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September 17, 2025, Adrian, Michigan – The feast of St. Phoebe – declared a saint by the early Church before the canonization process was begun – was celebrated on September 10, 2025, in St. Catherine Chapel at the Adrian Dominican Sisters’ Motherhouse. The Liturgy and an afternoon program on St. Phoebe were organized by the Spirits Rising Mission Group of the Adrian Dominican Sisters.

“I commend to you Phoebe our sister, who is [also] a minister of the church at Cenchreae, that you may receive her in the Lord in a manner worthy of the holy ones, and help her in whatever way she may need from you, for she has been a benefactor to many and to me as well.” These words, taken from the letter of St. Paul to the Romans (16:1-2), are never proclaimed from the pulpit as part of the Catholic Church’s lectionary, but they are used by many in the Church to uphold Phoebe as a deacon and minister of the early Church.

During the liturgy at St. Catherine Chapel, Associate Kathryn “Katie” Love offered a reflection on Romans 16:1-2 and the Beatitudes. She noted that St. Paul lifted Phoebe “as an example – a woman whose ministry strengthens the body of Christ” through her leadership, service, and care for God’s people.  

Phoebe’s legacy has been carried on by women throughout the course of Church history, Katie said. “Think of the women who opened their homes as house churches in Paul’s time … the women martyrs who gave their lives for Christ … the women religious who have taught, healed, and cared for the poor across centuries … and the mothers and grandmothers who have passed the faith from one generation to the next.”

She encouraged the assembly to remember Phoebe and to “give thanks for the countless women who have carried the Church on their shoulders – in the early days, in history, and right here among us now.”

Sister Cheryl Liske, OP, delegate of the Spirits Rising Mission Group, led Sisters and Associates in an afternoon program that included input on St. Phoebe and opportunities for small- and large-group discussion. The program explored the role of St. Phoebe and its implications for the role of women in the Catholic Church today.

“Phoebe is the only person directly named as a deacon and benefactor” in Scriptures, said Sister Cheryl, an iconographer who created an icon of St. Phoebe and presented it to the Adrian Dominican Sisters on the Feast of St. Phoebe in 2024. The icon is now on display in the gathering space of St. Catherine Chapel. 

“We recognize and honor her as our sister,” she added. “She used her power for the good of others and for the Gospel. Perhaps we could reflect on how we use whatever social power we have to come to the aid of the needy. If we do that, Phoebe will be proud to have us as her successors.”

Sister Cheryl noted the “ongoing discernment” over women’s ordination to the permanent diaconate, a role distinct from that of the priest. One of the primary documents of Vatican II, Lumen Gentium, The Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, describes the role of the deacon. At the disposal of the bishop, the deacon is called to “serve the whole people of God and take care of the sick and the poor.”

Sister Cheryl contrasted the recent 60 Minutes interview in which Pope Francis stated that the issue of women’s ordination was closed with Paragraph 60 of the summary of the Catholic Church’s three-year Synodal Process, which calls for “full implementation of all the opportunities already provided for in Canon Law with regard to the role of women” and requests that the “discernment of diaconal ministry for women remains open.”

Understanding the difference between the 60 Minutes interview and paragraph 60 is one step towards continuing the discernment of women deacons, Sister Cheryl said. She also encouraged participants to sign on to the request that the Feast of St. Phoebe be restored to the Roman calendar and that the reference to St. Phoebe in Romans 16:1-2 be restored to the lectionary. 

The celebration of the Feast of St. Phoebe was in response to a request by Discerning Deacons, an organization whose mission is to “engage Catholics in the active discernment of our Church about women and the diaconate and contribute to the renewal of this ministry for our times.”
 

Caption for above feature photo: Participants in the September 10, 2025, presentation on St. Phoebe engage in small-group discussion.

Portfolio Advisory Board Article
By Mary Minette, Mercy Investment Consultant

In proxy year 2025, shareholder proposal filings decreased from the previous year due to a variety of factors, including successful withdrawals in 2024; rising sentiment against the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria for determining an organization’s social impact; and uncertainty about the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) approach to shareholder proposals in a new federal administration. 

The Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) estimates that member-filed shareholder proposals decreased 15 percent from the 2024 proxy season, with a 43 percent drop in climate proposals, a 38 percent decline in human rights and worker rights proposals, and a 25 percent drop in health-related proposals.

The rate at which companies challenged shareholder proposals at the SEC has also increased compared to previous years, due in part to a mid-year policy revision that included significant changes in how SEC staff interpreted the rules for the permitted content of proposals. In addition, the SEC invited companies to submit challenges even if the deadline to exclude a proposal from their proxy had expired at the time the new rules were issued.  

According to ICCR, about 17 percent of member filings were challenged in 2024, and nearly 47 percent of filings were challenged in 2025. The SEC allowed companies to omit 25 percent of the challenged proposals. 

In addition to these changes to the proposal process, the new SEC chair, Paul Atkins, has indicated that he would like to restrict or even eliminate the shareholder proposal filing process. A recent report from the Business Roundtable also supports substantial restrictions on shareholder proposals, claiming that they are time-consuming and costly to companies and often concern issues with no material financial impact. Finally, the legislature in Texas recently passed a law that will allow companies incorporated in that state to amend their by-laws to opt out of allowing shareholder proposals.

Companies are removing public disclosures on ESG programs and performance objectives to avoid being targeted by anti-ESG proponents. Other companies have announced rollbacks of climate commitments and diversity programs. Through dialogue, we have learned that many of these companies remain committed to progress in these areas, showing the importance of ongoing dialogue and strong relationships with companies to maintain progress on environmental and human rights issues.

The news is gloomy, but the Portfolio Advisory Board remains committed to our work in shareholder advocacy, engaging in dialogues with 42 companies and filing 10 shareholder proposals in the 2025 proxy season. We will continue to support the rights of shareholders to bring critical issues to the attention of the companies they own and to push companies to be transparent about their efforts to address issues such as human rights and climate change that pose a risk to their business, as well as to our communities and the Earth.

 

Feature image at top: "Shareholder" by 2210178venushree, CC BY-SA 4.0