Durstyne (Dusty) Farnan is an Adrian Dominican sister from Michigan. After teaching elementary and junior high, she lived in Ghana, West Africa and Kenya with indigenous religious sisters in their initial formation programs. Later, she ministered in the inner city of Chicago and in psychiatric units as a clinical social worker; she has served her congregation as the director of justice and later vocation director. She currently serves as the U.N. representative for the Dominican Leadership Conference.
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Women's lives depend on UN commission's work
The 66th Commission on the Status of Women was especially timely this year, as it continues to work to accelerate the hoped-for gender equality and empowerment of women.
Q & A with Sr. Suhama Tams, spreading happiness to the displaced in Iraq
"When we left everything in Qaraqosh, maybe we accumulated a lot of things in our houses that we didn't need. We left our Christian pictures in Qaraqosh, but since August 6, 2014, I have changed my views on things. I discovered people don't need things to be happy."
Friendship forged in conflict
In 1998 Fr. Timothy Radcliffe was Master of the Dominican Order and the people of Iraq were experiencing the burden of U.S. sanctions. Radcliffe, informing us we had “family” in Iraq, asked how we might be sister and brother to our family in the Middle East. It had never dawned on me that there were Dominicans in Iraq. We have discovered and are discovering that relationships call us out of ourselves and into the lives of one another on a profoundly personal and enriching basis. Our sisterhood connects us and provides the courage to strengthen the bonds of friendship and love that will last our lifetimes.
We have family in Iraq: A journey in solidarity and love
Almost a year ago, three U.S. Dominican Sisters journeyed to Iraq to visit the Iraqi Dominican community and the Iraqi people displaced by war and terrorism. Here are some of their thoughts before they set out.