What's Happening

April 15, 2026, Adrian, Michigan – On behalf of Adrian Dominican Sisters and Associates, the General Council issued the following statement in support of Pope Leo XIV and his Gospel stance for peace.
 
In this Easter season of new life, our nation is poised to plunge into a cataclysmic war or to secure a diplomatic pathway to peace with Iran. We join with Pope Leo in prayer, urging the path to peace. “Enough of war! True strength is shown in serving life,” the Pope said during his Prayer for Peace on April 11.
 
We stand with the Leadership Council of Women Religious in expressing strong support for the Pope “as he continues to speak with clarity and conviction as a moral voice in our world.” 

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1CtiiskZCq/

#   #   #
 
Members of the General Council of the Adrian Dominican Sisters are Sisters Elise D. García, OP, Prioress; Frances Nadolny, OP, General Councilor; Lorraine Réaume, OP, Vicaress and General Councilor; and Corinne Sanders, OP, General Councilor.

April 8, 2026, Adrian, Michigan – Several Adrian Dominican Sisters and Associates were among an estimated 8 million people who participated in more than 3,000 No Kings rallies across the United States and around the world.

The No Kings rallies – held three times since the inauguration of President Donald Trump – have been organized by a coalition of grassroots organizations to give participants the opportunity to stand up peacefully in favor of democracy and against policies and actions that undermine it and could lead the United States into a monarchy or dictatorship.

Several of the Adrian Dominican participants of the March 28 No Kings rally took time to reflect on the experience.

Sister Kathleen Schanz, OP, participated in one in St. Paul-Minneapolis, Minnesota, at the site of the fatal shootings of Renee Nicole Good, 37, and Alex Pretti, 37, by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in January 2026. Sister Kathleen marveled at the size of the rally, which drew about 200,000 people. “I was deeply moved as I witnessed and participated in this event with this city and its people, who have experienced so much violence over these last months,” she said. “Inspiring!”

Associate Connie Brady attended a rally in Felton, California, and described the No Kings events as “a path to show up and speak out, with my community, in a nonviolent expression of opposition to oligarchy. The issues are too important to remain silent.”

Connie also sees the rally she attended as an “experience of hope. Hope that grassroots strategic actions will shape political outcomes and protect free and fair elections. Hope that we can elect public officials who respect human and climate rights and will enact structural reforms to protect them.”

Connie also found hope from a young mother who stood beside her and explained her own reasons for attending the rally. “We’re here because everyone has a right to be free and say the things they believe,” Connie recalled the young woman saying. “See everyone here and think about all the other people in the world. They deserve to be safe and happy and have a nice warm bed at night just like us.”

Associate Sharon Pikula stood up for her beliefs during the No Kings rally in Olympia, Washington. Along with members of the International Dances for Peace organization and with others at the rally, she expressed her beliefs through dance, voice, and movements on the Capitol lawn.

“It was delightful as well as purposeful,” said Sharon, who frequently joins the local group as they share simple songs of peace from “a wide variety of religions, spiritualities, and cultures.” She spoke of the “great energy and hope” that arises when a group of people “join their voices and hands together.”

Sharon was especially struck by the words of Circle Round for Freedom by Linda Hirschhorn: “Circle round for freedom, circle round for peace, for all of us imprisoned, circle for release. Circle for the planet, circle for each soul, for the children of our children keep the circle whole.” At the words “circle for release,” Sharon said she “prayed for those in immigrant detention centers, those imprisoned by war and prisons created by our families and societies and, yes, our own doing.”

Sharon sees the need to add music and movement “to move us ever so slowly down the path of oneness and see the light of Christ in all. I could easily imagine St. Dominic joining our circle as a way of broadening out his nine forms of prayer. He would be right with us.”

At her rally in Florida, Sister Rosemary Finnegan, OP, was impressed by a young woman, mother, and artist she and her fellow parishioner, Meghan, met during the rally. The woman had traveled to Ukraine and studied art in Russia. “This is her first rally and she participated because she wants a better world for her 2- and 4-year-olds.” 

“This encounter is an example of the community spirit and camaraderie that existed in all the rallies I attended,” Sister Rosemary said. “They have one purpose, however, and that is to change this regime and establish order and freedom once again.”

Associate Noraleen Renauer, who attended the rally in Ann Arbor, Michigan, said she participated because “I wanted to be counted. Walking into the crowd (with cane), I found everyone there: Millennials, Boomers, Gen. Z, and children.” Noraleen said the atmosphere of the rally was one of peace and camaraderie. “We were ‘everyday’ Americans, gathered to stand for democracy and the Constitution; This was why we were marching. I thought to myself, ‘This is the Body of Christ,’ as tears welled up in me.”

Noraleen noted that, 24 hours later, she was in another march: the Palm Sunday procession. “In each instance, I saw the American culture of individualism being transformed into the Beloved Community,” she said.

Numerous Adrian Dominican Sisters, Associates, and Co-workers gathered at the No Kings Rally in Comstock Park, Adrian. Sister Theresa Mayrand, OP, perhaps captures what many of them experienced. “I was impressed with the peacefulness at the rally – the smiles, the friendliness of those who participated,” Sister Theresa said. “It was cold, yet people came to show their conviction of the importance of democracy and their resistance to the chiseling away of human rights. They came to stand up for immigrants and for liberty.”

 

Feature photo at top: From left, Sisters Joyce Caulfield, OP, Corinne Florek, OP, Rosemary Abramovich, OP, Kitty Bethea, OP, and Beverly Stark, OP, participate in the No Kings rally in Comstock Park, Adrian. Photo submitted by Sister Sharon Spanbauer, OP