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November 26, 2025, Detroit – About 40 Adrian Dominican Sisters and Associates and interested community members spent the weekend of October 31-November 1, 2025, immersed in the history of the civil rights movement in the United States. 

The Selma Retreat – organized by the Adrian Dominican Sisters’ Diversity Enactment Circle and offered through Weber Retreat and Conference Center – included a screening of the film Selma, dinner, group discussion of the film on Friday, and a visit to the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit on Saturday. The program was designed to honor the 60th anniversary of the historic 1965 march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights advocates who sought the guaranteed right to vote for African Americans.

The retreat was an opportunity for Adrian Dominican Sisters and Associates to live out the Congregation’s Diversity Enactment, which commits 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.”

“Everyone who was involved appreciated the opportunity, the discussions, and in that I think there’s a growth – whatever growth that might be,” said Sister Janice Brown, OP, who helped to organize the retreat. “It was different for each person, but I think everyone left holding something new in their heart.” 

“We continue to work toward and understand what it means to be made in the image and likeness of God, and that life – humanity and [all of] creation – has a certain dignity,” Sister Janice said. “That’s what Martin Luther King focused on, and he didn’t do it alone.”

Sister Patricia McDonald, OP, helped organize the retreat. “We wanted to help people become aware of the injustices some people have to deal with,” she said. She added that the retreat was a “good reinforcement” of what she had learned as a history teacher and historian. “I’ve always looked at civil rights as an area of study,” she said. “It’s a social justice issue, and the African-American population has been treated so unjustly.” 

The Selma Retreat was not Sister Pat’s first study of the civil rights movement. She participated in an April 2019 civil rights pilgrimage to Alabama with seven other Adrian Dominican Sisters and Associates and members of the First Presbyterian Church in Tecumseh, Michigan. “What hit me was to be physically in the space and to walk the Edmund Pettus Bridge, and to know that that was where African Americans were beaten,” she said.

Both experiences reinforced for Sister Pat the awareness of the racial injustice still found in the United States. “Our rules are not fair,” she said. “It instills in me the responsibility we have to be just and … to have a social consciousness. What struck me is the need to change unjust rules, practices, and laws that exist in our democracy.”

Sister Nancyann Turner, OP, was especially impressed by the integration of the civil rights advocates’ faith with their actions. “Hopefully, that foundation and integration is part of all that we are about.” 

Sister Nancyann also admired the courage and persistence of the civil rights activists. “I have not yet had to put my life on the line for my beliefs, but I surely hope I would be willing to,” she said. “I lament with so many people today and I surely want to walk with them in hope.” 

Sister Janet Wright, OP, said she was jolted when walking into the museum. “Some of the fear and anxiety came back for a few minutes,” as she recalled original intense feelings in 1965 during the Selma March. “Some of our Sisters wanted very much to go to Selma but couldn’t,” she said. 

In general, Sister Janet said, the retreat “has given me a renewed and more informed awareness of the courage of all involved in civil rights and voting rights.”

Sister Janice believes the call of civil rights activists 60 years ago is still ringing today. “We are called to stand up for one another,” she said. “We are called to speak truth to power and to do that in a way that is respectful. We’re part of a larger body of Christ, and we’re called to [speak out] for one another.”

 

Caption for above feature photo: Participants in during the second day of the October 31-November 1, 2025, Selma Retreat pose in the foyer of the Charles Wright Museum of African American History.

By Sister Nancyann Turner, OP

August 27, 2025, Detroit – Current and former students and volunteers, families, friars, and staff members gathered on August 16, 2025, for a spirited celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Rosa Parks Children and Youth Program of the Capuchin Soup Kitchen in Detroit. They also honored Sister Nancyann Turner, OP, who created the program and directed it for more than 20 years. 

Michelle Anderson, Director of the Rosa Parks Children and Youth Program, and Brother Gary Wegner, OSF Cap., who directs all aspects of the Capuchin Soup Kitchen, welcomed the participants and offered remarks.

The Rosa Parks Children and Youth Program, open from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. on weekdays, offers young people creative alternatives to violence through after-school tutoring, art therapy for children ages 6 to 15, a large lending library, seasonal family activities such as baking Christmas cookies, a youth leadership program for teenagers, and a three-week summer peace camp.

Sister Nancyann reviewed the history and the various groups responsible for building and sustaining the multifaceted program for Detroit’s east side children and teens. She mentioned how much she had been changed and nurtured during her 23 years with the program.

“My prayer, my spirituality, and my sense of mission have been so inspired, stretched, nurtured, and blessed by my relationships with the many families, staff, and volunteers with whom I journeyed,” Sister Nancyann said. “I learned to lament. I learned to bless. I learned to accompany. I learned to give thanks for joy. My family became your family, your family became mine, and your presence in my life is still very sacred.”

Sister Nancyann concluded her remarks with a plea to keep children and youth as a top priority. “What our children think, what they create, what they feel, and what they love will create the future for generations to come,” she said. “Our children need villages; our children need to flourish, not just exist or survive.” She reminded those assembled, “Forever, you are part of this beloved community.”

The evening continued with dinner. The children of the Rosa Parks Peace Garden concluded the evening with a blessing and the presentation of a huge bouquet to Sister Nancyann.

Sister Suzanne Schreiber, OP, a long-time volunteer with the children’s program, accompanied Sister Nancyann at the event. Other Adrian Dominican Sisters who volunteered for tutoring or art at the Rosa Parks program included Sisters Katherine Frazier, OP, Mary Lou Putrow, OP, and Kathleen Voss, OP, and the late Sisters Pauline Oplinger, OP, Marie Solanus Reilly, OP, and Kathleen “Kay” Watt, OP. Numerous Mission Groups of Sisters and Associates made contributions and offered support throughout the years. 

Sister Suzanne said that the celebration was “a real testimony to community building” and to Sister Nancyann’s efforts through the years to save lives. “I was so happy to be there and to witness the love and care that Beloved Community has for [her]” and to see the familiar faces of volunteers, former students, and mothers, she said. 
 

Caption for above feature photo: Friends and participants of the Rosa Parks Children and Youth Program gather for its 25th anniversary celebration. 
Photo by Tim Hinkle, Capuchin Development Office, used with permission