What's Happening

July 14, 2024, Adrian, Michigan – On behalf of the Adrian Dominican Sisters and Associates, the Congregation’s General Council issued the following statement in response to the attempted assassination of Former President Donald J. Trump during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania July 13, 2024.

Statement of Adrian Dominican Sisters 
on Attempted Assassination of Former President Trump

We join Americans of all political persuasions in condemning the horrific and terrifying assault on the life of former President Donald Trump, praying with great gratitude for his safety and in deep sorrow for the family of the man who was killed and the healing and recovery of the two individuals who were critically injured.  

Our democracy rests on rigorous engagement of difference through dialogue, debate, and mutual respect and on the faithful exercise of our differences through the ballot box. Political violence is totally contrary to our democratic way of life, with cruel and deadly consequences.    

As the Republican National Convention begins, we join in the 24-hour contemplative prayer that the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) has organized for all the days of both the Republican and Democratic National Conventions, as well as the days leading to the November election. This virtual prayer space, as LCWR has written, “is open to all, bridging the divide between culture, religion and politics through the witness and commitment women religious make to the power of collective contemplation.” (See https://www.lcwr.org/social-justice/priority-justice-concerns/virtual-prayer-space-for-us-national-conventions-and.)

Our prayers for the transformative common good of all are needed now more than ever. 

 

Members of the Adrian Dominican Sisters General Council are Sisters Elise D. García, OP, Prioress; Bibiana “Bless” Colasito, OP, and Frances Nadolny, OP, General Councilors; Lorraine Réaume, OP, Vicaress and General Councilor; and Corinne Sanders, OP, General Councilor.

 

The Horror of More than 13,750 Children Killed in Gaza is at the Heart of the Congregation’s Call for an End to War, Increased Humanitarian Aid,  
and the Return of Hostages

May 3, 2024, Adrian, Michigan – On behalf of the Adrian Dominican Congregation, the Leadership Council signed on to an open letter from U.S. Catholics initiated by Pax Christi USA. The letter expresses “our anguish over the ongoing violence in Israel-Palestine.” The Adrian Dominican Leadership Council also calls for an end to the war, more humanitarian aid to those suffering from the war, and the release of all hostages.

We are horrified, anguished, and deeply pained by the continuing war in the Holy Land resulting in the slaughter of innocent children, women, and men in Gaza under the administration of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. We join other US Catholic leaders in calling for “an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza and adherence to international law by all parties.”

We are witnessing:

• The horror of more than 13,750 children killed since the assault on Gaza began, nearly half of the 34,000 Palestinians estimated to have died. 
• The recent airstrikes that killed seven humanitarian aid workers on clearly marked vehicles run by the World Central Kitchen, bringing the number of humanitarian aid workers killed in Gaza to at least 224, according to the United Nations. 
• The inadequate supply of food, water, medicine, resulting in death by starvation of 28 children, and other women and men, with the UN World Food Program warning that famine is “imminent” if humanitarian aid is not increased “exponentially.” 
• The shutdown of two-thirds of Gaza’s hospitals and nearly 80% of its healthcare facilities, with insufficient medications and staffing leaving untold numbers without medical care and many undergoing surgeries, including cesarean sections, without anesthesia. 
• 180 children born each day in Gaza where a mother struggles to obtain two cups of water daily when she needs 16 cups a day to nurse her baby.  

Our awareness and understanding of these catastrophic events are compromised by the unprecedented number of journalists in Gaza who have died. Although identified as “PRESS,” 100 Palestinian journalists have been killed covering the war during the past five months.

We are women of faith – women of the same Abrahamic faith as the Muslim women and girls under assault in Gaza; women of the same Abrahamic faith as the Jewish women and girls under assault in Israel on October 7. As women of faith, we join the international call and the call of US Catholic leaders for a permanent ceasefire, a return of all hostages, and unblocked road access for delivery of urgently needed humanitarian aid. 

We call on President Biden and Congress to stop supplying Israel with US weapons. It is unconscionable that our bombs and artillery are raining death and destruction on Palestinian children, their mothers and fathers. This military support runs counter to the moral call for a permanent ceasefire and all attempts to bring in desperately needed humanitarian aid.

We join Pope Francis who recently said, “Every day, in my heart, I carry the pain and suffering of the populations in Palestine and in Israel due to the ongoing hostilities.” He called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and throughout the region, “so that the hostages may be freed and return to their anxiously awaiting loved ones, and so that the civilian population may have safe access to necessary and urgent humanitarian aid.” 

Pope Francis said, “Enough, please. Let us all say: Enough, please! Stop the war!” 

We say, Amen.
 

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Members of the Adrian Dominican Sisters Leadership Council are Sisters Bibiana “Bless” Colasito, OP, General Councilor; Peggy Coyne, OP, Chapter Prioress; Judy Friedel, OP, Chapter Prioress; Elise D. García, OP, Prioress; Mary Jane Lubinski, OP, Mission Prioress; Maria Yolanda "Yollie" Manapsal, OP, Chapter Prioress; Frances Nadolny, OP, General Councilor; Mary Priniski, OP, Chapter Prioress; Lorraine Réaume, OP, Vicaress and General Councilor; Corinne Sanders, OP, General Councilor; Mary Soher, OP, Mission Prioress; and Sharon Spanbauer, OP, Mission Prioress.