July 7, 2020

Just Peace Action Committee Studies Nestlé

The Just Peace Action Committee was founded at St. Catharine, KY, in August, 2017. Our purpose is to use the power of our many voices and votes to promote justice and peace both locally, nationally, and at times internationally.

We have covered a number of issues since our beginning and our latest project is studying Nestlé’s bottled water efforts here in the United States. Nestlé’s is an international corporation based in Switzerland with offices all over the world. Our study has included videos, articles, letter writing and naming the Nestlé products purchased at St. Catharine’s.

Our research discovered that Nestlé siphons millions of gallons of water daily from many sources including those in Michigan, Florida, California, Oregon, and Maine. Nestlé makes billions of dollars per year selling their multiple brands of bottled water while paying as little as $200 per year per source to pump this water out of the ground.

Water as a resource belongs to the people, but Nestlé is using water as a commodity to sell on the open market. Not only is Nestlé depleting the water supply of these communities, the plastic bottles are also polluting the land and oceans.

Here at the Dominican Sisters of Peace, St. Catharine, KY, the committee conducted research into the Nestlé products we buy. We do not purchase bottled water but our chocolate products and coffee creamers bought through Gordon Foods come from Nestlé. We are now in the process of working with Gordon Foods to purchase chocolate products from other makers.

We sent a letter to both Nestlé’s international headquarters in Switzerland and to Nestle Waters North America in the United States stating why we are discontinuing their products here at St. Catharine’s. We have received a response from Nestle USA, Arlington, VA sharing the actions they have taken and continue to do in the areas we have highlighted.

Locally, there are 3 other religious communities we have contacted to join our efforts.

The Just Peace Action Committee

Sisters Rose M. Cummins, Juanita Carrigan, Eleanor Fabrizi, Joel Gubler, Marilyn Pierson, Joseph Leo Pietrowski

May 27, 2020

Farewell Message from DomLife Editor

Dear Readers,

The time has come for me to say farewell as Dominican Life | USA editor. Today is my last update, and my role as editor ends on May 31^st.

Five years ago, when I was hired by the Dominican Sisters Conference (DSC) as administrative assistant, I did not know where this job would lead me. After a few months of working as the administrative assistant for the DSC, I took over the role of editor of DomLife (December, 2015); and I was happy to continue as DomLife editor part time when I finished my role as administrative assistant for the DSC in 2018 to start my new position as assistant archivist for the Sinsinawa Dominicans.

During these five years, I’m grateful to have had the pleasure and opportunity to work with and become acquainted with the various Dominican Catholic sisters, friars, associates, and lay employees in the United States. I look forward to continue working with the Dominican family in my position as assistant archivist for the Sinsinawa Dominicans.

In the meantime, an interim editor will take over Dominican Life | USA. Keep an eye out for announcements and content.

It has been wonderful to serve as Dominican Life | USA editor. Thank you!

Gratefully,

Cassie Vazquez

May 25, 2020

Dominican Sisters of Peace: ‘A Chapel is Reborn as a Gift to the Community it Served’

Watertown, MA: Rosary Manor was founded in 1888 as an outgrowth of Dominican Sisters of St. Catharine, KY. Mother Regina of the Kentucky Dominicans, now the Dominican Sisters of Peace, sent seven Sisters to Watertown, MA, to help manage the new schools in the parish. Over the more than 130 years that the Sisters of Rosary Manor served the people of the Boston Diocese, they founded more than 20 ministries, including schools, community outreach, and an ecology center at Crystal Spring.

As the long history of Rosary Manor draws to a close, the Sisters made a final gift to the religious community in the diocese by donating their chapel furnishings to Sr. Mark’s Church in Dorchester, MA. Sr. Blaise Flynn has prepared a reflection about this special gift.

Parishioners pack and move items from the Rosary Manor to the chapel at St. Mark’s Church.

On the feast of St. Catherine, Fr. Joseph Linh T. Nguyen, pastor of St. Mark’s Church in Dorchester, arrived with several of his parishioners to move the Rosary Manor chapel to its new home in the basement of St. Mark’s church. There is a very large and long-standing Vietnamese community connected to the church, as well as a newly-arrived Irish community, many of whom still speak Gaelic. They have four masses every Sunday, and many standing-room only.

May 25, 2020

Dominican Sister of Adrian Sharon Spanbauer, OP, Appointed Mission Prioress of Local Mission Chapter

Sister Sharon Spanbauer, OP, Mission Prioress-Elect for Holy Rosary Mission Chapter, in her clinic at Siena Heights University.

May 7, 2020, Adrian, Michigan – Sister Sharon Spanbauer, OP, a nurse practitioner who served retired Sisters at the Adrian Dominican Congregation’s Dominican Life center (DLC) from 2001 to 2014, has been appointed Mission Prioress to work with the Sisters in the Holy Rosary Mission Chapter. Sister Patricia Siemen, OP, Prioress of the Congregation, made the announcement May 4, 2020.

Sister Sharon will begin a four-year term on July 1, 2020, and will share collaborative leadership with Sister Patricia Dulka, OP, Chapter Prioress of Holy Rosary Mission Chapter. She succeeds Sister Joanne Peters, OP, who on June 30, 2020, completes her three-year term as Co-Chapter Prioress. The Holy Rosary Mission Chapter is comprised of retired Sisters residing at the DLC.

May 25, 2020

Dominican Sisters of Adrian: ‘St. Rose Dominican Hospitals and Local Community Strengthen Bonds during COVID-19 Crisis’

A sign in front of the Siena Campus of St. Rose Dominican Hospitals pays tribute to hospital employees during the time of the COVID-19 pandemic. Similar signs were placed in front of all three campuses of St. Rose Dominican Hospital.

May 12, 2020, Henderson, Nevada – The signs in front of all three campuses of Dignity Health-St. Rose Dominican Hospitals in Henderson and Las Vegas, Nevada, say it all: “Heroes work here.” The signs pay tribute to the staff members of the three campuses, who, like health care workers throughout the world, are risking their own lives to heal patients with the COVID-19 virus. The hospital buildings are also lit in blue to recognize the efforts of their partners, the first responders who bring patients to the hospitals.

As of May 8, 2020, Clark County, Nevada – which includes Henderson and Las Vegas – reported 4,616 cases of COVID-19 and 253 deaths, according to the Southern Nevada Health District. Patients with the virus are treated at the Siena and San Martín campuses of St. Rose Dominican Hospitals. The original facility, St. Rose de Lima Campus, has only 10 beds and has not treated patients with the virus.