Council of Dominican Sisters International meets at
Santa Sabina in Rome

Sr. Pat Simpson, OP (San Rafael) represents North America on the Dominican Sisters Intenrational Coordinating Committee.
Here is her latest report.

SANTA SABINA-- The Council of Dominican Sisters International met at Santa Sabina in Rome December 4 – 9, 2007 Sr. Toni Harris, OP gave us an update on her work as the International Co-Promoter of Justice and Peace for DSI. One of the concerns Sr. Toni expressed was that some areas within the world are more organized than others in regards to the work of peace and justice. She is trying to assist wherever possible as she becomes more acquainted with each area.

Toni Harris, OP
RoseAnn Schlitt, OP

The work and service of Sr. Rose Ann Schlitt,OP (Adrian) Director of Dominican Volunteers International spoke to the council about the Dominican volunteers, to what communities they are presently sent and the tremendous service each volunteer is providing. A question and challenge Rose Ann left with the Council is: Are there any communities within who can be sending communities? Are young men and women invited to offer their gifts in service to others in developing countries?


Goals and Objectives…

During the DSI Assembly in May 2007 the participants worked on the goals for 2007-2010. The members of the Coordinating Council reviewed the goals and created objectives to implement the goals. Is the congregation able to implement these goals. and objectives in light of its mission and vision?

Goal: To make the Dominican charism more relevant in today’s world by promoting the formation of our identity as women preachers, by discovering different forms of preaching and by engaging in common study projects.

Objective: To strengthen our identity as Dominican preachers each region/country is asked to create the role of Promoters of Preaching whose responsibility is to encourage Dominican women to cherish our role as preachers by valuing the current spaces of preaching and by discovering new spaces.

Goal: To strengthen our communication, networking and our formation in technology.

Objective:To create networks that work for DSI and to broaden those that already exists;

To encourage sisters to communicate with sisters in another country through e-mail:
Are there sisters in the congregation who would like to communicate by email with
sisters in other countries? If you will send me the names, email addresses and language preferred I will send them on to Sister Fabiola who will create a list. This list will be sent back to you to give to the sisters who want to email each other. If possible may I have the names by February 15th.

Goal: To cultivate a concrete commitment to the Millennium Development Goals, particularly to promote gender equality and empower women, reduce child mortality, achieve universal primary education, improve maternal health, ensure
environmental sustainability, and develop a global partnership for development.

Objective: Every region will stress their own priorities concerning the MDG’s and will choose one or two of them to make as concrete as
possible.

Goal: To strengthen Dominican Volunteers International (DVI), collaborate with the
International Commission on Preaching and to promote experiences intercongre- gationally among Dominican Sisters and among different members of the Dominican family.

Objectives: Each region will be asked to identify two communities who can be a sending or a receiving community.

A letter from the Coordinating will be sent to the Commission for Preaching stating that the objectives of the General Assembly of DSI are absolutely in line with the commission.

The website of the Dominican Sisters “An excellent way of amplifying Dominican connections...” It was thus that our site was defined. You can find on it news, documents, articles written by or about Dominicans: preaching, justice and peace, life stories and about the mission. want to inform the commission about the all that is done in the regions concerning the holy preaching.

by Patricia Simpson, OP (San Rafael)
Dominican Sisters International, Coordinating Committee