The Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith released a report on April 18, 2012 that is highly critical of the U.S. Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR). The report, as well as the news release from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, also implicates NETWORK, in that it calls for a review of LCWR’s affiliation with NETWORK along with reform of LCWR. (See www.usccb.org/news/2012/12-062e.cfm)

Since NETWORK was founded by women religious (a.k.a. Catholic sisters) 40 years ago, we have maintained a close relationship with LCWR. We will continue our solidarity as we continue to serve people who are marginalized, and advocate for human dignity and the common good. We do not know what the future holds, but we will not let our voice be silenced.

Many people are asking what they can do during this uncertain time in our church and our nation. We offer this partial list of suggestions, confident that people will find other creative ideas as we all pay attention to the Spirit moving among us.

• Reflect and pray
• Stay connected with NETWORK and make your faith voice heard in the public square. Go towww.networklobby.org and click on the “Join our email list” box in the right column to sign up.
• Participate in “Election 2012: Catholics Vote for the Common Good” — Sign the National Preamble and find other ways to get involved at http://commongood2012.org/
• Donate to NETWORK (www.networklobby.org/donate)  and LCWR (www.lcwr.org)
• Tell the stories about the work Catholic sisters are doing.
• Use social media – Facebook and Twitter – to share your thoughts
  www.facebook.com/networklobby
  www.facebook.com/SupportOurCatholicSisters
  Use Twitter hashtags #SupportOurSisters and #WhatSistersMeanToMe
• Write something about NETWORK on the “great nonprofits” website:http://greatnonprofits.org/reviews/profile2/the-network
• Write letters-to-the-editor to local newspapers and/or national magazines – respond to articles about the needs of people and show how Catholic women respond. See http://capwiz.com/networklobby/dbq/media/for media contact information.
• Write to the USCCB: www.usccb.org/about/contact-us.cfm or 3211 Fourth St NE · Washington DC 20017
• Write to your bishop — see www.usccb.org/about/bishops-and-dioceses/all-dioceses.cfm for addresses
• See http://ncronline.org/SistersUnderScrutiny for latest news and links

On Wednesday a group of housekeepers with the UNITE HERE union visited the NETWORK office. We listened to their stories of exploitative working conditions at various hotels around the country. Several of the women discussed the long hours working at backbreaking speeds for no overtime pay; high stress conditions; the lack of appropriate work tools for housekeepers which has led to chronic pain; and an unsafe environment.

Their visit was part of a larger campaign- Breaking the Silence. This national campaign aims to raise awareness to the many abusive practices that housekeepers must face every day and create safer worker conditions .

“Hotel housekeepers- overwhelmingly women, immigrants, and people of color- are the invisible backbone of the hotel industry…The women who work as housekeepers routinely face a broader spectrum of dangers at work, from sexual harassment to the debilitating injuries that many women sustain after years of making beds and scrubbing floors…. Sexual assault is one of a range of hazards that housekeepers experience. The rate of injury among hotel workers is 25 percent higher than among service workers overall. Among hotel workers, housekeepers have the highest rate of injury—50 percent higher than hotel workers overall.

Their campaign is garnering support for unionization and a number of “common sense preventative measures to make their work safer, such as increased security staff, working in teams, and replacing the traditional dress uniform with a pants and tunic uniform. In addition, the union fully supports two pieces of legislation recently introduced in New York that would 1) provide panic buttons to employees to use in case of emergency 2) require hotel and motel owners and operators to provide comprehensive sexual harassment awareness training.”

For more information on safety concerns that housekeepers face, visit www.hotelworkersrising.org/injuries/.

Booking a hotel room? You can use this guide to find a union hotel where UNITE HERE members are employed. You’ll be supporting good union jobs and safer conditions for housekeepers! Click here to find out what hotels to avoid on our boycott list.

Catholic Social Teaching, starting with Pope Leo XIII’s famous encyclical Rerum Novarum and continuing through the many papal encyclicals and the teachings of bishops’ conferences throughout the world, to the most recent encyclical last week of Pope Francis, Laudato Si’, is the source of my beliefs on social justice. Actually, there is little, if anything, in these writings, that isn’t part of Christ’s own teachings and life example, as the pastor of my parish is fond of saying.

Ignatian Volunteer Corps (IVC) led me to NETWORK

It is love of these teachings that impelled me to join the Ignatian Volunteer Corps (IVC) after retiring from work in both the private and public sectors. The IVC is a national organization (with 16 regional groups throughout the country) that partners with various agencies that either serve those who are poor and marginalized, believe strongly that their voice should be heard, or advocates with them, as NETWORK does. As a member of IVC, I have had the opportunity to tutor disadvantaged kids in grades six through eight who were falling behind in their studies; serve homeless people who live on the streets at drop-in day centers; serve in various capacities at actual homeless shelters, and, for the past two years, do research to assist NETWORK’s lobbyists and blog for the NETWORK website.

Unfortunately, my service at NETWORK is ending (this is my last blog), but I will continue to work for greater social justice through IVC at another agency, whose identity I do not know yet. It has been a great privilege to contribute to NETWORK’s important mission of lobbying on issues critical to social justice causes, and to get to know a number of wonderful people who labor in this vineyard of love. There is so much to be done before thevoice of all can be heard in their local communities, in their local governments, in the halls of Congress.

About the IVC

People in IVC must be 50 or older, be available for part-time work (about two days a week), and stimulated to serve those on the margins of society. There is also a strong spiritual component in IVC – more on this below. As a result, IVC has former foreign-service officers, military, laborers, lawyers, contractors, professionals, managers, scientists, housewives, and workers from every walk of life you can imagine. These are the people who volunteer to teach English-as-a-second-language, to tutor kids, to care for abandoned children, to work with those in prison, those who are dying, people who are homeless and very elderly people. They also work with people in hospice, immigrants, refugees, and others, too numerous to mention — as well as advocate with them and anyone whose voice is undeard. Many of our IVC members also provide indirect service to marginalized people by serving in an administrative capacity.

So what is IVC’s spiritual component? Remember that we are the Ignatian Volunteer Corps, so we derive much of our spirituality from Ignatius and the Jesuits, although most of us agree that our spirituality is Christian. It should be pointed out that our membership is primarily Christian because our numbers include a small number of Protestants. We are members of the world church – White, Black, Latino/a, Asian – who believe that the Jesuit charism, especially as it has unfolded since Vatican II, embraces all aspects of social justice that have been emphasized in Catholic Social Teaching.

Among the many spiritual opportunities afforded to IVC members are two retreats and one Day of Recollection annually, a spiritual reflector (director) with whom we can take a more intense spiritual journey (each region has numerous reflectors available for members), if that is desired, and monthly small-group meetings (some regions have as many as four or five) during which we discuss our service ministries, Scripture and a book on contemporary theology, social justice or Ignatian spirituality. Many members have said that the spiritual component of IVC is not only the highlight of their membership, but also prevents “burn-out” from squandering their ministry. And I agree.

I have to admit that among the many issues of social justice, I am especially concerned about the availability of sufficient “affordable housing” for poor individuals and families both in my community as well as nationwide. This interest accounts for my nine years of service at homeless shelters and has impelled my membership in the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC).

NLIHC is an all-round advocate of housing for the poor and vulnerable members of our communities. It also provides major support for the National Housing Trust Fund (NHTF), a fund that would largely assist extremely-low-income residents of a locale to afford housing. As of June 23 (yesterday), the Senate Appropriations Committee had left the NHTF intact during its deliberations over the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) budget, but had gutted other aspects of housing for low-income individuals and families. Sequestration has done further damage. When events like this happen, it merely makes me more determined to convince other members of Congress, through emails or calls, to vote in opposition to damagin.

My Farewell

Enough of my special issue! Your journey will be different than mine. I encourage everyone interested in social justice to determine what impels you to desire justice for others. Once you have chosen your specialty, go for it! Get involved, to the extent possible, and make your mark, whether that be in your neighborhood, your larger community, or the national stage. There can never be too many people who are ardent practitioners of Catholic Social Teachings. As I said in my title, working for social justice is the only way we can ensure that all voices are heard. And thank you for being a reader of my blogs.