Nuns on the bus!
Beginning Sunday, June 17 a group of nuns begin a bus tour of the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic States to raise awareness about the impact that the Ryan Budget (the republican austerity plan passed by the House of Representatives) will have on people living in those areas. From the website announcing the action:
“Every hour of each day, Catholic Sisters stand in solidarity with all who live in poverty, and we confront injustice and systems that cause suffering.
We cannot stand by silently when the U.S. Congress considers further enriching the wealthiest Americans at the expense of struggling, impoverished families.
As part of our campaign for budget fairness we are taking a bus trip. Our bus will travel to places in many states where Sisters actively serve people in need. For they are our best witnesses to the suffering our federal government must not ignore.
We ask all who visit this website to join us in prayer and to support our work to defeat government actions that would add to the suffering of already struggling families.”
You can follow the Nuns’ progress – or join them! Check out the website: nunsonthebus.com
While the nuns are on their bus tour of education and social action, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is sponsoring a Fortnight for Freedom to exercise their ‘freedom’ to deny contraception to female employees.
The U.S. bishops have also criticized the Republican budget as detrimental to anti-poverty programs and for increasing the burden on impoverished and middle income families in the United States, but are not taking any action on the issue.
We think their Fortnight for Freedom would be better spent celebrating the activism of the nuns on the bus rather than restricting access to contraception for employees at hospitals and universities!