The Loretto Community maintains an NGO (non-governmental organization) at the United Nations. Presently, Mary Peter Bruce SL is the main representative. Mary Peter deals primarily with issues of Women, Social Development and the Forum for Issues of Indigenous Peoples. There are representatives before the Committee for Disarmament. There are many other issues that are part of the work of the United Nations.
The work of Loretto at the United Nations involves disseminating information for the Community and advocating for human rights, sustainability and peace. Presently the emphasis is on the Millennium Development Goals,
MDGs, set by the 189 United Nations countries for the year 2015, which are consistent with the Loretto values expressed in Call to Jubilee.For the past two decades Loretto Community members have served on the Non Governmental Organization/Disarmament Peace and Security Committee (NGO/DPSC). This active committee is represented by a board and four major working sub-committees for publication, programming, internship selection, and financial sustainability. Since 1960, this committee has labored to educate persons at the UN through the quarterly publication, Disarmament Times, as well as several workshops each year.
The most recent workshops this spring have been on nuclear stockpiles of enriched uranium and the dangers of small arms, since the greatest number of people who die each year are from small arms. At the present time, Eldon and Marcella Shields represent the Loretto Community on the board of this committee and on the publications sub-committee. In January 2007 they were able to facilitate a day-long retreat to assist the board in the initial planning work of the three major subcommittees. This all-volunteer board staffs the office as well as meets on a monthly basis to plan and reviews its progress. This board and its sub-committees are financially sustained by annual dues and fundraising.