Women Religious Speak Out Against Voter Suppression
~ by Carol Zimmermann, Catholic News Service
WASHINGTON (CNS) – The Leadership Conference of women Religious and the National Black Sisters Conference issued a joint statement on May 5 on the importance of ensuring that all people enjoy the right to vote “regardless of their race, zip code, economic status or party affiliation.”
“As women of faith and faithful Americans, we believe that all people have the right and obligation to participate fully in our democracy,” the sisters’ statement said, adding that they “strongly oppose all attempts to restrict that participation by limiting the sacred right to vote.”
The national sisters’ organizations also endorsed the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Action Day on May 8, a national event supporting voter rights.
LCWR, based in Silver Spring, Maryland, is an umbrella group of more than 1,300 members representing more than 40,000 Catholic sisters. The National Black Sisters Conference based in Washington, is a group of more than 150 Black Catholic women religious and associates.
Referring to current voting restriction measures being considered and adopted in some states, the sisters said the right to vote is “under attack once again.” They also said the United States has a “long racist history when it comes to voting,” citing the literacy tests and grandfather clauses that were part of Jim Crow laws used to suppress voting.
“Our brothers and sisters struggled, some gave their lives, to secure the Voting Rights Act of 1965,” the women religious said, adding that: “It falls to us to continue their work.
They said Pope Francis’ encyclical “Evangelii Guadium” reminds them “that our vocation as Catholic sisters is inherently political” realizing that not only are they called to participate in public life but that their faith urges them to change the world.
“We cannot remain on the sidelines in the fight for justice,” the sisters said.
Outlining what they plan to do, the statement said they would “call out elected officials, at every level, who continue to introduce measures that would return us to the era of ‘Jim Crow.’” Conversely, they said, they would “support legislation that will ensure all people can exercise their precious right to vote.” To read more please click here
World Day of Prayer for Vocations
April 25, Good Shepherd Sunday, will be the 58th World Day of Prayer for Vocations. This commemoration is an opportunity to pray for and promote vocations to consecrated and ordained life. Consider marking the day with an online or in-person prayer service, social media posts, vocational prayers during your liturgies, presentations at Masses, bulletin inserts, etc.
Pope Francis has released a message for the occasion, in which he notes that Saint Joseph (to whom this year is devoted) listened to dreams, dedicated himself to service, and acts as “the protector of vocations.” Find details, resources, and ideas here.
The Gift of Mission Vocation Program – Workshop II
A second offering of the Gift of Mission vocation awareness program was presented this winter to a group of high school junior girls by an intercongregational team of sister religious. This time, the workshop was held at the Motherhouse of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Chestnut Hill, PA. The day offers a means of learning more about vocational calling and religious life. Interactive sessions and opportunities for prayer and meditation highlight the day. The Missionary Sisters play an active part in the planning and presentation of the day.
Cara Survey Shows Uptick in Those Taking Perpetual Vows
CARA Survey Shows Uptick in Number of Women and Men Taking Perpetual Vows
~by Jacob Comello of Catholic News Service
When you head to Mass this Sunday, chances are you will hear the intention “an increase in vocations to the religious life” lifted up before the gifts are presented. A recent survey suggests those prayers might be getting answered.
The Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) at Georgetown University, a nonprofit that conducts and publishes social-science research on the Catholic Church, just released findings of a national survey of men and women who in 2018 professed perpetual vows in monasteries, provinces or religious congregations based in the United States, and the results suggest an increasing number of Catholics are willing to pursue this kind of obligation.
Senior research associate Mary Gautier told CNS in a phone interview that CARA “(was) able to identify 240 persons” taking perpetual vows, “up from 200 the last time we did the survey.” Of these 240 identified women and men religious, a total of 92 sisters and nuns and 70 brothers and priests responded to the survey. [Read more…]