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Sister Ana María Vilca Mamani hadn’t lived in her small hometown of La Curva, Peru for more than 20 years, but the arrival of the COVID pandemic found her there again, caring for her parents far from her usual ministries in Lima. Being in La Curva increased her awareness of local needs, especially the desperation facing poor rural families after schools shut down.

“Their children could not follow the virtual education offered by the government, and this for different reasons: not having a computer, not having the internet or not having a good connection, or simply because they don’t know how to use virtual platforms,” she said. “This reality has challenged me and from our charism as educators I have wanted to respond to this problem, providing a healthy and safe learning space.”

Sister Ana María saw that children were eager for in-person school, and knew it was important to have committed professionals teaching in a comprehensive way. In response, she created the School Reinforcement Program, which fills the educational gap until regular classes can resume.

Sister Ana Maria with her students.

Enrollment has grown to 102 boys and girls, ranging from 7 to 12 years old, during the past two years. Students come from both La Curva and the nearby town of Alto Ensenada. Juan and Guillermo, ages 7 and 9, are the first to arrive every day, always wearing smiles. Their mother had to migrate to Chile due to the public health crisis, leaving them with grandparents. The program gives them something special to look forward to, with teachers who support them in their progress.

Another child, Juan, who is 11, was unwilling at first when his mother brought him. “I proposed to Juan that he stay that day to ‘look,’ and that if he didn’t like it, he wasn’t obliged to come back,” said Sister Ana María. Juan did return and even invited friends to come, too. As an only child, it turned out that being with other children was his strongest motivation.

In the future, Sister Ana María hopes that the program can continue to reinforce learning at the primary and secondary levels, joining efforts by the local government to improve education for the next generation of Peruvian children.

In recent years, the Spanish-speaking population of Albany, NY, has been swelling, along with needs that Sister Grace R. Diaz is uniquely prepared to meet. Through her ministry as pastoral assistant at the Shrine Church of Our Lady of the Americas, Sister Grace worked with Mary Giordano and Father Frank O’Connor, the founding members of Family Promise of the Capital Region, to help immigrant families in need of affordable and safe housing.

As the daughter of immigrants from Mexico and Costa Rica who met in the U.S., Sister Grace’s first language was Spanish. Her family owned and lived in a Mexican restaurant in a then-rural area of Maryland during the ‘40s and ‘50s. That experience gave her an understanding of similarities and differences among people from different Latin American cultures, as well as the fairly typical American life of her neighbors and schoolmates.

Family Promise of the Capital Region is a community response to family homelessness that got started in 2015 with the help of faith communities, foundations, businesses and individuals. Financial support from the SNJM Ministry Grant fund has been an essential resource. Mary Giordano is now the organization’s executive director and Father O’Connor serves on the board. Sister Grace continues as an active volunteer.

Sister Grace Diaz (center) spends time with community members of Family Promise.

Because she is a Sister, traumatized families quickly develop a deep level of trust that opens them to Sister Grace’s guidance. A typical situation occurred when Sister Grace and Mary Giordano orchestrated legal assistance and translation services for a single-parent homeless family from El Salvador struggling to get through the asylum application process. At the same time, the supportive housing provided by Family Promise made it possible for the family’s daughter to earn her high school diploma in 2021, a year complicated by Covid.

Sister Grace sees her ministry with immigrants in the Albany area as continuing the SNJM tradition of responding to today’s needs and meeting them as they arise. She is grateful to her family in the U.S. and Latin America and to her SNJM community who make possible the use of her homegrown and experiential gifts to welcome and reach out to “the stranger” in her community.

In 2000, Sister Catherine Ferguson invited members of the U.S. Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) to form a coalition Non-Governmental Organization to advocate at the United Nations on behalf of women and children. In December 2001, six congregations met to develop a mission statement and budget, as well as to create the new organization’s name: UNANIMA International. The name begins with “UN” to represent the United Nations. “Anima” is from the Latin word for feminine “spirit” or “life principle.” It also represents a group acting with one heart and one mind.

Now with 22 coalition partners, UNANIMA works at the UN for structural change on behalf of women and children living in poverty, immigrants and refugees, and the welfare of our planet. At the center of its mission are women and children around the world, especially those struggling to overcome disadvantages and discrimination.

Sister Catherine Ferguson

After more than a decade as UNANIMA’s Coalition Coordinator and five years as SNJM Congregational Leader, Sister Catherine returned to Spokane, WA. These days she continues a ministry of advocacy as Chair of the Board of NETWORK, a Catholic social justice lobby based in Washington, DC. In addition to NETWORK’s advocacy for federal policies to eliminate wealth and income gaps and to improve the well-being of our communities, leaders of the group have committed to an anti-racist focus and worked to include a diverse variety of people among its growing staff and board.

At home in Spokane, Sister Catherine is involved with The Fig Tree, an ecumenical newspaper committed to peace journalism by telling stories about people of faith. In its mission, The Fig Tree strives to support community efforts by connecting people through story-sharing that builds understanding, explores ideas, and promotes dialogue. Sister Catherine contributes as a board member and as part of the writing and editorial team that creates the monthly publication.

In all she does, Sister Catherine remains steadfast in her commitment to facilitate the cause of justice through transformative education.

More: Sister Catherine discusses the work of UNANIMA International on the SNJM’s Women on a Mission podcast. Click here to listen.

Georgetown University recently presented “Faith, Feminism and Being Unfinished: the Question of Women’s Ordination,” a panel discussion exploring a 1975 essay by Sister Anne E. Patrick (RIP) titled “A Conservative Case for the Ordination of Women.” The essay is included in Sr. Anne’s final published work, “On Being Unfinished: Collected Writings.”

The Georgetown discussion of Sr. Anne’s essay was in part a response to the October 2022 release of the Vatican synod document “Enlarge the Space of Your Tent,” which reflects a global call for inclusivity, including expanded roles for women in the church. A diverse group of theologians and thought-seekers discuss the history and future of women in the church, the intersection of gender and race in religion and a young woman headed to school for her master’s degree to become a minister shares how women religious before her expanded her perception of how she can pursue her charism.

Watch the recording of the discussion below (or here on the Youtube channel of Georgetown University’s Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs).

We encourage you to read this powerful statement from the U.S. National Black Sisters Conference on the murder of Tyre Nichols. We, the Sisters of the Holy Names of the U.S.-Ontario Province, stand with our Black Sisters as they speak publicly about Tyre’s death and the urgent need for systemic reform.

A Statement by the National Black Sisters’ Conference on the murder of Tyre Nichols

The New Year is barely a month old. We have just celebrated the national holiday honoring the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the warrior of peace, and the world sadly commemorated International Holocaust Remembrance Day. In a few days, we will celebrate Black History Month as we honor the achievements and contributions of African Americans in the struggle for freedom.

Yet here we are again grieving the death of another young Black man, Tyre Nichols, whose life was taken at the hands of five Black police officers on a night in a quiet Memphis neighborhood.

Tyre Nichols’ life at the age of 29 was taken before he had a chance to fulfill his purpose. This young man was not a person to be feared or perceived to be a threat. He was a son, father, and contributor to society; respected and loved by all who knew him. His only crime was being Black in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Violence against African Americans has been a fact of life in this country since the first slave patrols were created in the 1700s to apprehend runaway slaves. Historically, the system was designed to institutionalize terror against Black people.

The five Black police officers who brutally took Tyre’s life as he cried out for his mother; were indoctrinated into a corrupt system and freely chose to perpetrate violence against other Black people in the name of institutionalized racism.

Unfortunately, police violence is not new. The video of the incident is no different from other police footage, and the only difference is that the majority of the officers are Black!

In speaking to this fact, Mr. Nichols’ mother, RowVaugh Wells, stated:

“…And what they are doing to black communities is wrong. We’re not worried about the race of the police officers, and we’re worried about the conduct of the police officers. Policing in this country is focused on control, subordination and violence…society views black people as inherently dangerous and criminal…”

The National Black Sisters Conference is worried too! When will we wake up as a nation?

How many lives will it take? How often must we bear witness to the senseless killing of African Americans by the police? Where is the collective voice of our religious communities, African American organizations, and Church? The prophet Micah’s words speak to what the righteous are called to do: “The just God demands justice!” God demands a change of heart.

As we move into Black History Month, how will we answer a mother’s prophetic words on the sad occasion of her son’s death? What will we remember? How will this modern-day Black genocide be eradicated? Where do we go from here?

With righteous indignation, we all must act! Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. writes in his book, Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? “Freedom is not won by passive acceptance of suffering. A struggle wins freedom against suffering.” Let this be our rallying cry for justice!

As the National Black Sisters’ Conference, we are demanding JUSTICE FOR TYRE! and calling for:

• Immediate passage of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2021 by Congress
• More progressive oversite and accountability of police departments by the Justice Department
• Local and State reform of policing, and
• The end to police brutality that continues to plague Black and poor communities

Finally, we call on our Church to speak out in the name of the Gospel. This killing is a pro-life issue that is just as important as protecting the life of the unborn.

Tyre’s spirit cries out for justice, and we will continue to stand in the gap, crying out in the name of justice for our people.

United in the struggle for justice,

The National Black Sisters’ Conference

January 30, 2023