Sr. Martha Starrett, OP

Dominican Sister of Peace Martha Starrett, OP, died at Mohun Health Care Center (Columbus, OH) on March 29, 2017. She was born in 1931 in Zanesville, OH. In 1949 she entered the Dominican Sisters of St. Mary of the Springs, now the Dominican Sisters of Peace.

Sr. Martha earned a Bachelor of Science in Education from the College of St. Mary of the Springs, now Ohio Dominican University, and a Master of Arts in History from the University of Notre Dame.

Her first 24 years of ministry were spent educating elementary and high school students in Ohio and New York, meeting the challenge of teaching social studies and religion to adolescents during the turbulent 60s and early 70s.

For the next nine years, Sr. Martha shared her gifts and talents by ministering to the sick and elderly, first at Mohun Health Care Center and later at St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in Zanesville, OH. She saw these years as a “way of preaching God’s love,” but she acknowledged that “…the most satisfying and interesting” ministry was her retreat work because she loved “…working one-on-one with people and being a witness to the wonderful miracle that God continues to work in people’s lives.” She worked as Spiritual Director and Retreat Director at the Bon Secours Spiritual Center in Marriottsville, MA, for a total of 24 years. In this ministry she had frequent opportunities to use her artistic abilities to create a prayerful atmosphere with art, music, clay, and dance. Continue reading →

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Breaking the Silence

Blog by Associate Mary Ellen George, OPA

Speaking the Truth

Silence hurts. Keeping silent about a concern can be a burden that robs us of the opportunity to connect with others and to “speak the truth in a million voices [because] it is silence that kills.” This quote is from St. Catherine of Siena and speaks powerfully of the need to address the elephant in the room. In Galatians 6:2, we are encouraged to “carry one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the Law of Christ.” Many of us carry concerns that we hide from others, perhaps because it is more comfortable to do so. We may fear being judged or not being understood. Our challenge, however, is to be a voice in the darkness, breaking the silence that may enshroud us, allowing God to work through us for the good of all whose lives we touch and whose lives touch us. Continue reading →

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Open the window of your heart

Blog by Sr. Barbara Kane, OP

What’s the condition of your window?

Quick…go over to a window and look out. What do you see? Are flowers blooming? Raindrops pouring? Or is the window so small or dirty that you can’t see anything? Does your view open up your heart? If you’ve ever been in the Dominican Sisters of Peace Columbus Motherhouse, you know that the chapel has an entire wall of windows behind the altar. It can be wonderfully distracting and spiritual. Most times, the chapel is filled with bountiful light. In contrast, medieval cathedrals had slivers of windows and most of them were very high off the ground. The cathedrals were dark and dreary.

Recently, I was working with an adult student and we were discussing continents and countries. My learner had little knowledge of countries outside of the United States and North America. I realized how fortunate I have been to travel around the world experiencing the cultures and hospitality of many people while so many have a very narrow vision of the world. Continue reading →

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April 4, 2017

First Friday Fast – Peace Around the World

The DSP Peace and Nonviolence Committee invites you to fast the First Friday of each month for peace around the world. Please join us this Friday, April 7. As we prepare to enter into the sacred mysteries of Holy Week, let us pause and reflect on our Lenten journey up to this point. If we have not been as faithful in prayer, fasting, and almsgiving as when we began this journey, let us make a renewed effort to truly walk in Jesus’ footsteps this coming week.

Let us look carefully at the issues that are put before us and see how we can respond, eg, the issue of our immigrants. All they want is a better life for themselves and their families. How can we justify separating children from their parents if the parents are not criminals? Pray, call, or write your elected officials about this injustice.

“One cannot level one’s moral lance at every evil in the universe. There are just too many of them. But you can do something, and the difference between doing something and doing nothing is everything.” ~ Daniel Berrigan

Creation Care Guide

Read the Diocese of Columbus Creation Care Guide. Dominican Sisters of Peace Rose Ann Van Buren and Marguerite Chandler are on the Diocese of Columbus Creation Care Team and helped create this great resource.

Preparing for Earth Day

Catholic Climate Movement is offering this exam in preparation for Earth Day on April 22.

Pizza & Ponder

Last week, our Immigration Reform Committee partnered with Ohio Dominican University Campus Ministry to host “Pizza and Ponder,” an event that brought together Sisters, Associates, faculty, staff and students to watch a film on immigration and discuss the issue together, while enjoying pizza. Checkout photos from the event.

President’s New Executive Order

Click here for information on the President’s new executive order on climate change and find multiple actions you can take.

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…And They Were Cured

Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, drive out demons. Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give. (Matthew 10:8)

Blog by Justice Promoter Kelly Litt

ACA vs AHCA – Our Gospel Mandate

Throughout Scripture, Jesus heals the sick, comforts the suffering, embraces children, reaches out to the marginalized, and continually encourages us to do the same. Pope Francis has reinforced Jesus’ words by explaining that “health care is not a consumer good but a universal right, so access to health services cannot be a privilege.”

With the recent battle between the Affordable Care Act (ACA, commonly referred to as Obamacare) and the American Health Care Act (cleverly and confusingly known as AHCA), our Gospel mandate to care for the poor and sick has become front page news. The current Administration has promised to fix the ACA by repealing it and replacing it, yet members of Congress on both sides of the aisle expressed concern after the Congressional Budget Office estimated that up to 24 million individuals could lose coverage under the new proposed AHCA. Continue reading →

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