Dominican Life 
USA
A web crossroads for the Order of Preachers
The Dominican Sisters of San Rafael, California, held a funeral Mass July 3 for their oldest member, Sister Claire Maher. She was a teacher and principal in the Archdiocese of San Francisco for more than 40 years. Her obituary was featured in Catholic San Francisco, the archdiocesan newspaper. Read more
The Most Reverend Earl Boyea, Bishop of the Diocese of Lansing, visited the Adrian Dominican Sisters and presided at a special Mass on June 26. His pastoral visit to the motherhouse has become a tradition, anticipated by both Bishop Boyea and the sisters on the motherhouse campus. Sister Attracta Kelly, OP, prioress of the congregation, welcomed Bishop Boyea and thanked him for his visit. Read story, view photos on the Adrian Dominicans web site
May 31, 2013, the Feast of the Visitation, marked an historic gathering of the Dominican family in Mission San Jose. Ten Dominican nuns from Corpus Christi Monastery, Menlo Park, California, and 10 nuns from the Monastery of Mary the Queen, Elmira, New York, came to the motherhouse of the Dominican Sisters of Mission San Jose, Fremont, California, to explore future collaboration around elder care and vocations.
The group also included Sister Gladys Guenther, congregational president of Sisters of the Holy Family, Fremont, California; Sister Anna Oven, a member of the leadership team of the Dominican Sisters of Oakford, California; and Sister Judy Jewison of the Sinsinawa Dominicans. Sister Judy facilitated the meeting, and Sister Mary Jarlath McGrath, OP (Mission San Jose) led the tour.
Sister Rose Marie Hennessy, OP (Mission San Jose) and Sister Gladys presented the history of their collaboration to bring OnLok Lifeways (PACE program) to Fremont. Sister Anna spoke of the Oakford sisters connection with the MSJ Dominicans and their own participation with OnLok Lifeways. Sister Miriam (Elmira) and Sister Maria Christina (Menlo Park) shared their stories of prayer, reflection, discernment and meetings to collaboratively plan for their future.
Following lunch, the sisters toured St. Martin’s care center and the Mission San Jose motherhouse chapel. The next stop in their busy schedule was a visit to the Sisters of the Holy Family motherhouse and the OnLok Day Health Center located there.
Sister Gloria Marie Jones, prioress of the Mission San Jose Dominicans, gifted the Menlo Park and Elmira nuns with their sisters’ famous olive oil (made from the trees on their property) before departure. The joy and value of Dominican collaboration was evident in the engaged interaction, the learning and hope created for the future.
By Kathy Long, OP
Across Mexico and U.S. border cities like Nogales, one witnesses people living in desperate realities. I joined Roy Bourgeois and Lisa Sullivan of the School of the Americas (SOA) Watch and 14 others to deepen our awareness of the human issues regarding immigration and deportation in Arizona and its partner state, Sonora, Mexico. This trip was disturbing as we saw the suffering and met people victimized by border regulations, laws, criminals, and the desert terrain.
In Nogales, Mexico, with West Cosgrove of Kino Border Initiative, we went to a soup kitchen (comedor) staffed by Mexican religious and volunteers. Our focus was to meet those who travel this dangerous journey. Each day started with a welcome, prayer, announcements, and breakfast. Upon arrival, we peeled and cut up cucumbers for juice and then visited with travelers from Central America (about half were Mexican, others Honduran or Salvadoran). One man had a leg amputated; he fell off the train and was now resting and healing. He planned to return home. One 19-year-old was distraught because he separated from his friends in the desert and did not know if they were alive or dead. They had already traveled far and dangerously through Mexico to cross into the U.S. The border wall is constructed of 18-feet-tall metal posts which also extend six feet underground; migrants find an area with no fence, deep in the Arizona desert near Nogales.
Kino Border Initiative also has a shelter for female deportees; here they recuperate from their tragedies in the desert. One woman who traveled with her husband was completely dehydrated; they had crossed into the United States via the Arizona desert. When she became so weak, the “coyote” said to the group, “Leave her, let’s go.” Her husband stayed with her. (Who is my neighbor?) He called 911 on his cell phone, and the Border Patrol sent in a helicopter and took the woman immediately to a Tucson hospital. She was completely dehydrated, near death. Her husband was deported. When she was healthy, they deported her to Nogales, where she was recuperating at the women’s shelter.
Statistics state that 50 percent of deportees try again. Detention separates families; husbands and wives, parents and children. Children are deported without their parents while the parent is held in a U.S. jail. Parents are deported and children put in foster care. Later it is extremely difficult for a mother to locate her children. Family systems are under great stress.
Border Patrol officers save lives; they also abuse and kill innocent people. In October 2012, agents shot through the Nogales border fence and killed 16-year-old Jose Antonio with eight bullets in his back. We met his mother and grandmother and visited the memorial where he was gunned down. He is one of several killed by the Border Patrol since 2010. No justice has come of these tragic shootings. Shooting across country borders is illegal. It happens often. Where is the justice, the accountability? (Visit Southern Border Communities Coalition: www.soboco.org.)
The border between Mexico and the United States is extremely militarized and dangerous. People on both sides live in fear. Migrants and undocumented persons have a human face; these are people’s lives at stake. This was a sad and empowering journey to the border. What will we do to bring about systemic change?
Resources
No More Deaths (No Mas Muertes)
www.nomoredeaths.org
Applied Research Center: Shattered Families Report
http://arc.org/dev3/shatteredfamilies
BorderLinks
www.borderlinks.org
SOA Watch
www.soaw.org
Southern Border Communities Coalition
www.soboco.org
In my last briefing, I introduced the notion of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Post-2015 Development Agenda, both of which flow from the outcome of Rio + 20. This Post-2015 Development Agenda is intended to be people-centered, while acknowledging the fact that we live on a fragile Planet whose limited resource base is already being stretched to the limit. One year ago, in the aftermath of Rio + 20, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon appointed a high-level panel to prepare a framework for this development agenda.
USA
A web crossroads for the Order of Preachers
