Nuns on the Bus Visiting Rochester

Dear Friends,

This week’s blog offers you both information about a coming event in Rochester and an invitation to participate.

The Network Nuns on the Bus will be in Rochester on Wednesday, July 20^th to promote Network’s Vision for 2020:

                3:30 pm at Saint Joseph’s Neighborhood Center, 417 South Avenue and

                7 pm for a caucus to mend the gaps at Colgate Rochester Divinity School, 1100 S. Goodman

If you can only do one, plan on the caucus in the evening.

So what is Network and why should we be even remotely interested?

Network was formed by Sisters from across the country in Washington, DC lobbying for issues of justice with our federal elected officials since 1972. Since then, many other women and men have joined the Network lobby across the country. The tagline on the internet sums up this enlarged participation: “Network: Advocates for Justice, Inspired by Catholic Sisters.”

For the fifth year, greater visibility of Network has reached the national public through Nuns on the Bus, a tour of certain sections of the country with a variety of people on board. The themes and routes vary year to year because of emerging national needs. Local justice advocates come on board for a portion of the trip with Sisters and others who go the distance that year. Our own Rochester Sister Phyllis Tierney, SSJ rode the bus as it went through Greenville, NC one year. Phyllis had worked for justice in that area for a number of years.

This year Nuns on the Bus asks the American public to promote policies that mend the gaps and bridge the divides in our country: wealth and the income gap, tax justice, living wages, family-friendly workplaces. Then there are the access gaps; access to democracy (voting), healthcare, citizenship (immigration), and housing. Nuns on the Bus will be at both the Republican and Democratic National Conventions this summer. In between these conventions, the bus will be in Rochester, offering area residents a chance to “get on board” in whatever way we can.

No longer do we have to say in the light of potentially overwhelming issues “I am only one”. We are more than one - one with our Sisters and Brothers across the country, networked together for the common good.

For more information, go to https://networklobby.org. See you on the 20^th!

~ Sister Joan Sobala