What's Happening

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

September 29, 2025, Adrian, Michigan – On behalf of Adrian Dominican Sisters and Associates, the General Council issued the following statement in response to the mass shooting at the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints in Grand Blanc, Michigan.
 
The horrific shooting at the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints in Grand Blanc brings close to home for Michiganders the terrifying nightmare of gun violence in our nation – and the urgent need for members of Congress to enact laws that ban military-style assault weapons and provide for safe and responsible gun use.
 
As a church full of Mormon families were at prayer on Sunday, a man rammed his vehicle into their sanctuary and sprayed the assembly with an assault weapon, killing two worshippers, wounding eight, and then causing the deaths of at least two others after lighting the church on fire. Our hearts ache for the victims and their families. We pray for their healing and that of all the Mormon children, women, and men who suffered the trauma of this violent attack while in prayer with God.
 
This assault comes on the heels of a similar one last month that brought gun violence close to home for us as Dominican Sisters when a gunman rammed into Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and began shooting at a church full of children and adults, also in prayer with God at the opening Mass of their parish school. Our sister Dominicans of Sinsinawa (Wisconsin) were longtime teachers at Annunciation. Two children were killed and 21 people wounded.
 
During the past 15 years, people of faith have been victims of gun violence not only in various Christian churches but also in two Jewish synagogues, a Sikh temple, and outside of an Islamic mosque. The better known of these mass shootings are the 2012 shooting at the Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, killing six people and wounding four others; the 2015 shooting during bible study at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, killing nine people, including the senior pastor, and wounding one more; the 2017 shooting at the First Baptist Church in Southerland Springs, Texas, killing 26 people and wounding 22 – the deadliest at an American place of worship; and the 2018 Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, during Shabbat morning services, killing 11 and wounding six – the deadliest attack on the Jewish community in American history.
 
As longtime educators, we have seen how the horror of gun violence in schools added security barriers to entrances and made lockdown drills a heartbreaking part of every American child’s school life. It is deeply disturbing to think that the rise of gun violence in our nation’s sacred places of worship might lead to barricaded sanctuaries.
 
We call on our elected leaders to enact sane gun laws that ensure our First Amendment right to the free exercise of religion is protected, along with Second Amendment rights. We invite all people of faith to join us in this call – and in prayer for all victims of gun violence, whether in schools, places of prayer, campaigning for public office, serving as elected leaders, engaging in public discourse and free speech, or in other forms of public life.

 
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Members of the Adrian Dominican Sisters General Council 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.