What's Happening

February 5, 2025, Bangalore, Karnataka, India – Adrian Dominican Sister Durstyne Farnan, OP, spoke recently to Dominican Justice Promoters from the Asia-Pacific Region about the importance of partnering with the United Nations. She was invited to speak at the 12th Conference on Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation for the Dominicans’ Asian-Pacific Region, held January 11-15, 2025, at the Montfort Spirituality Center in Bangalore, Karnataka, India.

Sister Durstyne spoke as the Dominicans’ United Nations NGO, as well as the International Dominican Sisters Justice Promoter. She was invited to speak at the conference by Sister Ameline Intia, OP, a Justice Promoter from the Philippines who attended the United Nations’ 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW68), held at the UN March 11-22, 2024. Sister Durstyne hosted 10 Dominicans at the event.

Sister Durstyne said she spoke to the Dominican Justice Promoters about the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), in which participating nations set goals in 17 areas as a “shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and planet, according to the UN website. The inter-related goals cover areas such as hunger, poverty, education, peace, and sustainability.  

Sister Durstyne explained that each nation works on the SDGs separately, setting their own target goals and objectives that must be met to achieve the SDGs. Only 17 percent of the work has been complete, with a target date of 2030. This summer, the UN will host a High Level Political Forum in which representatives of each country gives a review of their status on five of the 17 SDGs. 

Sister Durstyne also spoke to the justice promoters in general about her role as the Dominican UN representative in New York. “This [was] the first time anyone is addressing them about this,” she said. “It was a fabulous opportunity to address them about how we can partner with each other.”

During the conference, the justice promoters also crafted their mission statement and goals for their work in the Asia-Pacific Region for the next three years. Goals included organizing, mobilizing, and strengthening their capacity in justice, peace, and integrity of creation; developing and maintaining common programs in the areas of migration, climate emergency, misinformation, and all forms of violence; partnering with stakeholders; and networking with the Dominican representatives at the UN.

In plenary sessions, justice promoters from each country gave reports on the status of work in their country and listened to talks. The conference also included time for prayer, liturgy, the rosary, meals, and breaks. For Sister Durstyne, one of the highlights was a series of dances performed by the novices of the Dominican Sisters of the Presentation – the largest Dominican congregation in the world.  

“People need to know the Dominicans for Justice and Peace are very active in their countries,” Sister Durstyne said. “They’re really working with the marginalized in their countries.” She gave the example of the Dominican Sisters of the Presentation, whose ministries include a pre-K school for 190 children in the slums. “What they are doing is amazing,” she said. 

She also spoke of Father Praveen Monteiro, OP, of India, whose parish organizes about 56 programs, from awareness for the National Day of the Girl Child, International Women’s Day, and human trafficking to summer camps for the children and a program in which women learn to be tailors.

In Gujarat, in northern India, the Dominican Sisters of the Rosary are helping the women to reclaim some of their traditional embroidery skills to generate some income, she added. 

A sightseeing day during the conference gave Sister Durstyne the opportunity to visit another part of India and to interact with the people. “We went to see palaces and dancing waters in the fountains,” she recalled, but they also experienced the hospitality of the Dominican Sisters of the Presentation. “They gave us each a wreath of chrysanthemums,” she recalled. 

But the Sisters didn’t need to travel far in India to experience the hospitality. Sister Durstyne recalled receiving another wreath of flowers during a meeting in Bangalore, as well as an invitation to join a local family’s celebration of their baby’s baptism. “It was a full moon night,” she said. “People were dancing and [we had] lots of food and sodas … The hospitality of the people is just so striking.”

Looking back on her time in India, Sister Durstyne said, “It was a wonderful experience. We had a great opportunity to talk about the Dominican NGO and why it’s so important for us Dominicans to be part of it.”
 

Caption for above feature photo: Novices of the Dominican Sisters of the Presentation, from India, performed a series of dances during a recent meeting of Dominican Justice and Peace Promoters of the Asian-Pacific Region. 

November 12, 2024, New York, New York – Dominican Sisters throughout the world shared in an October 30, 2024, webinar how they and their congregations are working toward completing three of the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). 

Webinar host Sister Philomena Benedict Le Gall, OP, of the Dominican Sisters of Stone, England, said the goals, adopted by the UN in 2015, “provide a blueprint for peace,” so that by 2030, poverty will be eradicated and people will “enjoy peace and prosperity.”

Adrian Dominican Sister Durstyne Farnan, OP, UN Representative for the Dominicans, introduced the three goals that were discussed in the webinar: No. 3, Health and Well-being for All; No. 13, which addresses climate change; and No. 16, Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions. 

Two other Adrian Dominican Sisters spoke of their work toward achieving one of the three designated Sustainable Development Goals. Sister Marissa Figueroa, OP, ministers in the Philippines as the Director of the University of the Assumption’s extension program with local schools, encouraging them to act against climate change. 

“The University of the Assumption is committed to integrating care for creation in all sectors of the university,” Sister Marissa said. Students recycle plastics and use them as planters, participate in environmental clean-ups, and research natural pest control methods. Through eco-farms in urban areas, students, faculty members, administrators, and families learn and practice sustainable agriculture. Through the food for work program, “participants earn food by working in community gardens and gaining skills in environmental farming,” Sister Marissa said.  

Sister Ellen Burkhardt, OP, of Detroit, works for the achievement of peace, justice, and strong institutions through her involvement with the Meta Peace Team, founded in 1994 in part by the late Sister Mary Pat Dewey, OP. “The mission is to work actively to create a just world, grounded in nonviolence and respect for the interconnectedness of all people,” Sister Ellen said. “We seek to bring peace in areas of conflict.”

Meta Peace Team teaches creative nonviolence, Sister Ellen said. Trained teams are deployed abroad and in regions of conflict within the United States. Wearing yellow vests emblazoned with “Peace Team,” volunteers are present in areas of potential conflict where they are invited, often “quelling any thought of violence” by their very presence and by engaging potentially violent people in conversation, she explained.

Sister Josephine Rose Fernandez Blanco, OP, spoke of how her congregation, the Dominican Sisters of St. Catherine of Siena in the Philippines, works toward the fulfillment of SDG 3 through its hospitals, medical clinics, medical mission teams, and homes for elderly and sick Sisters. At a school near the congregation’s hospital, students are trained to “save lives … educate and care for the mothers, deliver babies safely, and follow up 18 months after birth.” In a world where, globally, 800 women die every day from pregnancy or childbirth, her hospital offers “healthy pregnancy with little or no deaths,” she said.

“Ending poverty and other deprivations must go hand-in-hand with strategies that improve health and reduce inequality,” said Sister Maria Yelitza Ayala Gilot, OP, of the Puerto Rico-based Dominican Sisters of Fatima. Now stationed in Maryland, she works toward achieving the third goal through her work in a program that offers mental health, legal, and social services to families living in an area often afflicted by hurricanes and domestic abuse. Women are trained in skills such as baking, computer usage, electrical work, and jewelry-making. “A support network and sharing of skills helps them,” Sister Maria Yelitza said. “We are creating friendships so that the women look at themselves as beloved children of God,” able to care for themselves and their children, she said.

Lara Kelly, a lay woman who works in the justice office of the Dominican Sisters of Cabra in Ireland, spoke in a recorded video of the community’s efforts to address SDG 13. In its 2021 General Chapter, the Sisters of Cabra made commitments to “develop and establish a green policy for the congregation” and to “study new sustainable economic models to help people get out of poverty and prevent further environmental damage.” Cabra Dominican Sisters work in New Orleans, Argentina, and Portugal to teach about cosmology, environmental issues, and climate change through organic farms and climate centers. 

While the webinar focused on only three goals, the Sisters noted that the 17 goals are interrelated. “When you work on one goal, you automatically work on the other goals,” Sister Mari Yelitza said. 

Sister Philomena reminded participants of the urgent need to continue working on the SDGs, which were established in 2015 and have a target date of 2030. “We’re two-thirds of the way through and have only achieved 17%,” she said. “We see amazing work and we pray that this good work continues.”