Part II - Dominican Sisters Preaching Justice

A: Resistance to Oppression

The stories recounted in this section all come from the second half of the twentieth century and range from resistance to totalitarian Communism, in Hungary and Vietnam, through resistance to the apartheid system in South Africa, to resistance against the genocidal frenzy that gripped Rwanda in the first half of the 1990s, reaching its peak in 1994.

In each case, the resistance takes a particular form: in the case of the Communist regime, resistance regards the existence of the Church herself and the survival of religious life as part of her tradition; in the apartheid regime, it was a struggle for the recognition of human dignity and of basic human rights, regardless of the colour of one’s skin; in the Rwandan context, it involved both remaining with the people and being true Christian witnesses to peace and solidarity with others, irrespective of tribal affiliation, in the midst of an orgy of killing on the part of people among whom most also professed to be Christian.

B: Taking up the Fight against Social Exclusion

In this section of the book, we have two contributions from France and one from Brazil, covering the life and witness of a worker-sister, support to landless farmers and the non-formal education of immigrants, aimed at promoting their integration into French society.

The 20th century phenomenon of the worker-priests is relatively well-known; the worker-sisters, like Elisabeth Voisin who worked in industrial laundries, gradually gaining the trust of the mostly Muslim immigrant women workers and supporting them in their struggle to defend themselves against unscrupulous employers, are less well-known.

The story from Brazil shows the Dominican sisters accompanying the landless people in their daily struggles and supporting them in their faith, living out the mission of the Sermon on the Mount in our world of today.

In the association “LA CLE” the sisters of the Roman congregation and the many volunteers who work with them fight social exclusion in another way – by providing the kind of education that can promote inclusion. The example of what La CLE is doing will be reflected in the lives of many other Dominican sisters around the world, especially those who have retired from teaching, like the sisters featured here, and who turn their skills more directly to combatting exclusion.

C: Promoting Women and Children and Providing Social Support

This is the part of the book that could have included contributions from every congregation and even every Dominican community. Promoting women and children and providing social support is an integral part of the “holy preaching” of every community of Dominican women.

Still, in these contributions, there are some elements that stand out: in Pakistan and Iraq, the ongoing harshness of their context and their endurance in the face of it; the very specific charism of the Bethany Dominicans, allowing women to be “rehabilitated” in this life as well as “redeemed” in the next; the combination of a missionary focus with these characteristics across the 20th century, as in the case of the Maryknoll Missionaries, as well as the striking figure of Sr Pétronille Kayiba with her theology of the role of women in Africa and her verve in as a “serial founder” of organisations and groups, many of which are specifically focused on women.

D: Peacebuilding

Building peace became a major question for society as a whole, as well as for the Church, in the 20th century. The peace movements were already well established in the early 20th century; the companion volume to this one deals with early involvement of the Dominican friars in them, whereas the contributions in this volume all come from the second half of the 20th century.

The search for truth and for reconciliation in Peru after the terrible years of the atrocities committed both by the Communist terrorist group, the Sendero Luminoso, and the government in trying to defeat them, is a very important way of building peace in a post-conflict situation. In being involved in such activity, the Dominican sisters carried on the medieval tradition of the Dominican friars, who would bring together all the parties in a violent dispute in order to find a way to reconciliation.

Another part of the world where peacebuilding was extremely important before any official peace accord could be reached was Northern Ireland. The roots of the violence in Ireland go back centuries. The main work of the Dominican sisters in this situation involved building bridges and bringing people together, mostly in simple, everyday ways, allowing the building of relationships and some kind of shared identity, healing the wounds from the past.

With the advent of weapons of mass destruction, many times more powerful than those dropped with devastating effect on Japan at the end of World War II, the possibility of a war where they might be used became impossible to justify in any circumstances, as well as too terrible to contemplate. The three Dominican sisters who carried out symbolic, ritual acts at the sites of the weapons themselves, as well as many other forms of resistance, put themselves on a collision course with state power and endured imprisonment as a result. Their actions are especially significant because they take place in the United States, which remains the leading military power, as well as a country where Christian values still have social impact.

E: Building a New Vision

The seven contributions grouped together under this heading represent the most diverse group among the five themes presented in the book. If we are talking about “building a new vision”, however, in all its diversity and richness, this should come as no surprise. It should also be no surprise that many of the issues touched here are referred to elsewhere in the book – this theme draws together what has gone before in terms of a positive proposition of a good society, where oppression and exclusion have no place, and where the promotion of human rights, especially those of women and children, takes place in a context of active peace-building. Through the rather clumsy mixed metaphor of “building” a “vision”, we are able to bring to the fore a sample of the variety of initiatives that Dominican sisters have taken, and are still taking, to witness to more human and sustainable ways of life and to the role that the spreading of the Gospel can play in these developments. Resisting oppression and taking up the fight against exclusion are also parts of these stories, since building the new vision also requires constant vigilance against its opposite; the wheat and the tares grow up together until the Lord comes.

This section opens with the figure of Luigia Tincani, the foundress of the Missionaries of the Schools, looked at from the point of view of her concern for justice, followed by a contribution on how the Sinsinawa sisters worked for justice across the 20th century and in various fields. In Rose Thering, we find a sister who had the courage to face up to anti-semitic prejudice in school curriculum materials; in so doing, she was able to play a role in strengthening those at the Vatican Council who were behind the key document on religious freedom, Nostra Aetate.

The story of the Swedish sisters of the Roman Congregation recounts their difficult but also encouraging journey towards genuine intercultural community life.

The contribution from Colombia focuses on another aspect of the “new vision”: what the poor can offer and how the Dominican sisters can benefit from an experience of being with the poor.

This section concludes with two contributions that deal with the promotion of sustainable lifestyles and the implications this has for theology, and the way the sisters in the US have been using their financial resources through responsible investing to promote ecological and social sustainability as well as solid financial returns on their investments.