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October 4, 2024, Adrian, Michigan – In response to the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene, and on behalf of all Adrian Dominican Sisters and Associates, the Leadership Council of the Adrian Dominican Congregation issued the following statement.
Our hearts ache as we see apocalyptic images of the devastation left by Hurricane Helene, which took the lives of more than 200 people across six states. More than half of the victims were in North Carolina, including the county surrounding Asheville, a city that to many “seemed like a refuge from some of the worries that come with a warming planet,” according to the New York Times.
We pray for those who lost their lives and for their grieving loved ones, for the hundreds of persons still missing, and for the tens of thousands whose homes or livelihoods were destroyed and are struggling to recover. We also pray in gratitude for all the local, state, and federal emergency workers, members of the National Guard and the many nonprofit organizations and faith-based institutions that are reaching out to provide needed assistance – along with the many Samaritan neighbors selflessly helping others across ravaged neighborhoods.
As we all focus on offering urgently needed support, along with prayer, let us also take time in this national election season to carefully examine the positions on climate change of political leaders seeking office in state legislatures, gubernatorial races, the U.S. Congress, and the White House. As air and ocean temperatures rise due to human-induced global warming, supercharged hurricanes and tropical storms are causing unprecedented ocean surges and rainfalls. “This has the fingerprints of climate change on it,” said North Carolina’s state climatologist Kathie Dello on the effects of Hurricane Helene.
As women of faith who reverence the profound Mystery of creation – God’s gratuitous gift, our common Earth home – we call on all elected leaders and those seeking to lead us to commit to policies that will take us off the catastrophic path we are on by addressing climate change. On this Feast of St. Francis, we Dominicans join in his prayer: “First do what is necessary. Then do what is possible. And before you know it you are doing the impossible.”
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.