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One way the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet of the Albany province observe Martin Luther King Day each year is to sponsor a peace retreat - a tradition for more than 20 years.

This year, Sister Mary Ellen Curtin, CSJ, of the province justice committee led participants though an inspiring reflection titled, "Prophetic Voices of Today." Through prayer, poetry, song, film and discussion, Sister Mary Ellen challenged the group to speak the truth about injustice. She focused her presentation on three areas: Earth, women and advocates for peace.

Sister Nancy Murray, OP, is an Adrian Dominican sister and actress. Three of her brothers (including actor Bill Murray) are actors. For many years, Sister Nancy was a pastoral minister in the Archdiocese of Chicago; today, she travels the country and internationally, presenting a one-woman play about St. Catherine of Siena and another called "Rooted in Love" about the life and martyrdom of Sister Dorothy Stang.

Sister Nancy feels a connection with Sister Dorothy because they both worked with the poor in inner-city Chicago and both are middle children in a family of nine.

Sister Dorothy, a member of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, served for 40 years in Brazil, working with peasant farm families to form communities, improve sustainable farming methods, defend their human rights and work for social justice.

Sister Dorothy was a deeply spiritual woman who was not afraid to challenge the land-greedy, illegal ranchers and loggers who were destroying the Amazon rainforest. On Feb. 12, 2005, she was shot and killed on a lonely road in Brazil. Sister Dorothy died reading the Bible passage on the Beatitudes to the two men who killed her.

Sister Nancy asked the group to respond to her presentation with discussion, song, dance and poetry writing. She also showed a 2003 documentary on Sister Dorothy titled, "The Student, the Nun and the Amazon."

Sister Nancy reminded her audience of Sister Dorothy's message that "one person can make a huge difference if you have love and commitment, and that if you see injustice your faith demands that you must speak out."

(Sister Doreen is province justice coordinator for the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, based in Latham.)[[In-content Ad]]

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