News | Live Stream | Contact Us
Employment | Donate
May 18, 2022, Adrian, Michigan – As members of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), we Adrian Dominican Sisters strongly support this statement deploring the racial hatred and gun violence that led to the devastating loss of life in Buffalo, New York, with the mass shooting of May 14, 2022. The LCWR statement follows.
Our hearts are breaking as we once again come face to face with the racial hatred and gun violence that infect our land. The members of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious extend their condolences to the Buffalo community and all who lost loved ones, friends, and neighbors and we say once more violence and white supremacy cannot stand. And we know that is not enough!
Racism is a virus, every bit as deadly as COVID-19, that has infected our nation since its inception and until we address it, people of color will continue to die, and our nation will continue to bleed. Racism, whether the institutional racism which privileges some at the expense of others or the daily acts of hate and discrimination, diminishes us all. It denies that most profound truth, that all of us are created in God’s image and each of us is entitled to lives of dignity and respect.
As women religious in a predominantly white organization, we recognize how we have been privileged. We lament our silence in the face of white supremacist ideology, and we acknowledge our complicity in institutional racism. We ask forgiveness of our sisters and brothers of color, and we pray for our nation’s healing. And we know that is not enough!
It is time for bold, decisive action. We pledge to raise our voices and to act to end the violence and white supremacy which has cost us dearly. In the wake of the horror of Buffalo, we rededicate ourselves to LCWR’s commitment to dismantle systemic racism and white privilege and effect transformative change in our hearts, our organization, and our society and we pledge anew to build God’s beloved community. We will not permit that violence and white supremacy to stand!
LCWR is an association of leaders of congregations of Catholic women religious in the United States. The conference has nearly 1,300 members, who represent more than 38,800 women religious in the United States. Founded in 1956, LCWR assists its members to collaboratively carry out their service of leadership to further the mission of the Gospel in today’s world.
May 16, 2022, Adrian, Michigan – Women religious (Catholic Sisters) have tended to be at the forefront of recognizing and appreciating differences among people in the world: they have striven to become anti-racist, to welcome the immigrant and the exiled, and to care for all creatures who share our common home, Earth.
Sister Laurie Brink, OP, a Dominican Sister of Sinsinawa, Wisconsin, takes Sisters to the next level in her presentation, The Differences Among Us: Seeking Unity in Diversity, from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 7, 2022, at Weber Retreat and Conference Center. She reflects on the need for women religious to recognize and respect the generational, ecclesial, racial, and cultural differences among members of their own congregations.
Sister Laurie, a Professor of New Testament Studies at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, is the author of several books and an Associate Editor of The Bible Today.
The Differences Among Us is offered both in-person at Weber Retreat and Conference Center and via live stream. In-person guests will be screened for COVID-19 and required to wear masks. There is no cost, but donations are appreciated. Registration is required and is available at www.webercenter.org; click on “programs.” Registrations may also be made by calling 517-266-4000 or emailing webercenter@adriandominicans.org.
Weber Center is located on the campus of the Adrian Dominican Sisters’ Motherhouse, Adrian, 1257 E. Siena Heights Drive, Adrian. For information, call the Weber Center at 517-266-4000.