This Week in Poverty: The Soul Sisters

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http://www.thenation.com/blog/168750/week-poverty-soul-sisters




I had the opportunity to speak to Sister Simone about the tour, what inspired it, and what’s next for the Nuns on the Bus. This is what she had to say:

Greg Kaufmann: How did a group of nuns suddenly decide to drive 2,700 miles across the country?

Sister Simone: You know how? We asked for help. I do meditation and try to listen deeply to God’s nudgings, and for me the insight that I had was that with all of this notoriety—we’re not used to having the attention on ourselves—we needed to use it for mission. And in prayer what came to me was, “Ask for help.” So that’s what I did.

We had all of these folks come together to brainstorm, and we don’t remember who first came up with it—but it was a bus trip. That was May 14, and then on June 17 we launched the foolish thing.

Did that sudden notoriety stem from the Vatican’s reprimand back in April of American nuns—for being outspoken on social justice issues and “silent” on issues like abortion and gay marriage?

Sister Simone: Right. And the fact that they named NETWORK as a problem organization for the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR). They said that some of the reasons LCWR was doing poorly was because they were related to us. It was excruciatingly painful—the Vatican never even talked to us. Plus it was such a shock—we’re such a small organization, nine full-time staff. So that we were known by the Vatican at all was shocking.

I also think if Paul Ryan had never claimed that Catholic social teaching informed his budget, I don’t know that we ever would have gone on a bus trip. In some ways it’s a gift that he did it, but it’s also so infuriating.




*** the Sisters provide a great example about how to take the fight to the conservatives.