Dominican Life 
USA
A web crossroads for the Order of Preachers
On Oct. 3, novices from the Province of the Most Holy Name of Jesus (Western Province) joined the Capuchin friars at the National Shrine of St. Francis in San Francisco, California, to celebrate the vigil of the Feast of St. Francis. Read more, view photos
Racine Dominicans
The Eco-Justice Center, a sponsored ministry of the Racine Dominicans in Racine, Wisconsin, is celebrating 10 years of environmental education this month. Recent activities at the center included a Fall Festival, Beach and Neighborhood Cleanup, and a Brick Oven Pizza Bake. Photos and a new video with an interview with Sister Janet Weyker, OP, director, are available on the center’s web site. Read more
Peace Dominicans
By Anne Lythgoe, OP
In September, the Dominican Sisters of Peace opened a new outreach ministry in the Marlyville-Fontainebleau neighbor of New Orleans, not far from St. Mary’s Dominican High School. The Peace Center is a former convenience store that has been transformed into a multipurpose facility. It will offer after-school programs, computer access, a children’s library and reading center, and spiritual respite..
Sister Therese Leckert, OP, a member of the congregation’s leadership team, said, “Oh happy day! I can’t tell you how happy I am to see a dream become reality in this Peace Center. It is our hope that the center will be a sign of peace in a city and a world that is too often torn by violence.”
The Peace Center is an expression of “our Chapter Commitment to promote justice through solidarity with those who are marginalized especially women and children.” It is the first new ministry that the Dominican Sisters of Peace have begun since they came together five years ago as a new congregation.
Three Dominican Sisters of Peace, Patricia Thomas, OP, Suzanne Brauer, OP and Ceal Warner, OP will serve as staff. They will be a sign of the congregation’s commitment to New Orleans and provide outreach and needed services for neighborhood residents, along with offering prayer and spiritual support.
The sisters also hope to collaborate with St. Mary’s Dominican High School, which already has neighborhood outreach tutoring program as well as a Thanksgiving baskets and the Christmas Adopt-a-Family program. The high school has been educating girls since 1860.
Dr. Cynthia A. Thomas, president of St. Mary’s Dominican, helped in the development of the center, along with Sisters Theresa Fox, OP; Mary Daniel, OP; Noel Toomey, OP; Denise Bourgeois, OP; and Mary Ann Culotta, OP. Adrian Dominican Sisters Patty Harvat, OP; Mary Keefe, OP; and Judy Zynda, OP; and leaders from Xavier University Community Center also contributed ideas and creativity. New Orleans Archbishop Gregory Aymond worked with the congregation in shaping the vision for the project.
Paul Bonitatibus, a member of the congregation’s Economic Council has been extraordinarily generous to the Peace Center. Property owner, Michael Dezura, worked with the sisters to finish out the first floor plans according to their needs for outreach to the community.
September was Human Trafficking Awareness Month in Houston. What began as Human Trafficking Awareness Week in September 2007 has expanded to a month-long series of events to call attention to and raise awareness about the prevalence of human trafficking. During “Faith and Freedom” week, the Dominican Sisters of Houston hosted a Labyrinth Walk for Freedom on Sept. 16, inviting community members and friends to join them in praying for an end to human trafficking.
Durrell Thomas, director of development for United Against Human Trafficking, opened the evening with an overview of the organization and the name change from Houston Rescue and Restore Coalition. The new name identifies the coalition members as working together to raise awareness and provide services toward of goal of bringing an end to human trafficking. Margaret Harle then gave a brief introduction to the labyrinth for those who were experiencing this form of prayer for the first time. Following a prayer that included a litany calling to mind the women, men and children exploited by the many forms of slave labor, attendees were invited to walk.
Paintings from the “Look Beneath the Surface” traveling art exhibit were set up around the exterior of the labyrinth. The exhibit opened in 2005 at the Galleria in Houston. Local artists, including Dominican Sisters and students from St. Agnes Academy, were invited to interpret the stories and experiences of victims of human trafficking in an effort to share the realities of modern day slavery. The exhibit is now the property of United Against Human Trafficking and is available to coalition members holding awareness events. Participants stopped to reflect on the various paintings on their labyrinth journeys.
“Humanity Betrayed” by Sisters Benignus Galiano, OP, and Camilla Micheletti, OP, reminds us that “no one has the right to control the body and spirit of another person. To promise a better life to vulnerable individuals who are unaware and unsuspecting of the fiendish purposes of the perpetrators of human trafficking is a betrayal of humanity.”
Maryknoll Sisters
“Trailblazers in Habits,” a new documentary about the pioneer work of Maryknoll Sisters, the first U.S.-based congregation of Catholic women religious dedicated to foreign mission, will air on ABC-TV affiliates across the nation, beginning Sept. 28. The program, which is available to stations for broadcast through Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 27, tells the story, in the sisters’ own words, of the congregation’s work in education, healthcare, and the cause of social justice. Read more
USA
A web crossroads for the Order of Preachers
