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October 3, 2025, Adrian, Michigan – More than 100 people gathered at Weber Retreat and Conference Center September 26, 2025, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Adrian Dominican Sisters Portfolio Advisory Board (PAB).
The theme, “Building on Legacy, Impacting the Future,” permeated the daylong event in which speakers recounted communities and policies changed for the better because of the work of the Portfolio Advisory Board. From challenging corporate leaders to change policies for the benefit of people and planet to loaning money to people in underserved communities, the legacy of the PAB was palpable, as was the challenge to continue the work.
The PAB was established in 1975 in response to a proposal approved at the Adrian Dominican Congregation’s 1974 General Chapter to evaluate its financial investments “in relation to the Gospel social principles and the identification of means to effect change toward justice in the policies and operations of corporations.” The history of the PAB and the story of its efforts over the years were captured in a commemorative booklet by Adrian Dominican Associate Arlene Bachanov.
Over the years, two strategies have been used to effect change: shareholder advocacy, in which the PAB invests in corporations to encourage them to be “fair and responsible” to workers, customers, and the environment; and community impact investing, making low-interest loans to community organizations that benefit low-income people and underserved communities.
The celebration included a day of education during which several people spoke of PAB’s impact. Recordings of both the morning and afternoon sessions are available in the Video Library at adriandominicans.org and at the end of this article.
[Morning video starting at 08:10]
Left: Sister Marilín Llanes, OP, left, Director of the PAB, and Cynthia Crimm, Chair of the Board, serve as co-hosts at the PAB celebration. Right: Sister Janet Doyle, OP, joins others in applauding Sister Carol Coston, founding member of the Portfolio Advisory Board.
In her opening, Sister Marilín Llanes, OP, Director of the PAB and co-host of the event, recognized two Sisters whose longtime ministry with the PAB has had significant impact: Sister Carol Coston, OP, who served on the first PAB Board while ministering as founding director of NETWORK, a Catholic social justice lobby, and Sister Frances Lombaer, OP, “the longest-running participant in proxy voting.”
[Morning video starting at 34:40]
Sister Elise D. García, OP, Prioress of the Adrian Dominican Sisters, offers the opening remarks.
Sister Elise D. García, OP, Prioress of the Congregation,spoke of the shift in consciousness about our Earth home and the call to respond to the signs of the times that gave rise to the PAB, in remarks titled “One Earth Community.” After reviewing the history of the PAB, she explained its current focus on helping to build the beloved community.
“Martin Luther King invested it with a depth of meaning,” she said. “It is a vision where poverty, hunger, and homelessness will not be tolerated, where racism will be replaced by an all-inclusive spirit of sisterhood and brotherhood, and disputes resolved by peaceful conflict.”
Noting President Donald Trump’s recent talk at the United Nations, she said, “he undermines the foundations of concepts such as human rights or our duty to protect the environment. These are the values we associate with the beloved community.”
The PAB remains committed to the values of building the beloved community, even as “we are facing headwinds,” she said. For all who are committed to working on issues of concern, including gun violence, “we, your Adrian Dominican Sisters, say Adelante [forward]!”
[Morning video starting at 57:11]
Laura Krausa, Systems Director of Advocacy Programs for CommonSpirit Health, offered a keynote address on “Building Safe Communities.” She noted the “incalculable” costs of violence on communities and on the people involved and spoke of a 2008 initiative by CommonSpirit Health to address violence. “The best way to combat it is with solutions that reduce risk and build resiliencies.”
Laura attributed CommonSpirit Health’s initiative on community health to the “mandate” set by women religious congregations who had previously sponsored the hospitals and other healthcare facilities that now make up the current healthcare system. The Sisters had been “building cultures of peace” and expected CommonSpirit Health – current sponsor of the hospitals – to do the same, she said.
She described a successful model in which the healthcare system offers funds to communities to develop a plan to reduce violence that involves a broad coalition of stakeholders meeting regularly, listening to local community members, and addressing their areas of concern. Community programs initiated with CommonSpirit Health have included a program for girls that helps girls to understand their own value and power. A boxing program attracts youth “before they fall into gang life and coaches them to understand how they can be better people and maintain a more productive avenue” for their energy, she said. She also spoke of a gun safety program – piloted in rural London, Kentucky – to help residents understand the need to store their guns securely so that children couldn’t get to them.
[Morning video starting at 1:31:50]
Panelists on Case Studies in Building Safe Communities are, from left, Cynthia Ricks-Maccotan, Laura Krausa, and Sister Judy Byron, OP.
Laura led a panel in which Cynthia Ricks-Maccotan, Community Integration Program Manager for CommonSpirit Health, and Sister Judy Byron, OP, PAB member, spoke on their own work in building safe communities.
Cynthia gave the example of a mentoring program developed in one CommonSpirit Health community for young women of color, which included tutoring, free counseling with Brown, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) therapists, and after-school programs. Achievements included a decrease in violent behavior and an increase in school attendance and self-confidence.
Sister Judy spoke about several campaigns for gun safety in the aftermath of numerous mass shootings. In particular, members of the Northwest Coalition for Responsible Investment (NWCR) and colleagues in the Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) purchased stock in gun manufacturers Sturm, Ruger and Company and Smith & Wesson to ask how the companies are addressing growing gun violence. Getting no response, they filed a shareholder resolution with them and most recently filed a lawsuit in federal court against Smith & Wesson, naming the officers for wrongdoing in their sale of AK-47-style firearms.
Sister Judy also related a success story in which the same group of faith-based investors worked with gun retailers, asking them how they were implementing gun safety measures. The CEO of Dick’s Sporting Goods responded immediately, and after the 2018 shooting in Parkland, Florida, “right away he looked to see if they had sold the weapon” to the shooter, Sister Judy said. The sporting goods chain announced that it would no longer sell firearms to anybody under 21 or sell assault-style weapons or high-capacity magazines, she said.
[Afternoon video starting at 0:14]
Duanne Andrade, left, and Sister Corinne Sanders, OP, General Councilor, share a light moment during the panel discussion on Climate Justice.
Sister Corinne Sanders, OP, General Councilor and former Director of the Office of Sustainability, began the afternoon as moderator of a panel discussion on climate justice with Duanne Andrade, CEO of the Solar and Energy Loan Fund (SELF) and Carolyn Shenoy, Manager of Investor Relations for One Acre Fund.
Duanne explained that SELF, operating in 14 states, gives loans to low- to moderate-income families. With a mission to help families reduce greenhouse emissions and improve their homes, SELF manages 2,000 loans a month, tailored to the needs of each family. “We work at the intersection of resilience, public health, safety, and financial inclusion,” she said. “The biggest barrier is lack of access to capital.”
Duanne explained that SELF is independent, not receiving state support. “We survived thanks to the Adrian Dominican Sisters and thanks to Sister Corinne Florek,” who encouraged the organization to apply for a loan from the PAB, she said. “We’re the most established green CFI [Corporate Finance Institute] in the South.”
One Acre Fund works in 10 countries, mostly in Africa, giving farmers “opportunities to secure their livelihood and help to mitigate climate change through planting trees,” Carolyn said. She shared stories of how the PAB’s support of One Acre Fund has allowed farmers to succeed while challenged by climate change they did not create, she said.
One woman, a client from Burundi, learned from One Acre Farm how to increase her yield of crops and produce compost to improve her soil. “The increased harvesting means she’s feeding her family,” Carolyn said. “Sometimes she sells surplus food to buy food that they don’t produce, like meat. Farming is really profitable if it’s done well.”
[Afternoon video starting at 1:38:03]
Juan F. Soto, Organizing Director for Gamaliel Network, closed the education portion of the day. A national network of 43 faith-based affiliates in 14 states, Gamaliel is “committed to empowering ordinary people to participate in the political, social, and economic systems that shape your life,” Juan said.
He emphasized that climate change is “driving displacement,” creating climate refugees. He tied climate issues to immigration issues to environmental issues. “The cry of the migrant is tied to the cry of the Earth,” he said.
“The Church must stand boldly and say we will not separate climate and immigrant justice,” Juan said. “Our social teaching teaches us that creation is a gift from God – not something to be exploited. Pope Francis reminds us that the care of the environment and of immigrants are one.”
Juan called for a public witness among people of faith to begin investing in green, renewable energy rather than fossil fuels and to train leaders who see Pope Francis’ encyclical on the environment, Laudato Si’, as a mandate. “Let us together walk as a synodal church: listening, discerning, and acting, so that in the future people will know that the church stood not on the sidelines but on the frontlines of immigration and environmental justice.”
After the day of education and inspiration, participants gathered for a final time for a reception, featuring hors d’oeuvres, socializing, music by Mariachi Jalisco de Detroit, and the premiere showing of a video on the history and work of the PAB.
Feature photo at top: Sister Marilín Llanes, OP, left, Director of the PAB, and Cynthia Crimm, Chair of the Board, serve as co-hosts at the PAB celebration.