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 31, 2025, Adrian, Michigan – Brother Guy Consolmagno, SJ, the Director of the Vatican Observatory, visits Adrian in March to offer a program titled A Jesuit’s Guide to the Stars and for an evening reception and short presentation.

A Jesuit’s Guide to the Stars is from 1:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Thursday, March 13, 2025, at Weber Retreat and Conference Center. The cost for the program, which is in person and livestreamed, is $35. Registration is required. The reception – 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on the same day at Weber Center – is free and open to the public. The evening will include soft drinks, hors d’oeuvres, and a half-hour presentation.

Jesuit spirituality is centered on “finding God in all things,” represented by the universe itself. In this program, Brother Guy describes how we find God in the joy we experience in observing the sky. Brother Guy, a native of Detroit, earned degrees in Planetary Science from MIT and the University of Arizona, was a research fellow at Harvard and MIT, and served in Kenya with the U.S. Peace Corps. He taught university physics before entering the Jesuits in 1989 and has served at the Vatican Observatory since 1993. Pope Francis appointed him Director of the Vatican Observatory in 2015.

To register for the afternoon program, visit www.webercenter.org and click on “programs,” call 517-266-4000, or email [email protected]. Limited scholarships are available.

Weber Center is on the campus of the Adrian Dominican Sisters Motherhouse, Adrian, Michigan. On East Siena Heights Drive, turn into the driveway between Adrian Rea Literacy Center and the solar panel-covered carport. Follow the signs to Weber Center. For information, call the Weber Center at 517-266-4000.