What's Happening

August 20, 2019, Scottsdale, Arizona – Sister Elise D. García, OP, General Councilor of the Adrian Dominican Sisters, was elected President-Elect of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) August 15, 2019, during the organization’s assembly in Scottsdale, Arizona.

As President-Elect, Sister Elise will serve on the three-member leadership team for the LCWR, along with the President, Holy Cross Sister Sharlet Wagner, and Past President, Sister Jayne Helmlinger, a Sister of St. Joseph of Orange, California. Sister Elise will serve as President next year.

The LCWR is comprised of the elected leadership of Catholic Sisters, representing about 80 percent of the Sisters in the United States. Sister Elise, formerly Director of Communications for the Adrian Dominican Sisters, has served on the LCWR National Board.

Read more about the 2019 LCWR assembly in the Global Sisters Report article by Dan Stockman, and scroll down toward the end of the article for more information about Sister Elise and her election.

August 6, 2019, Adrian, Michigan – The General Council of the Adrian Dominican Sisters issued the following statement in response to the recent mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio.

We weep with and pray for the families of the latest victims of murderous rampages in our country – this time in El Paso and Dayton. We cry out in anguish at the “normalization” of gun violence that claims the lives of hundreds of victims each year and at the racial hatred and white nationalism that is fueling horrific acts of domestic terrorism. 

This “new normal” is not normal. It goes against the grain of every value of decency and goodness we claim as nation and strive for as people of faith, as brothers and sisters created in the image and likeness of our one God. 

We insist on common sense gun control. There is no place in our streets, our schools, our homes for AK-47 assault rifles; gun owners, like vehicle owners, should be licensed; gun safety measures should be implemented and regulated. 

We insist on concrete measures to expunge the scourge of white nationalism that poses such a real and present threat to our brothers and sisters of color and is so toxic to our nation, assaulting the very fabric of our union. White supremacy is a lie that has infected our national identity since its inception. We must root it out in word and deed and in every form it takes – passive or aggressive – in our personal and national lives.

Created equal in the image and likeness of God, we commit anew to conscious and intentional action, prayer, and love – to live each day in the Spirit-filled sisterhood and brotherhood to which our loving God calls us. 

Members of the Adrian Dominican Sisters’ General Council are Sisters Patricia Siemen, OP, Prioress; Sister Mary Margaret Pachucki, OP, Vicaress and General Councilor; Sister Frances Nadolny, OP, Administrator and General Councilor; and Sisters Patricia Harvat, OP, and Elise D. García, OP, General Councilors.