Women need to take active role in healing fragile world, says speaker

Published: 2006-07-05

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Women leaders, particularly women in Catholic higher education, can take an active role in healing today's fragile world, said one of the keynote speakers at a summer conference sponsored by the National Association for Women in Catholic Higher Education. "It is both a daunting task and a sacred trust we have been given -- to be part of the healing of our world and our church, rather than to collude in its suffering," said Dominican Sister Donna Markham in the June 9 address during the two-day conference at Georgetown University. Sister Markham, prioress general of the Dominican Sisters of Adrian, Mich., urged the academic leaders to "keep an active vigil" during these "times of global anguish," saying they should trust in God and put forth their own best efforts to make a difference. The sister, who is a clinical psychologist, was the executive director of Southdown Institute, a residential treatment center for clergy and religious just north of Toronto, for 10 years. She is also a former president of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious.

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