Dominican Month of Peace

The 2022 Dominican Month of Peace, which focuses on Myanmar, began on the First Sunday of Advent and extends through the end of December 2022. The Month of Peace allows all entities of the Order to stand in solidarity with our sisters and brothers who are struggling to relieve the marginalization and persecution of various human populations (Ref. Tultenango #118). We encourage you to read the accompanying resources to learn more about the situation in Myanmar and the Myanmar Dominicans' response to the humanitarian crisis.
 
Civilians in Myanmar have been subjected to atrocities and human rights violations, which have gone unreported in the mainstream media. Our Dominican Family in Myanmar shares in this painful situation. Along with the friars and the nuns, there are two communities of Dominican sisters there, one of which is in Yangon, where so much violence has occurred. These sisters belong to the congregation “Religiosas Misioneras de Santo Domingo,” whose motherhouse is in Italy. Recently, the military broke into the Dominican sisters' convent in Loikaw and encamped there while others moved into the friars’ convent. Luckily, neither the sisters nor the friars were in the convents at the time. We understand that the soldiers ransacked the rooms and took whatever was valuable. Since last year’s coup, at least 1,900 civilian killings by the military have been reported. The United Nations has registered one million internally displaced people (IDPs) and some 14 million remain in urgent need of humanitarian assistance.
 
We encourage you to be engaged in the Month of Peace to mark our solidarity with our Dominican Family in Myanmar. Please pray each week for our sisters and brothers in Myanmar who continue to face threats to their lives daily. We also ask that you continue to remember our sisters and brothers in Ukraine who face life-threatening situations and destruction of property as well.
 
Thank you for your cooperation and support of our Dominican Family in Myanmar. Remember that small deeds done with great love go a long way. May God richly bless your efforts of solidarity with our sisters and brothers in Myanmar.