What's Happening

February 5, 2025, Bangalore, Karnataka, India – Adrian Dominican Sister Durstyne Farnan, OP, spoke recently to Dominican Justice Promoters from the Asia-Pacific Region about the importance of partnering with the United Nations. She was invited to speak at the 12th Conference on Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation for the Dominicans’ Asian-Pacific Region, held January 11-15, 2025, at the Montfort Spirituality Center in Bangalore, Karnataka, India.

Sister Durstyne spoke as the Dominicans’ United Nations NGO, as well as the International Dominican Sisters Justice Promoter. She was invited to speak at the conference by Sister Ameline Intia, OP, a Justice Promoter from the Philippines who attended the United Nations’ 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW68), held at the UN March 11-22, 2024. Sister Durstyne hosted 10 Dominicans at the event.

Sister Durstyne said she spoke to the Dominican Justice Promoters about the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), in which participating nations set goals in 17 areas as a “shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and planet, according to the UN website. The inter-related goals cover areas such as hunger, poverty, education, peace, and sustainability.  

Sister Durstyne explained that each nation works on the SDGs separately, setting their own target goals and objectives that must be met to achieve the SDGs. Only 17 percent of the work has been complete, with a target date of 2030. This summer, the UN will host a High Level Political Forum in which representatives of each country gives a review of their status on five of the 17 SDGs. 

Sister Durstyne also spoke to the justice promoters in general about her role as the Dominican UN representative in New York. “This [was] the first time anyone is addressing them about this,” she said. “It was a fabulous opportunity to address them about how we can partner with each other.”

During the conference, the justice promoters also crafted their mission statement and goals for their work in the Asia-Pacific Region for the next three years. Goals included organizing, mobilizing, and strengthening their capacity in justice, peace, and integrity of creation; developing and maintaining common programs in the areas of migration, climate emergency, misinformation, and all forms of violence; partnering with stakeholders; and networking with the Dominican representatives at the UN.

In plenary sessions, justice promoters from each country gave reports on the status of work in their country and listened to talks. The conference also included time for prayer, liturgy, the rosary, meals, and breaks. For Sister Durstyne, one of the highlights was a series of dances performed by the novices of the Dominican Sisters of the Presentation – the largest Dominican congregation in the world.  

“People need to know the Dominicans for Justice and Peace are very active in their countries,” Sister Durstyne said. “They’re really working with the marginalized in their countries.” She gave the example of the Dominican Sisters of the Presentation, whose ministries include a pre-K school for 190 children in the slums. “What they are doing is amazing,” she said. 

She also spoke of Father Praveen Monteiro, OP, of India, whose parish organizes about 56 programs, from awareness for the National Day of the Girl Child, International Women’s Day, and human trafficking to summer camps for the children and a program in which women learn to be tailors.

In Gujarat, in northern India, the Dominican Sisters of the Rosary are helping the women to reclaim some of their traditional embroidery skills to generate some income, she added. 

A sightseeing day during the conference gave Sister Durstyne the opportunity to visit another part of India and to interact with the people. “We went to see palaces and dancing waters in the fountains,” she recalled, but they also experienced the hospitality of the Dominican Sisters of the Presentation. “They gave us each a wreath of chrysanthemums,” she recalled. 

But the Sisters didn’t need to travel far in India to experience the hospitality. Sister Durstyne recalled receiving another wreath of flowers during a meeting in Bangalore, as well as an invitation to join a local family’s celebration of their baby’s baptism. “It was a full moon night,” she said. “People were dancing and [we had] lots of food and sodas … The hospitality of the people is just so striking.”

Looking back on her time in India, Sister Durstyne said, “It was a wonderful experience. We had a great opportunity to talk about the Dominican NGO and why it’s so important for us Dominicans to be part of it.”
 

Caption for above feature photo: Novices of the Dominican Sisters of the Presentation, from India, performed a series of dances during a recent meeting of Dominican Justice and Peace Promoters of the Asian-Pacific Region. 

January 6, 2025, Winter Park, Florida – Sister Rosemary Finnegan, OP, and members of the Haiti Committee of St. Margaret Mary Parish, Winter Park, Florida, spoke on the parish’s 20-year ministry with parishes in Haiti. The December 17, 2024, livestreamed presentation was offered during the worldwide Dominican family’s 2024 Month of Peace, focusing on the people of Haiti.

In a letter to the Dominican family, Father Gerard Francisco Timoner III, OP, Master of the Order, described the reasons for focusing on Haiti in 2024. “For many years, the people in Haiti have been subjected to violent atrocities and human rights violations, incessant killings, kidnappings, sexual assaults, human trafficking, and forced labour,” he wrote. “These have greatly impacted members of the Dominican Family, including their ability to meet physically, while others have had to leave the country for safety reasons.”

In their ministry, the people of St. Margaret Mary Parish partner with a parish in Haiti for five years, partnering with them to establish programs aimed to meet the needs identified by the community. Some developments have included medical clinics, schools, chapels, agriculture programs, peace programs, community building, and a women’s banking program. 

“We attribute our success to a strong mission relationship” said Ken Firling, a committee member. “We depend on the Haitians to identify the needs that are most important to them. Never have they come up with one thing that’s not very valuable or useful.”

Sister Rosemary said the Haitian parishioners “work hard to get things going I’ve seen a lot happening because of the urgency of five years.”

Toward the end of the presentation, Sister Rosemary expressed her gratitude for the “people of Haiti, who have shared their joys and struggles with us. We love to be with them and share their love and joy and faith.”

The presentation was offered through the efforts of Sister Kathleen Nolan, OP, Director of the Adrian Dominican Sisters Office of Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation, as well as the Justice Promoters who work with her. Watch the entire presentation.