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November 15, 2024, Houston, Texas – Sister Maureen O’Connell, OP, Director of the Secretariat of Social Concerns for the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, was honored on October 24, 2024, at the Journey with Emmaus Gala, for her years of service to the people of God. 

In addition to ministering with the archdiocese, Sister Maureen served as a Chicago Police Officer before she entered the Adrian Dominican Congregation. After moving to Texas as a Sister, she founded and directed Angela House, a resident program for formerly incarcerated women that supports and equips the residents to re-enter the greater community as involved citizens. 

The gala was hosted by the Emmaus Spirituality Center in Houston. Founded more than 40 years ago by the Cenacle Sisters, Emmaus was destroyed by Hurricane Harvey in August 2017. A group of laypeople with the Spiritual Direction Institute found space at a local Lutheran Church and continued the ministry of Emmaus, Sister Maureen said. She has been active with the Emmaus Center, offering them training on Catholic social teaching, Sister Maureen said.

“The evening was lovely,” with a crowd of a little more than 200 people who participated in the dinner, the awards ceremony, and a live auction to raise funds for the Emmaus Spirituality Center, Sister Maureen said. She said that the staff had originally asked her to give a talk during the gala. “It was shocking to hear that I was being honored.”

Still, Sister Maureen gave a brief talk that evening, challenging her audience to speak out against injustice and to defend the rights and dignity of human beings – especially those who are marginalized – through nonviolence. 

To illustrate the power of nonviolence, Sister Maureen told the story of a snake – shared by author Anthony de Mello – who was tamed by a holy teacher after it had bitten many local villagers. Realizing he was now tame, the villagers beat up the snake, who complained about this to his teacher. The teacher noted that he had taught the snake nonviolence – not to hit, but not to stop hissing.

“Nonviolence does not harm, but it does know when to hiss,” Sister Maureen said. “It hisses loud and long at every system and structure that [treads on] the weak and powerless underfoot.” She noted that nonviolence “can never be equated with passivity; it is the essence of courage, creativity, and action.” 

Our task, she said, is to learn how to hiss, “to call out the institutions, the systems and the organizations that ignore and diminish the dignity of the human person. We profess that we are loved by God, created in the image and likeness of God, so it should follow that we treat everyone as we would treat God.” 

In an interview after the gala, Sister Maureen reflected on the highlights of her years in ministry, particularly her work at Angela House. The women seek help in reintegrating into society have already paid the consequences for the actions and mistakes that led to their incarceration. “When they want to return and become healthy citizens, they face barriers that make it hard for them to maintain themselves,” she said.

Sister Maureen has been inspired by the women at Angela House. “I got to witness these women making choices and doing the kinds of things they need to do to be healthy, whole members of the community,” she said. 

She has also been inspired by the people who have volunteered at Angela House. “As people became engaged in the ministry, they realized that [the residents] are people like you and me.” High school students and women from the local parish became involved, spending time monthly with the women at Angela House, she said. “One of the women came to me and said, ‘We learn so much from [the Angela House residents] and how they have overcome the challenges that they experienced.’” 

Read more about Sister Maureen’s life and ministries. 

 

Caption for above feature photo: Sister Maureen O’Connell, OP, left, and Mary Pierson, Executive Director of the Emmaus Spirituality Center in Houston, during a gala event honoring Sister Maureen.
Photo Courtesy of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston 
 

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.