What's Happening

October 22, 2024, Chicago – During a panel discussion held during the Catholic Social Teaching Investment Summit held in Chicago last month, Sister Corinne Florek, OP, encouraged investors to “redefine risk” and to take a chance on investing in nonprofit community organizations. 

“I’ve given a lot of talks about not defining risk the way Wall Street does,” Sister Corinne said in an interview. “Wall Street doesn’t invest in local communities. You have to redefine risk and realize that these groups are not risky.”

Sister Corinne speaks from experience. She served on the Adrian Dominican Sisters’ Portfolio Advisory Board, which was started in 1975 and made its first community investment in 1978. In 2008 she was one of the founders the Religious Communities Investment Fund (RCIF), and organization that offers communities of women religious the opportunity to pool their money to invest in community organizations. She also started Mercy Partnership Fund for the same purpose. After various congregations of the Sisters of Mercy in the United States merged, they started a successor program, Mercy Investment Services, which also gives low-interest loans to community organizations. 

Sister Corinne spoke to the success of all three organizations, which increased the size of their investment funds, enabling them to offer low-interest loans to more community organizations. The loss of investment is less than 1%. 

Sister Corinne has worked with many grassroots organizations, helping them to create financial statements and get on solid financial ground so that they can receive loans from other organizations. These grassroots organizations are “committed to their work, and they’re so grateful for the loan that they make sure to pay it back.”

The Francesco Collaborative – which co-sponsored the Summit with the Catholic Impact Investors Collaborative – is encouraging professional investment managers to invest in grassroots community organizations, Sister Corinne said. Many of the smaller communities of women religious are also investigating the idea of starting a community impact investment fund with other communities. 

Read an article on the Summit by Michelle Martin in the Chicago Catholic.

September 30, 2024, Adrian, Michigan – All are invited to mark Indigenous Peoples Day by attending a Teach-in focused on the Doctrine of Discovery from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday, October 14, 2024, in the Auditorium of Weber Retreat and Conference Center and live-streamed on our website. 

Mark Charles, a Native American activist, speaks on the continuing impact of the Doctrine of Discovery, a series of documents issued by popes in the 1400s, giving Christian European explorers a mandate to conquer in the name of their country any lands not inhabited by Christians. This encouraged European settlers to take away the land inhabited by the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas.

Mark, the son of a Navajo father and a Dutch-American mother, is a public speaker, consultant, and author on Native American issues, the former pastor of the Christian Indian Center in Denver, and an independent candidate for U.S. President in 2020.

His talk is followed by a panel discussion by members of the People of the Four Winds of Lenawee County, a local group of Native Americans and allies.

The teach-in is sponsored by the Adrian Dominican Sisters Office of Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation.

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.