Dear Friends,

This message was sent to me as a member of my religious Order, the Dominicans. Our shield shown above sates our motto, Praise, Bless and Preach, that is, preach the Good News of God’s unconditional love for all people and all of creation. We consider ourselves to be “family,” loving and supporting one another and the people they serve. I share this letter with you, the friends of Shem Center. The Ukrainian people have suffered greatly and my Dominican Family has been there through it all, courageous men and women who choose to remain with their fellow countrymen and women. They are mostly young members of the Order. 

With blessings and prayers for peace in our world,

Joseph Kilikevice,OP
Director, Shem Center for Interfaith Spirituality

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My Dominican sister, Donna  Markham, OP writes the following:

I’m on my way home from Ukraine and I thank you for your prayers. It was a heart wrenching experience to see how hard the people are working to hold on to their country. I was especially stunned when, by chance, I met three of our OP brothers and learned from them that they are included in the mandate to report for the draft. All men between 25 and 64 must sign up. You can imagine how frightening this must be for them as religious to be faced with having to kill people. I promised that I would pray for all of them. They have to report in the coming days. We have quite a few houses of friars across Ukraine. Most of the men fall into the category of needing to report. I asked if it meant as chaplains. They said no, it was as soldiers. Imagine what this means to the Order if many of the men are conscripted. All we can do is pray.

Love,
Donna
(Donna J. Markham OP, PhD, ABPP)