Social Justice

Sisters who attended the 69th session of the U.N.'s Commission on the Status of Women (March 10-21) spoke of progress and pushback since the 1995 Beijing Declaration.

The Ozanam House, run by the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, has sheltered and reintegrated over 600 struggling young women and girls in Nigeria since its establishment in 1995.

"It's to show solidarity that we're very much their partners. We just feel like they've gone through so much," said Benedictine Sr. Mary Elizabeth Schweiger. 

A good reflection for our Lenten journey would be to take a few critical social justice teachings from recent papal encyclicals and pause to see how they speak to us today in light of the political choices we must make.

 Salesian Missions joined other humanitarian groups on March 22 in marking World Water Day, a United Nations-led commemoration to bring attention to the need for safe, clean water.

Sr. Susan Francois has spent the past four years filing shareholder resolutions against Citigroup, urging the company to rethink its financial ties to fossil fuel projects that impact Indigenous communities. 

The Mercy Girl Effect brings together students at all-girls Mercy-affiliated high schools "to share ideas and educate the young women in our midst about the plight of girls worldwide," says Sr. Deirdre Mullan.

Sr. Elsa Porcario finds in the Virgin Mary a steadfast spiritual presence in her consecrated life. After serving as a missionary and formator in the Congregation of Our Lady of the Rosary in Buenos Aires, Argentina, she embarked on a new path as a Servant of the Poor. In Mary, she discovers the strength to navigate uncertainty, fear and solitude, learning to trust, hope and love without knowing what lies ahead.