By Sister Catherine Darcy
I agreed to participate with the “Nuns on the Bus” because the U.S. election on November 5, 2024, is extraordinarily important. I wanted to join other sisters in raising awareness about the issues that Catholic voters and other people of goodwill should consider when casting their ballots. Our country’s future and that of the planet is at stake in this election as never before.
“Vote Our Future” is the theme of the Nuns on the Bus campaign sponsored by NETWORK, the Catholic social justice organization. The cross-country tour kicks off September 30 in Philadelphia.
Drawing on Catholic social teachings, sisters and supporters on the bus are spreading the word about NETWORK’s Equally Sacred Checklist that calls on Americans to be multi-issue voters as Pope Francis has urged them to do.
Freedom is at the heart of this checklist. It calls on voters to cast ballots for candidates who will help all Americans, especially society’s most vulnerable, ensuring we have the freedom to:
- Be healthy through affordable health care and food-assistance programs
- Care for ourselves and our families through a Child Tax Credit, fair wages and taxes, workers’ rights, job training and education, and affordable housing
- Live on a healthy planet by addressing the climate-change crisis that disproportionately affects Black, Brown and Indigenous communities
- Live free from harm through common-sense gun control and protecting the rights of People of Color and the LGBTQ+ community
- Participate in a vibrant democracy through a commitment to nonviolence, voting rights and the elimination of “dark money” and gerrymandering
- Live in a welcoming country that values dignity and human rights through supporting the right to asylum and paths to citizenship for immigrants
As a Sister of Mercy who seeks to welcome our newly arrived brothers and sisters and serve other people on the margins, I am moved by the Equally Sacred Checklist to join the Nuns on the Bus for one leg of their nationwide trip, which will conclude in San Francisco, California, on October 18. There will be events and rallies along the way so be sure to find a stop near you.
Join me on the Sisters of Mercy’s social media accounts October 5-9 as I travel from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to Cleveland, Ohio; Detroit, Michigan; Gary, Indiana; and Chicago, Illinois. It will be good to have you along for the ride as together we build a more just society and what Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, called the “Beloved Community” here on Earth.
Sister Catherine Darcy is a member of the Sisters of Mercy Justice Team.
See the Sisters of Mercy’s Vote with Mercy initiative and video, as well the Voter Reflection Guide for more information.
Learn more about the Sisters of Mercy’s Border Immersion Experiences.