USA
UN Briefing – ‘Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues Meets from May 9-20; Indigenous Peoples: Conflict, Peace and Resolution’
“Indigenous peoples account for 5 percent of the world’s population, while representing 15 percent of those living in poverty. As many as 33 percent of all people living in extreme rural poverty globally are from indigenous communities. Those figures are particularly alarming given the fact that so much of the world’s natural resource base is located on lands within indigenous territories. This is where both governments and corporations wreak havoc on the lives of people, destroying their communities and their cultures, as they destroy water sources, forests and ecosystems at the same time.” Read article by Margaret Mayce, O.P.
NEW ORLEANS, LA — Beginning May 29, 2016, two Dominican priests will walk over 450 miles from St. Anthony of Padua Church in New Orleans to the National Shrine of St. Martin de Porres in Memphis, Tennessee. Fr. Thomas Schaefgen, OP, and Fr. Francis Orozco, OP, are celebrating the 800th anniversary of the approval of the Order of Preachers, also called Dominicans after the founder, St. Dominic de Guzman, by reaching back to the roots of the friars preachers. The Order of Preachers (Dominicans) is a Roman Catholic religious order made up of priests and brothers that was formally approved by Pope Honorius III in 1216 with the mission of “preaching and the salvation of souls.” St. Dominic followed the example of Jesus who moved about preaching the Good News from town to town, rarely staying in one place, and having no place to lay his head. The route that Fr. Thomas and Fr. Francis will travel begins in New Orleans, takes them around Lake Pontchartrain, and then they will head North through Mississippi, ending in Memphis, TN. The pilgrimage will begin on May 29, 2016, and end on June 29, 2016.
Sister Barbara Beaumont, O.P. in Fanjeaux, France has recently had her book published, Keeping Faith with the Preachers: Pages from the History of Dominican Sisters. The book is “a collection of talks and conferences about the history of Dominican women given in various locations in recent years (USA, France, Belgium…).” The price is 10 euro ($11.33) and can be purchased online via PayPal (request instructions via email). Book can be ordered online at 
For fifty years, a total of twenty-four Dominican Sisters of Peace have served in Chimbote, Peru. On April 29, 2016, a celebration was held for the Golden Jubilee of the Sisters’ presence in Chimbote. In attendance were Sr. Mary Ann Connolly, Sr. Germaine Conroy, Sr. Catherine Malya Chen and Sr. Therese Leckert.
