What's Happening

November 15, 2024, Houston, Texas – Sister Maureen O’Connell, OP, Director of the Secretariat of Social Concerns for the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, was honored on October 24, 2024, at the Journey with Emmaus Gala, for her years of service to the people of God. 

In addition to ministering with the archdiocese, Sister Maureen served as a Chicago Police Officer before she entered the Adrian Dominican Congregation. After moving to Texas as a Sister, she founded and directed Angela House, a resident program for formerly incarcerated women that supports and equips the residents to re-enter the greater community as involved citizens. 

The gala was hosted by the Emmaus Spirituality Center in Houston. Founded more than 40 years ago by the Cenacle Sisters, Emmaus was destroyed by Hurricane Harvey in August 2017. A group of laypeople with the Spiritual Direction Institute found space at a local Lutheran Church and continued the ministry of Emmaus, Sister Maureen said. She has been active with the Emmaus Center, offering them training on Catholic social teaching, Sister Maureen said.

“The evening was lovely,” with a crowd of a little more than 200 people who participated in the dinner, the awards ceremony, and a live auction to raise funds for the Emmaus Spirituality Center, Sister Maureen said. She said that the staff had originally asked her to give a talk during the gala. “It was shocking to hear that I was being honored.”

Still, Sister Maureen gave a brief talk that evening, challenging her audience to speak out against injustice and to defend the rights and dignity of human beings – especially those who are marginalized – through nonviolence. 

To illustrate the power of nonviolence, Sister Maureen told the story of a snake – shared by author Anthony de Mello – who was tamed by a holy teacher after it had bitten many local villagers. Realizing he was now tame, the villagers beat up the snake, who complained about this to his teacher. The teacher noted that he had taught the snake nonviolence – not to hit, but not to stop hissing.

“Nonviolence does not harm, but it does know when to hiss,” Sister Maureen said. “It hisses loud and long at every system and structure that [treads on] the weak and powerless underfoot.” She noted that nonviolence “can never be equated with passivity; it is the essence of courage, creativity, and action.” 

Our task, she said, is to learn how to hiss, “to call out the institutions, the systems and the organizations that ignore and diminish the dignity of the human person. We profess that we are loved by God, created in the image and likeness of God, so it should follow that we treat everyone as we would treat God.” 

In an interview after the gala, Sister Maureen reflected on the highlights of her years in ministry, particularly her work at Angela House. The women seek help in reintegrating into society have already paid the consequences for the actions and mistakes that led to their incarceration. “When they want to return and become healthy citizens, they face barriers that make it hard for them to maintain themselves,” she said.

Sister Maureen has been inspired by the women at Angela House. “I got to witness these women making choices and doing the kinds of things they need to do to be healthy, whole members of the community,” she said. 

She has also been inspired by the people who have volunteered at Angela House. “As people became engaged in the ministry, they realized that [the residents] are people like you and me.” High school students and women from the local parish became involved, spending time monthly with the women at Angela House, she said. “One of the women came to me and said, ‘We learn so much from [the Angela House residents] and how they have overcome the challenges that they experienced.’” 

Read more about Sister Maureen’s life and ministries. 

 

Caption for above feature photo: Sister Maureen O’Connell, OP, left, and Mary Pierson, Executive Director of the Emmaus Spirituality Center in Houston, during a gala event honoring Sister Maureen.
Photo Courtesy of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston 
 

November 12, 2024, New York, New York – Dominican Sisters throughout the world shared in an October 30, 2024, webinar how they and their congregations are working toward completing three of the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). 

Webinar host Sister Philomena Benedict Le Gall, OP, of the Dominican Sisters of Stone, England, said the goals, adopted by the UN in 2015, “provide a blueprint for peace,” so that by 2030, poverty will be eradicated and people will “enjoy peace and prosperity.”

Adrian Dominican Sister Durstyne Farnan, OP, UN Representative for the Dominicans, introduced the three goals that were discussed in the webinar: No. 3, Health and Well-being for All; No. 13, which addresses climate change; and No. 16, Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions. 

Two other Adrian Dominican Sisters spoke of their work toward achieving one of the three designated Sustainable Development Goals. Sister Marissa Figueroa, OP, ministers in the Philippines as the Director of the University of the Assumption’s extension program with local schools, encouraging them to act against climate change. 

“The University of the Assumption is committed to integrating care for creation in all sectors of the university,” Sister Marissa said. Students recycle plastics and use them as planters, participate in environmental clean-ups, and research natural pest control methods. Through eco-farms in urban areas, students, faculty members, administrators, and families learn and practice sustainable agriculture. Through the food for work program, “participants earn food by working in community gardens and gaining skills in environmental farming,” Sister Marissa said.  

Sister Ellen Burkhardt, OP, of Detroit, works for the achievement of peace, justice, and strong institutions through her involvement with the Meta Peace Team, founded in 1994 in part by the late Sister Mary Pat Dewey, OP. “The mission is to work actively to create a just world, grounded in nonviolence and respect for the interconnectedness of all people,” Sister Ellen said. “We seek to bring peace in areas of conflict.”

Meta Peace Team teaches creative nonviolence, Sister Ellen said. Trained teams are deployed abroad and in regions of conflict within the United States. Wearing yellow vests emblazoned with “Peace Team,” volunteers are present in areas of potential conflict where they are invited, often “quelling any thought of violence” by their very presence and by engaging potentially violent people in conversation, she explained.

Sister Josephine Rose Fernandez Blanco, OP, spoke of how her congregation, the Dominican Sisters of St. Catherine of Siena in the Philippines, works toward the fulfillment of SDG 3 through its hospitals, medical clinics, medical mission teams, and homes for elderly and sick Sisters. At a school near the congregation’s hospital, students are trained to “save lives … educate and care for the mothers, deliver babies safely, and follow up 18 months after birth.” In a world where, globally, 800 women die every day from pregnancy or childbirth, her hospital offers “healthy pregnancy with little or no deaths,” she said.

“Ending poverty and other deprivations must go hand-in-hand with strategies that improve health and reduce inequality,” said Sister Maria Yelitza Ayala Gilot, OP, of the Puerto Rico-based Dominican Sisters of Fatima. Now stationed in Maryland, she works toward achieving the third goal through her work in a program that offers mental health, legal, and social services to families living in an area often afflicted by hurricanes and domestic abuse. Women are trained in skills such as baking, computer usage, electrical work, and jewelry-making. “A support network and sharing of skills helps them,” Sister Maria Yelitza said. “We are creating friendships so that the women look at themselves as beloved children of God,” able to care for themselves and their children, she said.

Lara Kelly, a lay woman who works in the justice office of the Dominican Sisters of Cabra in Ireland, spoke in a recorded video of the community’s efforts to address SDG 13. In its 2021 General Chapter, the Sisters of Cabra made commitments to “develop and establish a green policy for the congregation” and to “study new sustainable economic models to help people get out of poverty and prevent further environmental damage.” Cabra Dominican Sisters work in New Orleans, Argentina, and Portugal to teach about cosmology, environmental issues, and climate change through organic farms and climate centers. 

While the webinar focused on only three goals, the Sisters noted that the 17 goals are interrelated. “When you work on one goal, you automatically work on the other goals,” Sister Mari Yelitza said. 

Sister Philomena reminded participants of the urgent need to continue working on the SDGs, which were established in 2015 and have a target date of 2030. “We’re two-thirds of the way through and have only achieved 17%,” she said. “We see amazing work and we pray that this good work continues.”