A new year reflection from Sister Simone Campbell

Dear friends,

May your new year be filled with many blessings, and I promise to get back into the swing here on Fiat Lux. Last fall we were treated to my friend Sister Simone Campbell preaching and teaching at St. Paul's. She is the leader of the "Nuns on the bus," a group of women religious who have been drawing attention to how our politics is hurting poor people.

This morning Sister Simone shared with Odyssey Networks a short (two minutes) reflection on what she hopes for the new year. I share it with you:

Join us to meet the "Nun on the bus"

This Sunday, it gives me great pleasure to bring my dear old friend, Sister Simone Campbell, SSS, to St. Paul's. She will be preaching at the 8 am and 10 am worship services and taking questions at an adult forum at 11:30 am.

Sister Simone, who is a nun in the order of the Sisters of Social Service, is best known as the Executive Director of NETWORK, a Catholic organization that lobbies on economic and social justice issues.

She has become well-known as one of the targets of a Vatican crackdown on American nuns who Rome believes are too eager to disagree with church teachings on sexuality and gender while overemphasizing church teachings on social justice.

Come hear her side.

Sister Simone has been the public face of the “nuns on the bus” who toured the country this summer to draw attention to federal budget proposals that, in the view of the nuns, would harm the poor. She is also an attorney, and represented low-income people for 18 years in California, where she founded a community-based law center. She is fluent in Spanish, and is an accomplished poet.

Shortly before our war with Iraq in 2003, she traveled to Baghdad with several of her sisters to draw attention to the Christians who still lived there and to give witness that warfare was not the best way to solve our conflict with Saddam Hussein. She wrote quite a bit of poetry on that trip, and I leave you with one today:

INCARNATION 

Let gratitude be the beat of our heart,
pounding Baghdad rhythms, circulating
memories, meaning of the journey.

Let resolve flow in our veins,
fueled by Basra’s destitution, risking
reflective action in a fifteen-second world.

Let compassion be our hands,
reaching to be with each other,
all others to touch, hold heal this fractured world.

Let wisdom be our feet,
bringing us to the crying need
to friends or foe to share this body’s blood.

Let love be our eyes,
that we might see the beauty, see the dream
lurking in the shadows of despair and dread.

Let community be our body warmth,
radiating Arab energy to welcome in the foreign
stranger—even the ones who wage this war.

Let us remember on drear distant days,
we are a promised Christmas joy
we live as one this tragic gifted life—

We are the Body of God!

Simone Campbell, SSS

The nun who made a difference

Last month, I posted HERE about my friend, Sister Simone Campbell, a Roman Catholic nun who has been fighting behind the scenes for years to get health care coverage for the poorest among us.

She has fought the good fight in the best Catholic social justice tradition of Dorothy Day, Mother Teresa, and Oscar Romero. In so doing, she incurred the wrath of the Catholic bishops, but she and her sisters forged ahead and they overcame the odds. In the end, health care reform passed Congress and was signed into law by President Obama.

Many -- including the President -- are crediting the nuns with being the tipping point that won passage of the bill. Vice President Joe Biden called Sister Simone "my nun."

I am incredibly proud to call her my friend.

We met Sister Simone for a concert and dinner last Sunday evening in Washington D.C., and heard her story of the last few months. Amazing. Whatever else you think of this issue, please give credit to a talented a courageous nun who fought very hard to win passage of a bill that will bring relief to millions of Americans.

Sister Simone was invited to the bill signing ceremony. The above photo speaks for itself.

I've invited my good friend the sister to Charlottesville to tell her story and tell us what else we can do. I will keep you posted on the date.

The health care debate: The Catholic nuns vs. the Catholic bishops

As you know, the health care debate is reaching climactic votes this weekend in the Congress. As you may also know, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is opposing health care reform unless the bill contains strong anti-abortion provision. The bishops are close to abandoning their long-sought goal of providing universal health care especially for the poorest among us.

However, the bishops are not the only voice of Roman Catholicism. Enter the nuns.

Many years ago, I got to know a courageous nun, Sister Simone Campbell (photo at right), introduced to me through mutual friends. I got to know her when she was the executive director for Jericho in Sacramento, a religiously-based public interest lobbying organization that works on health care issues.

When she got to Sacramento, Sister Simone looked me up and picked my brain about how to work in the Legislature and who-is-who. I happily gave her a crash course.

A few years ago, Sister Simone moved to Washington D.C. where she is now the executive director of Network (read about her and her organization by clicking HERE).

For months, Sister Simone and other nuns have been in the thick of the health care debate. My friend E.J. Dionne wrote about her and the force of the nuns on Thursday in The Washington Post. You can read his column by clicking HERE.

The conflict between the Catholic nuns and the Catholic bishops on this issue is part of a larger conflict that is just beneath the surface. The National Catholic Reporter wrote recently about how the male hierarchy is attempting to muzzle the nuns. The lead: "Bishops have stones in their hands aimed at women religious..." You can read the full story by clicking HERE.

And it should go without saying but I will say it anyway: thanks be to God we have ordained women in the Episcopal Church with full voice and vote in our governance. If you ever had any doubt about what a difference that makes, ask a nun.