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November 1, 2024, Adrian, Michigan – On behalf of Adrian Dominican Sisters and Associates, the Leadership Council of the Congregation issued the following statement, calling on Americans to treat one another with respect and dignity on National Election Day, November 5, 2024, as they cast their ballots.
In four days, American citizens of legal age will go to the polls to cast votes that will determine who will occupy the White House, seats in the U.S. Congress, and leadership roles in states, counties and municipalities. The presidential and congressional contenders paint a starkly different vision and pathway for the future of our nation, and polls indicate Americans are evenly divided in our preferences. Many votes already have been cast through early voting and absentee ballots.
As Catholic Sisters who treasure the Gospel values of our faith tradition and the democratic traditions of our nation, we call on our fellow Americans to treat one another with dignity and respect when we head to the polls. Let us honor each other as we exercise the most fundamental right in a democratic society – to vote for the leaders of our choice. Let us especially honor and respect fellow citizens of both political parties who work diligently at the polls to help ensure the integrity and fairness of our elections, which are at the heart of our democracy. They deserve our deep gratitude for this essential safeguarding work, not denigration with false accusations or threats of harm.
We Adrian Dominican Sisters follow the Way of a first-century Jew who called us to love God and one another – not just those who are like us but also those who differ in faith, race, gender, ethnicity, viewpoint. We strive to do so in the spirit of St. Dominic, a 13th-century Spaniard who called us to seek truth and speak it as preachers of the Gospel. We consequently speak out for justice, equity, and inclusion, respecting the dignity of all God’s richly diverse people; for protecting our sacred Earth home, honoring all life; and for peace in our nation and the world.
We pray that our faith, as Americans, in the goodness of our neighbors – families across the country who share their precious lives with one another – will triumph over partisan differences as we exercise the awesome freedom and responsibility of living in a democracy.
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Members of the Adrian Dominican Sisters Leadership Council include Sisters Bibiana Colasito, OP, General Councilor; Margaret Coyne, OP, Chapter Prioress; Sara Fairbanks, OP, Mission Prioress; Judith Friedel, OP, Chapter Prioress; Elise D. García, OP, Prioress of the Congregation; Mary Jane Lubinski, OP, Mission Prioress; Marie Yolanda Manapsal, OP, Chapter Prioress; Frances Nadolny, OP, General Councilor; Mary Priniski, OP, Chapter Prioress; Lorraine Réaume, OP, Vicaress and General Councilor; Corinne Sanders, OP, General Councilor; and Mary Soher, OP, Mission Prioress.
February 2, 2021, Detroit – The week of January 18, 2021, was a turning point not only for the United States as its new President and Vice President, Joseph Biden and Kamala Harris, were inaugurated. It was also a turning point for Sister Racquel Rones, OP, who became a new U.S. citizen the next day, January 21, at the Detroit District Office of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
Sister Racquel took her oath of citizenship with about 25 other people who came from a variety of countries. Because of COVID-19 protocols, she said, the new citizens were encouraged to leave after they received the certificate and could not participate in the tradition of shaking the judge’s hand. Still, she said, she celebrated with her local community from Adrian who had accompanied her to Detroit: Sisters Jo Gaugier, OP, Tarianne DeYonker, OP, and Attracta Kelly, OP.
“I am so happy,” said Sister Racquel, a native of the Philippines and a member of the Adrian Dominican Sisters’ Our Lady of Remedies Mission Chapter, based in Pampanga, the Philippines. She was inspired by the welcoming words of the judge who presided over her Naturalization ceremony. “He told us, ‘Don’t forget January 21, 2021 – you’re celebrating your second birthday,” she recalled. “He encouraged us, when we’re able to travel, to discover the United States, our new country, with many mountains and beaches.”
Sister Racquel entered the Dominican Congregation of Our Lady of Remedies in 2000 and made her final profession of vows in April 2009. When the Remedies Congregation merged with the Adrian Dominican Sisters in 2011, she said, she was encouraged to consider applying for U.S. citizenship because of her youth and the possibility that one day she might minister in the United States.
Her ministries have included managing the Dominican Religious Store in San Fernando, Pampanga; serving as teacher, librarian, and bookkeeper at Dominican School of Apalit in Apalit, Pampanga; and serving as school treasurer at Holy Rosary College Foundation in Tala, Caloocan, and at Immaculate Conception Academy in Guagua, Pampanga. In addition, she served as pastoral minister at St. Eystein Menighet Parish in BodØ, Norway.
Sister Racquel is no stranger to the United States. Shortly after the two congregations merged, she spent a year with her sister in California.
Before coming to Adrian in January 2020, Sister Racquel received a letter from Sister Attracta, Director of the Adrian Dominican Sisters’ Office of Immigration Assistance, listing the documents she would need to prepare to apply for U.S. citizenship. Her application was filed the second week of March.
“The hardest part [of becoming a citizen] was preparing for the interview and the exam,” Sister Racquel said. “Living with the community, watching the news, and being immersed in the culture really helped me, but what was really the hardest part was studying for the civics questions.”
She found support from her local community; from Sister Patricia Siemen, OP, Prioress, and members of the General Council; and from the Sisters at the Motherhouse, who encouraged her and prayed for her. In addition, Sister Corinne Sanders, OP, helped her to study for the exam and Sister Carleen Maly, OP, Director of the Adrian Rea Literacy Center, helped her improve her pronunciation of English.
In the end, Sister Racquel said, she was surprised by the easiness of the questions. “I didn’t find it hard,” she said. “If you’re open and ready, just challenge yourself. I was expecting the worst [of the exam], but my experience was not bad…. Prayers really work. Trust God.”
The new citizen also received informal education about the U.S. culture from her life with her local community in Adrian and from watching the news. She was particularly struck by the continuing efforts of African Americans – with the help of other Americans – to achieve racial equality through the Black Lives Matter movement. “It’s really enriching my history,” she said. “I’m so touched by their experience and how resilient they are, to be still fighting for their rights in this country.”
Sister Racquel also felt the shock of the Sisters in her community over the insurrection that took place at the Capitol on January 6 – and the excitement at watching the Inauguration. “We watched all day,” she said.
Once she receives her U.S. passport and visits her sister in California, Sister Racquel anticipates resuming ministry in the Philippines or Norway. But, she said, part of her will remain in her new country.
“I’m ready to embrace the future as an Adrian Dominican Sister,” Sister Racquel said. “I am so happy to know our Sisters, to share stories and life with them. … I will look back when I’m in my ministry, wherever that is. Now I have confidence.”
Feature photo: Sister Racquel Rones, OP, proudly displays her citizenship certificate and the U.S. flag on the day she became a naturalized U.S. citizen.