Photo of the Week

On Feb. 7, three Sisters of Saint Dominic of Blauvelt, New York, and a student from Dominican College attended an event at the United Nations, “Common Ground for the Common Good,” in honor of UN World Interfaith Harmony Week. From left: Sister Mary Eileen O'Brien, Xavier Barnett, Sister Barbara McEneany, and Sister Kathleen Sullivan in the UN General Assembly. View more photos from the event on the Blauvelt Dominican Sisters’ blog.

Dominicans at the UN
‘Dominicans set bar high on human rights’

A recent article in the Canada Catholic Register featured an interview with Fr. Philippe LeBlanc, OP, who initiated the Dominican presence at the United Nations in 1996. Jesuit Father Jack Costello of the Jesuit Centre for Social Faith and Justice was quoted in the article: “It could be that the people in the UN get out of bed with more conviction, more freedom, more desire to serve beyond self-interest because of knowing Philippe Leblanc… He contributes to formation of a community at the UN, and it would be a community of light, of wanting to do the right thing, believing it.” Fr. LeBlanc is working on a history of Dominican presence at the UN. Read article

Oakford Dominicans
Sister speaks on AIDS treatment in South Africa

Sister Alison Munro, OP (Oakford), director of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference AIDS Office in Pretoria, South Africa, was invited by the African Jesuit AIDS Network to present a paper at a theological conference in Nairobi, Kenya at the end of January. Her paper, titled “Is Universal Access to Antiretroviral Treatment a Myth or Reality?” examines some of the experiences of the Catholic Church in South Africa in the provision of anti-retroviral treatment to people with AIDS. Read more

Springfield Dominicans
Sisters honored for community service, parish ministry

On Feb. 11, the Springfield (Illinois) Chapter of the NAACP bestowed its 2011 Community Service Award, given for meritorius contribution to the community, to St. Martin DePorres Center, where several Dominican Sisters of Springfield minister. Also, Sister Mary Jean Traeger, OP received an award from Church Women United honoring her work in St. Katharine Drexel Parish in Springfield. Read more/view photos

Sister in the News
RENEW International president to speak at pastoral congress

Sister Theresa Rickard, OP (Blauvelt), president and executive director of RENEW International, will be a featured speaker at the first annual Mid-Atlantic Congress for Pastoral Leadership March 8–10 in Baltimore, Maryland. The purpose of this new event is to bring together leaders in parishes and schools to enrich their faith, strengthen their pastoral ministry, and enhance their leadership skills. Sister Theresa will speak on March 9 on “The Call to a New Evangelization: Awakening, Deepening, and Sharing our Faith.” Read Christian News Wire article

UN Briefing
Commission focuses on empowerment of rural women

The Commission on the Status of Women will be in session Feb. 27–March 9. in New York. The priority theme will be “The empowerment of rural women and their role in poverty and hunger eradication, development and other challenges.” The commission’s guiding principles are “to raise the status of women, irrespective of nationality, race, language or religion, to equality with men in all fields of human enterprise, and to eliminate all discrimination against women in the provisions of statutory law, in legal maxims or rules, or in interpretation of customary law.” Read article by Margaret Mayce, OP.

Adrian Dominicans
Anchorage, Alaska parish honors Sister Lorraine

Sister Lorraine Reaume, OP (Adrian), received the St. Francis of Assisi Award from the Archdiocese of Anchorage in recognition of her service to the local church and to the people of Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in Anchorage. The awards presentation took place Feb. 9 during the archdiocese’s annual recognition banquet. Read more

500th Anniversary
Vatican revokes document subjugating indigenous

In recent consultations with the Holy See representatives at the United Nations in New York, we have come to know that The Papal Bull of 1493 (Inter Coetera) has been rescinded. This bull is a document issued by Pope Alexander VI which gave Spain the unlimited right to posses all undiscovered new land. This Papal Bull established Christian dominion and subjugation of non-Christian “pagan” peoples and their lands. In the past years, many indigenous and human rights advocates gathered to demand that the 1493 Papal Bull be revoked. Read article by Sister Lucianne Siers, OP.

Dominican Institute for the Arts
16th Annual Gathering is July 25–28 in Oakland

The Dominican Institute for the Arts, an international organization of Dominican artists, will meet at St. Albert’s Priory in Oakland, California, July 25-28. Sister Janice McLaughlin, MM, president of the Maryknoll Sisters of St. Dominic, will be the keynote speaker. Download registration packet (PDF) For more information about the Dominican Institute for the Arts, visit www.diarts.org.

Nuns in the News
Buffalo congregation featured in diocesan newspaper

The Monastery of Our Lady of the Perpetual Rosary was featured in a recent article (“Cloistered nuns live lives of prayer and contemplation”) in the Western New York Catholic, the newspaper for the Diocese of Buffalo, New York. Read story

Maryknoll Sisters
Centennial schedule of events

The Maryknoll Sisters of St. Dominic are celebrating 100 years in ministry as missionaries around the world. In March, there will be an opening reception March 3 for the Centennial Art Exhibit by Sister Yoo Soo Kim, MM, and the sixth annual Music for the World benefit concert March 4. “Hearts on Fire”: Maryknoll Sisters Mission Symposium is scheduled for April 20–21, and Maryknoll on the Hill: A Centennial Event in Washington, DC, is scheduled for May. View complete calendar of events

Faith and Film
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

“Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy,” the new movie based on John Le Carre’s 1973 novel, could hardly be more different than “Mission: Impossible” and James Bond. In Le Carre’s world, espionage takes place in dreary buildings carried out by decidedly non-glamorous looking people… The plot is so intricate that I’m not really sure exactly what happened in the film. But from the beginning, I was so drawn into the world of the Cold War 40 years ago that I was as engrossed as if I were reading a good novel. Read review by Tom Condon, OP

Dominican Sisters Conference
Convocation registration materials available

Registration materials for the first annual Dominican Sisters Conference (DSC) Convocation are now available. The convocation will be held Oct. 4–7 at the Westin Hotel in Wheeling, Illinois. Speakers Timothy Radcliffe, OP and Judi Neal will address the theme “Edge Walkers: Unfolding the Fertile Unknown.” To download registration materials (PDF 1.6 MB), click on the graphic or click here.

Previous updates:

The next Dominican Life | USA update will be published on Wednesday,March 7. Deadline for submission of articles/photos is Friday, March 2.