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)

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 →

Striving to Shape the Future

At the recent Justice Promoter conferences I attended, there was a focus on passing on the charism and helping shape the future justice promoters for our congregations (whether those be vowed religious or lay). I found myself blushing as many praised the Dominican Sisters of Peace to be forward thinking and to begin fostering younger generations as they have done with me.

Just as we have strengthened our charism and ministry through our community of Associates, we too have worked to foster new relationships with Dominican Young Adults who similarly join in our mission and ministry. Continue reading →

What happened to truth?

Over and over I heard “It’s scary;” “This political climate is not normal;” “What happened to truth?” As I gathered with others in our Dominican family for the North American Dominican Justice Peace and Care of Creation meeting at Techny Towers north of Chicago, I found myself in deep conversations about truth and this post-truth era we find ourselves in.

As Dominicans, we claim our charism to preach truth; it’s that very veritas that propels us to work toward justice and overcome oppressive structures and practices. We spoke about the importance or returning to our roots of disputatio, the use of conversation and questioning rather than using issues merely to twist facts to reflect your opinion. Through these conversations, we can better understand our differences and find avenues that lead us to understanding, empathy and solidarity. Continue reading →