Nuns on the Bus Blog - Social Service Sr. Simone Campbell, executive director of NETWORK, kicked off the third Nuns on the Bus tour this morning at the Iowa State Capitol, with her team and guest speaker, Vice President Joe Biden. Titled “We the People, We the Voters,” this year’s bus tour focuses on civic engagement and voter registration in 36 cities. Global Sisters Report had live tweets and updates throughout. Now, our U.S. sisters liaison, Franciscan Sr. Jan Cebula, will be blogging daily from the Iowa leg of the tour, so be sure to check back for her updates from the road.

"The life of mortals is like grass, they flourish like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more."

Nuns on the Bus Blog - Last night the sisters boarding Nuns on the Bus gathered for our orientation, in preparation for the kick off rally today. Ten of us from six different communities of women religious in Iowa greeted old friends and met new ones. Whenever sisters gather there is an immediate bond. We’re all in this together. 

On the first warm and sunny Iowa day in about a week, somewhere around 300 people came to the steps of the State Capitol to hear from the executive director of  NETWORK Sr. Simone Campbell about her vision for democracy and 100 percent civic engagement. "Friends don't let friends vote alone," the Sister of Social Service said to a cheering crowd. (Includes video.)
Follow the Nuns on the Bus Blog; new Thursday: Vote People First!
 

Three stats and a map - In 1990, only 76 percent of the world’s adults could read and write. But with concerted efforts, global literacy has been on the upward swing. In 2013, the UNESCO Institute for Statistics published its literacy projections for 2015 based on data from 151 countries in the Middle East, Asia, Europe, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean.

". . . .The more unpropitious the situation in which we demonstrate hope, the deeper the hope is. . . ."

GSR is traveling to Des Moines, Iowa, today to be ready for the kick-off rally of NETWORK's Nuns on the Bus "We the People, We the Voters" 5,252-mile tour through 10 states to rally and register voters in advance of the Nov. 4 midterm elections. We'll be blogging daily from the road.

I’m showing up. As a baby-boomer from the U.S. As a person of faith. I am going to the People's Climate March in New York on September 21. The security of our home, planet Earth, is threatened. That’s why I’m going. It is not the terrorists, nor the immigrants, nor people who are poor that is causing this threat to Earth’s viability. It’s the continued excessive emissions of greenhouse gases created by those of us who live in highly industrialized, corporatized and technology-rich countries.

During a crush of events in New York September 19-28, religious congregations will join a throaty and growing chorus of voices raised in support of an anticipated 2015 global agreement on climate change mitigation. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon invited governments and private-sector representatives to the ambitious United Nations Climate Summit on Sept. 23 for an early opportunity to commit to substantial, replicable, concrete actions to reduce carbon emissions. A People's Climate March is planned for Sept. 21 and is expected to draw 200,000 to 700,000 participants to Manhattan's west side.