepest problem for Catholics is not if we believe in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist,” he said. “The deepest problem for Catholics is do we believe in the presence of Christ in Black and Brown bodies?”
Sister Mary Haddad, RSM, President and CEO of the Catholic Health Association (CHA), visited St. Francis Hospital in Tulsa, Oklahoma, after a mass shooter killed five people. “I was shocked, but this time it was personal,” she said. “St. Francis is a member of CHA.” During her visit, she conveyed the condolences of many people to the healthcare workers, who she described as resilient.
CHA’s position on gun violence “is informed by faith, but also by our healthcare workers who see the results of gun violence,” she said. “We need to make all institutions safe.” She added that gun violence is a public health issue, which has seen a 49% increase in five years and a 75% increase in 10 years.
Also on the panel was Rhina Guidos, a Catholic News Service reporter who covered the Catholic Church’s response to the shootings. “The response from the Catholic Church is what the pope intended when he talked about the field hospital” – that the Church should care for those who are suffering. “We saw that in Uvalde, Buffalo, and Tulsa.”
The entire discussion can be viewed here.
July 7, 2022, Adrian, Michigan – In a historic General Chapter, the Adrian Dominican Sisters elected their next Prioress and General Council and set the direction for the next six years.
Sister Patricia Siemen, OP, Prioress, formally opened the Congregation’s 19th General Chapter, held June 27 to July 2, 2022, in the Marriott Chicago O’Hare Hotel. The dates and place of General Chapter 2022 were an unprecedented departure from the Congregation’s practice of meeting in Chapter in February at the Motherhouse in Adrian. The changes were made to keep the Sisters who reside at the Motherhouse – as well as the Delegates – as safe as possible during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Chapter’s 125 Delegates elected a Prioress and General Council to lead the Congregation through June 30, 2028. They will formally take office in October.
Sister Elise D. García, OP, Prioress-elect, served as Communications Director for the Adrian Dominican Sisters from 2011 until her election to the General Council in 2016. With Sister Carol Coston, OP, she co-founded and co-directed Santuario Sisterfarm, an ecology center in Texas dedicated to cultivating biodiversity and cultural diversity.
Sister Lorraine Réaume, OP, Vicaress/General Councilor-elect, recently completed her ministry as Co-director of the Collaborative Dominican Novitiate, where U.S.-based congregations of Dominican Sisters send their novices for formation in religious life. Sister Lorraine served as Pastoral Associate for Hispanic Ministry at Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in Anchorage, Alaska, and as Pastoral Associate at Ste. Anne de Detroit, a largely Hispanic parish.
Sister Janice Brown, OP, General Councilor-elect, served in the Detroit-metro region for more than 15 years as Executive Director of two of the Congregation’s literacy centers, Dominican Literacy Center and Siena Literacy Center. Before entering the Congregation in 2003, she was a single mother, raising her daughter and working in banking and finance. She was an Adrian Dominican Associate and, after her daughter lived on her own, felt called to religious life.
Sister Bibiana “Bless” Colasito, OP, General Councilor-elect, was born in the Leyte Province of the Philippines and joined the Dominican Congregation of Our Lady of Remedies in Pampanga, the Philippines, in 2000. That congregation merged with the Adrian Dominican Sisters in 2011. Sister Bless has been involved in school administration and social action, currently serving as Head of the Commission on Family and Life for the Diocese of San Jose, Nueva Ecija, Philippines.
Sister Corinne Sanders, OP, General Councilor-elect, serves as Director of the Office of Sustainability for the Adrian Dominican Sisters and assists the Office of Immigration Services as a paralegal. Before her election to the General Council in 2010, she was principal of Rosarian Academy, sponsored by the Adrian Dominican Sisters and located in West Palm Beach, Florida. She also served as Director of Mission and Ministry at Barry University in Miami Shores, Florida, and as Director of Formation for the Congregation.
The General Council-elect succeeds Sisters Patricia Siemen, OP, Prioress; Mary Margaret Pachucki, OP, Vicaress and General Councilor; Frances Nadolny, OP, Administrator and General Councilor; and Patricia Harvat, OP, and Elise D. García, OP, General Councilors.
The General Chapter Delegates also approved five Enactments to set the Congregation’s ministerial direction for the next six years. The Enactments were formulated from issues and concerns raised by Sisters and Associates during a virtual Congregational assembly in October 2021 and by groups of Sisters and Associates who submitted issues and action plans in November and December.
The Enactments are:
Diversity: “Challenged by the Gospel and outraged by systems that oppress, dehumanize and deny the image of God in each of us and Earth community, we commit to: acknowledge and repent of our complicity in the divisions prevalent in our church and our world; act to dismantle unjust systems; and build the beloved community in which everyone is cared for, absent of poverty, hunger, and hate.”
Dominican Vowed Life: “We are passionately committed to vowed Dominican life. Trusting in the Spirit and embracing the gift of our charism, we invite women to join us in our call to preach the Gospel.”
Spirituality: “Living in a time of global chaos and Paschal hope, and rooted in our Dominican tradition, we recognize our spiritual longings and those of the world. We commit to deepening our spirituality, attending to the evolutionary awakening of human consciousness and living into the transformation to which we are called both personally and communally.”
Sustainability/Laudato Si’: “Affirming the urgent need to live in right relationship with Earth community, we commit to address the cry of Earth and the cry of those who are poor by joining the Laudato Si’ Action Platform.” Based on a 2015 letter by Pope Francis on Earth, our Common Home, the Laudato Si’ Action Platform is a seven-year plan in which Catholic organizations such as parishes, dioceses, schools, and religious communities commit to working toward seven sustainability goals to heal Earth and work against global climate change.
Women: “Valuing human dignity, and aware of the injustice of patriarchy which maintains the subordinate status of women and girls throughout the world, we strive to attain gender equality and women’s full and equal participation and decision making in church and society.