What's Happening

March 3, 2023, Adrian, Michigan – The elected leaders of five congregations of Catholic Sisters in Michigan wrote the following letter of support to Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel and State Representative Samantha Steckloff in response to a recent antisemitic threat to the two political leaders. 
 

Dear Attorney General Nessel and Representative Steckloff,

We are alarmed and deeply concerned by public reports that antisemitism is on the rise in the State of Michigan and that you both were personally subjected to an antisemitic threat by a heavily armed Michigander. No elected leader in a democracy should ever face the threat of armed assault as you and Governor Gretchen Whitmer have encountered. The harmful repercussions of such violence are even more impactful when the threats are grounded in hatred of a leader’s religion, race, gender, ethnicity or sexuality.

As Catholic Sisters steeped in the Judeo-Christian tradition, and as elected leaders of congregations of women religious who have served people of all faith traditions in Michigan for nearly two centuries, we write to express our support and prayers for you and your families – and for all our Jewish sisters and brothers facing such hate-filled violence. We thank you, Attorney General Nessel, for fully engaging our State’s Hate Crimes and Domestic Terrorism Unit in threats of violence against elected officials and call on federal authorities to take vigorous action against such hate crimes. 

We pray that all Michiganders will join us in decrying antisemitism and in upholding the fundamental values of civil discourse in our democracy, respect for each other’s faith traditions, and love of neighbor.    

Sincerely yours,

Adrian Dominican Sisters (Adrian, Mich.) – Leadership Council: Elise D. García, OP, Janice Brown, OP, Bibiana Colasito, OP, Lorraine Réaume, OP, Corinne Sanders, OP, 
Peggy Coyne, OP, Judy Friedel, OP, Mary Jane Lubinski, OP, Mary Priniski, OP, Mary Soher, OP, Sharon Spanbauer, OP 

Grand Rapids Dominican Sisters (Grand Rapids, Mich.) – Leadership Team: Sandra Delgado, OP, Joan Williams, OP, Maureen Geary, OP, Megan McElroy, OP

Marist Sisters (Roseville, Mich.) – Leader: Linda Sevcik, SM

Servants of Jesus (Detroit, Mich.) – Congregational Leader: Paula Cooney, IHM

Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (Monroe, Mich.) – Leadership Team: Margaret Chapman, IHM, Marianne Gaynor, IHM, Jane Herb, IHM, Patricia McCluskey, IHM, Ellen Rinke, IHM

 

February 15, 2023, Adrian, Michigan – The following statement in response to the tragic gun violence at Michigan State University has been issued by the General Council of the Adrian Dominican Congregation on behalf of all Adrian Dominican Sisters.

The anguish of another devastating act of gun violence in our nation is even more acute when it happens in one’s own home state at a university attended by members of our families and other loved ones, and on the heels of the horrific Oxford High School shooting in Michigan just over a year ago. 

We hold the three young people whose lives were so savagely cut short and their grieving families in our hearts and prayer, and pray for the recovery of the five critically injured students. We pray too for the healing of all members of the Michigan State University community who are dealing with the shock and traumatic effects of the assault, and especially for MSU students tragically living through a second experience of mass shootings in their young lives. 

Our hearts are shattered by the rising tide of gun violence in our nation, rocking places like our children’s schools which should be sanctuaries of safety and security. There have been 67 mass shootings in our country in just over six weeks of this new year, according to the Gun Violence Archive. No other nation in the world experiences these kinds of mass shootings, made possible by the ease of access to so many weapons. We call on our Michigan State Legislators and on the U.S. Congress to take immediate urgent steps to enact comprehensive gun control laws.