What's Happening

October 17, 2024, Detroit – Adrian Dominican Sisters and Associates were among crowds of people on October 6, 2024, who attended one or two Detroit stops of the Nuns on the Bus and Friends Tour. The tour began September 30, 2024, in Philadelphia and concludes October 18, 2024, in San Francisco.

Nuns on the Bus is a program sponsored by NETWORK, a Catholic social justice lobby, to educate voters on the major issues during national election years and to promote multi-issue voting. The 2024 theme is Revolution of Hope: Vote Our Future So Everyone Thrives, No Exceptions. For the first time, multi-faith and secular coalition partners are riding on the bus with the Catholic Sisters.

Among those attending one or both of the Detroit stops were Adrian Dominican Associates Carol Hofer and Geri Pleva and Sisters Nancyann Turner, OP, Anneliese Sinnott, OP, Kathleen Nolan, OP, Barbara Matievich, OP, Nancy Jurecki, OP, Barbara Cervenka, OP, and Barbara Kelley, OP. 

During the afternoon rally held outside the Electricians’ Union Hall, Nuns and Friends from the Bus and local activists spoke on various issues of concern, emphasizing the importance of encouraging all eligible citizens to vote. 

“I believe that the growing religious and racial diversity is our superpower,” said Rev. Adam Taylor, President of Sojourners Magazine and an ordained Baptist minister. “Far too many politicians are engaging in the politics of fear and scapegoating. We are here to advance justice for all.”

Referring to a line from Isaiah 58:12, in which the prophet said Israel would be known as the “repairer of the breach,” Rev. Taylor spoke of the variety of breaches that the people of Detroit and around the United States are called to repair, including the greater availability of guns than food stamps. “We have the power to repair the breaches in our midst,” he said. “Our vote is our voice.”  

Sister Sally Duffy, SC, a Sister of Charity of Cincinnati, spoke of the violence and scapegoating that immigrants face today. In particular, she spoke up for the Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio – a city in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. . “The Haitian immigrants are revitalizing Springfield,” she said. “They’re filling jobs that need to be filled in manufacturing.” 

During the town hall meeting that evening in a packed Gesu Catholic Church, Nuns and Friends on the Bus and local activists emphasized the need to be multi-issue voters and to vote in ways that benefit the common good. Speakers described six freedoms that Nuns on the Bus emphasize during this election year.

•    The freedom to participate in a vibrant democracy: “We all have the freedom, right, and responsibility to cast a ballot and to help in shaping our society for the common good,” Sister Catherine C. Darcy, RSM, said. Pointing to the Christian Nationalist movement that seeks to make the United States a Christian nation, she said, “Our democracy must include everyone.”

•    The freedom to be healthy: Deborah Weinstein of the Coalition on Human Needs noted progress in providing health insurance, reducing prescription drug costs, and offering food and nutrition programs. “All of those projects can be either extended, approved, or wiped out, depending on Congress next year and the decision the president makes,” she said.

•    The freedom to care for ourselves and our families: Sarah Christopherson, a tax justice advocate, spoke on the need for programs that value workers over profit, make homeownership possible for more people, and invest in college and trade training programs. Through the expanded child tax credit program, children were able to eat well at school and domestic violence was reduced because of less stress in the families, she said.

•    The freedom from harm: Sister Barbara Pfarr, SSND, a community organizer, said people have the right to be free from the danger of gun violence. In addition, she said, the rights of marginalized communities – such as people of color, and LGBTQ+ people – must be respected.

•    The freedom to live in a welcoming country that values dignity and human rights: Sister Sally Duffy, SSND, encouraged the audience to hold leaders in Congress and the White House to account: restoring the right of an individual to seek asylum and to create pathways to citizenship.

•    The freedom to live on a healthy planet: Sister Louise Lears, SC, a Sister of Charity of Cincinnati, noted the right of all people to breathe clean air and drink clean water. In addition, she called on people to work to mitigate the effects of climate change in the wake of climate disasters such as Hurricanes Helene and Milton.

Participants also met in small groups to discuss their vision for Detroit and heard a call to action to make a voting plan and to encourage others to vote for the common good.

Sister Kathleen Nolan, Director of the Adrian Dominican Sisters Office of Peace, Justice and Integrity of Creation, said she was impressed by the speakers “because they reflected the concerns of their communities in Detroit.” She said the events were unifying, giving a sense of drawing people together. “It was refreshing because it was not about specific candidates, but it was issue-focused: what’s important for communities, for people,” she said. 

 

Caption for above feature photo: Standing in front of the bus before the October 6, 2024, Nuns on the Bus Town Hall Meeting at Gesu Parish in Detroit are, from left, Adrian Dominican Sisters Barbara Matievich, OP, Barbara Kelley, OP, Nancy Jurecki, OP, Anneliese Sinnott, OP, Nancyann Turner, OP, and Kathleen Nolan, OP.

September 19, 2024, Caleruega, Spain – Four Adrian Dominican Sisters were among 48 Dominican Sisters from throughout the world who spent a week in St. Dominic de Guzman’s birthplace, Caleruega, Spain, sponsored by the Dominican Sisters International Confederation (DSIC).

The Sisters participating in the program were finally professed for less than 20 years. DSIC was established to enhance the communication and collaboration of apostolic Dominican Sisters throughout the world. Adrian Dominican Sister Patricia Siemen, OP, also attended as a member of the DSIC Coordinating Council

Other Adrian Dominican Sisters who attended were Katherine Frazier, OP, Executive Director of Dominican Youth Movement USA, Xiomara Mendez-Hernandez, OP, Executive Director of the Dominican Sisters Conference, and Salvacion “Salve” Valenzuela, OP, and Alma Zapanta, OP, Co-directors of the Dominicans in Bodø, Norway, Mission. 

“It was a spiritual Dominican pilgrimage … where all and each of us represented our congregations and each of us was a manifestation of the larger Dominican Charism, said Sister Xiomara.

Sister Pat said the gathering was a response to one of the priorities set by the Dominican Prioresses throughout the world during a 2022 online DSIC meeting: to focus on younger Dominican Sisters. The purpose of the gathering was to “bring a representative group together to build relationships, to explore our call as women preachers in light of the times, and to experience a global Dominican Sisterhood within the five continents where we have Dominican Sisters,” Sister Pat explained.

The program involved talks by Barbara Reid, OP (Grand Rapids, Michigan), on women prophets in Scripture and the prophetic call of consecrated women; Ana Francisca Vergara, OP (Colombia), on theological study and contemplation in the service of our preaching; and Sabine Schratz, OP (Cabra Dominicans, Ireland), on the history of communities of apostolic women.

The participants also visited various areas that were central to the life of St. Dominic: from his birthplace in Caleruega, the well where he was baptized, and his family’s watchtower to the neighboring Benedictine monastery where Blessed Jane’s dream about St. Dominic was interpreted, and the cathedral in Osma. While she was pregnant with Dominic, Blessed Jane dreamed that she gave birth to a dog that carried a lit torch around the world, signifying St. Dominic’s mission of preaching the Word of God. 

The tour was coordinated by Pilar del Barrio, OP, representing Europe on the DSIC Coordinating Council.

During the last two days, Sisters met in continental and language groups to discuss “what they can do to build up Dominican Sisters International so as to complete God’s dream for us as we move into a future committed to being women preachers,” Sister Pat said. She was pleased by the engagement of the Sisters and the quality of the presentations. The participants strongly recommended that this assembly be repeated for other younger Sisters, she said.

In reflecting on the experience, the Adrian Dominican participants spoke of being moved by the connection to St. Dominic and to one another – and by their hopes for the future.

“Visiting the birthplace of our founder, St. Dominic, was an incredibly moving experience,” Sisters Alma and Salve wrote in a joint reflection. “From the well to the tower, and our travels to the Silos and the Cathedral of Osma, we felt an incredible connection to our roots.”

Sisters Alma and Salve were especially moved by Sister Ana Francisca’s presentation on study. “We consecrated women are entrusted with the demanding task of infusing our lives with the spiritual and contemplative aspects of study,” they wrote. “Study is not a personal endeavor – rather communal and powerfully meant so to evangelize one another in the community and transform all members into evangelizers.” Read the entire reflection by Sisters Alma and Salve. 

Sister Alma is one of five Sisters elected to represent the group of younger Sisters during the DSIC assembly in Rome in May 2025. They will present the fruits of the discussions in Caleruega.

“We have started the creation of the document, how we see ourselves into the future,” Sister Xiomara explained. “I see a great movement toward collaboration and radical inclusion and a sense of globalizing our mission with a preferential option for relationship.” Sister Xiomara has been invited to attend the May assembly as a liturgist.

Sister Katherine said one of the highlights for her “was the opportunity to see the place where Dominic was born and where he knew his family of origin, to hear the stories of his mother Juana and his father and his brothers – and to do so when I was surrounded by all of these Sisters from all over the world. In a way, I was learning about his family surrounded by my chosen family.”

Sister Katherine appreciated the “unexpected gift” of being invited to attend the assembly in Caleruega. This gift has given her hope and the feeling of connection. “There was a sense of strengthening bonds to the international aspect of the Dominican Order – broadening horizons,” she said. She came away appreciating “how amazing the work that our Sisters are doing all over the world and the ways that they’re meeting the needs in their particular context. What a gift to be able to witness that!”

 

Caption for above photo: Nearly 50 Dominican Sisters finally professed for less than 20 years participated in the DSIC gathering in Caleruega, Spain.