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October 8, 2024, Caloocan, Metro Manila, Philippines – The varied ministries of Sister May Cano, OP, of the Our Lady of Remedies Mission Chapter of the Adrian Dominican Sisters, literally take her near and far – from the daily needs of the Bajao peoples in the City of Zamboanga, Philippines, to the global concerns of climate change. Sister May serves as Caritas Secretary for the Diocese of Kalookan and as a Justice Promoter for the Adrian Dominican Sisters.
“I am a missionary in my own country,” Sister May said in an interview. “I feel the grace of embracing the different groups of people. I felt the love of Jesus as well as embraced the sufferings of Jesus” through the sufferings of the people.
Service to People on the Margins As Caritas Secretary, Sister May oversees the various programs in place that respond to the needs of the poor in the Diocese of Kalookan. Caritas is the equivalent to Catholic Charities in the United States, a network of diocesan agencies that respond to the needs of people in a variety of situations.
“Whenever we have a calamity, we supply the goods for more than 30 parishes, 20 mission stations, and other mission areas in the Diocese of Kalookan,” Sister May explained. In the case of a fire, for example, Caritas and its partner organizations provide basic needs for the victims, such as rice, other food items, and medicine.
A major service, she said, is to help the Bajao to obtain birth certificates, which allows them to further their education. Other Sisters in the Mission Chapter are working with the Indigenous Aeta people from the Pampanga region, where the Sisters’ central house is located. “We send them to universities to finish their college degree,” Sister May explained.
Sister May also works with victims of national injustice – particularly with the family members of the victims of former President Rodrigo Duterte’s Extrajudicial Killings (EJK) of people suspected of being involved in drugs or drug trafficking. As a result of the government’s “aggressive war against illegal drugs,” some 6,250 people were killed in police operations and another 20,000 were killed by unknown assailants, Sister May said. She added that the killings have decreased under the current President, Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos Jr., the son of Ferdinand Marcos and former First Lady Imelda Marcos.
“We launched a scholarship program to provide opportunities” for the survivors of the EJK victims, she said. Working with partners, the Diocese of Kalookan also offers medical support, livelihood support, and counseling for those who lost family members to EJK, Sister May added.
Justice Advocacy EJK is one of the many justice issues that Sister May has addressed as a Justice Promoter for the Adrian Dominican Sisters, under the Congregation’s Office of Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation, directed by Sister Kathleen Nolan, OP. In turn, the Adrian Dominican Justice Promoters are part of a global network working through the Dominican Sisters International Confederation (DSIC).
Sister May and the other Sisters in the Chapter also focus on the global climate emergency. “I said climate emergency rather than climate change because we are already experiencing the effects of global warming,” she explained. The Philippines have been suffering from “super typhoons,” such as Carina, which hit Metro Manila and other regions on July 24, 2024. “It was nonstop rain, heavy,” she recalled. “Many got flooded, even the Northern Luzon Expressway. All of Metro Manila was flooded.” Through her office, the diocese distributed food – including $1,000 worth of eggs – to 30 parishes and 20 mission stations.
To counteract the climate emergency, Sister May and the other Sisters in her Chapter educate people minister with about Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical letter, Laudato Si’, which calls for commitments to address climate change and environmental devastation. Among other things, the Sisters instruct on practices of reducing use, recycling, and reusing, or repurposing items. As a Congregation, the Adrian Dominican Sisters are part of the global Laudato Si’ Action Platform, in which Catholic organizations make commitments to act against global climate change.
Justice advocacy has been a vital aspect of Sister May’s ministries since before she entered religious life. As an aspirant – one discerning religious life – she was encouraged to attend seminars and workshops on justice and peace issues. As a novice, she was part of the Exchange of Dreams for a Unified Struggle (EXODUS), attending monthly talks to learn about the national situation and to deepen her knowledge of Scripture. “We integrated with the indigenous people, farmers, women, and urban poor and discussed their issues and our role,” Sister May recalled.
From 1999 to 2006, she was assigned to minister with the indigenous Aetas in the mountains, organizing them in sewing. She also worked with women in Manila, educating them about justice and peace, and ministered with persons with disabilities. “The seeds of justice and peace were planted in my heart and the majority of my life as a religious was spent in serving the poor and journeying with them, working for justice and peace,” she said.
Sister May’s hopes are that “someday all the victims of EKJ will acquire justice; that our Mother Earth, our common home, will be cured; and that we may become an instrument in proclaiming the Gospel truth and continue to give witness to what we are preaching in words.”
Caption for above photo: Sister May Cano, OP, stands near a display table for the Diocese of Kalookan’s Flowers for a Cause program. The sale of these flowers helps the diocese to provide food and other necessities for local people who are poor.
September 28, 2023, Adrian, Michigan – Adrian Dominican Sisters gathered on September 20, 2023, were transported half a world away from Adrian to the Philippines when Sisters Lourdes “Lou” Pamintuan, OP, and Victoria “Vicky” Changcoco, OP, gave a presentation on the history, ministries, and missions of the Sisters of Our Lady of Remedies based in the Philippines.
Sister Lou gave a history of the Remedies Dominican Congregation, which began in 1961 with the request by Bishop Emilio Cinense for Adrian Dominican Sisters to serve in the Diocese of San Fernando, Pampanga, Philippines. Mother Gerald Barry refused, but offered religious formation for women from the Philippines willing to start a Dominican Congregation in his diocese. Five young women came to Adrian for their formation.
“In time, the seed was nurtured in Adrian and ready to be planted in the Philippines,” Sister Lou said. Four Sisters completed the formation process and, on October 2, 1965, were joined by Adrian Dominican Sisters Mary Philip Ryan, OP, and Ellen Vincent McClain, OP, “for the formation and community direction,” Sister Lou said.
“On December 8, 1965, I became the first Postulant to enter [the community] during a ceremony in the chapel, followed by a simple snack,” Sister Lou recalled. “In four years’ time, the Good Lord of the Harvest blessed the community with vocations.” In 1972, the Dominican Sisters of Our Lady of Remedies became an independent congregation.
The Sisters moved to a new Motherhouse on the grounds of a seminary in 1978. “It was our home for many years,” and the site of professions of vows, jubilees, retreats, and other community celebrations, Sister Lou said. The Congregation later sought a merger with the Adrian Dominican Sisters, and the two became one Congregation in 2011. The Sisters based in the Philippines are now part of the Adrian Dominican Sisters’ Our Lady of Remedies Mission Chapter.
Sister Vicky spoke of her years of ministry, beginning with her entrance in 1985 at the age of 20. She participated in a “contextualized formation” for men and women novices from different communities. “This is where my passion for social justice began,” she recalled. “It was all eye-opening for me. I became bolder in living out the mission as a Preacher of the Word.”
Sister Vicky recounted her years in social ministry, from the deposition of President Ferdinand Marcos in 1986 – when people became poorer. “We facilitated the release of activists from jail, attended rallies, mobilized the people, and gave seminars on consciousness-raising.” She continued her advocacy and work for people with low income after the 1981 eruption of Mount Pinatubo, which displaced many people. Farmers who came to live at the Clark U.S. Air Base were harassed after the U.S. military left and foreign investors arrived.
“We facilitated meetings between farms and the Clark Base,” ultimately presenting a successful petition with 1 million signatures asking the Clark Development Corporation to allow the farmers to remain on the land.
“I found the courage to take the initiative to lead the group,” Sister Vicky said. “I was branded as an activist, received death threats, and was blacklisted by the government. My faith and trust in God were constant, for I knew God would not abandon me.”
Sister Vicky also spoke of her 13 years as a missionary in Taiwan, beginning in November 1999. She ministered primarily with Filipino women who arrived in Taiwan as mail-order brides seeking a better life in a climate of worsening poverty in the Philippines. “My life as a missionary in Taiwan was often hectic,” Sister Vicky recalled. “I would find myself late at night on the road to attend the call of Filipino housewives with emotional and psychological problems because of mistreatment.”
Watch a video of the entire presentation by Sisters Lou and Vicky below or view from the ADS video library.