Loretto Hospitality Moves Us Closer to the Other

One of our most beloved values is our Loretto hospitality, the time-honored tradition of welcoming the other and embracing all. ”I Am the Way,” Loretto’s Constitutions, #22, calls us to “try to live so that everything about us, our words and works and manner of living, promotes understanding and peace among ourselves and others.” 

Any group functioning as community must reach out in hospitality to the other, to the stranger, to the person in need at our door or hundreds of miles away. We share that same gift with those in our own backyards, too. We are all members of one human family.

Offering acceptance, appreciation and love for people of every race, ethnicity, creed, gender and sexuality are actions profound yet achievable by all. Taking these actions  will help to bring about the healing we seek during these difficult times now facing our nation and world. 

Our racist system in the United States targets people of color for poverty, imprisonment, violence and death. Primarily, white institutions police black communities and communities of color. Primarily, white institutions hold power in a criminal justice system that utterly fails to impose accountability on police officials and armed white citizens who kill unarmed black people.

Every person is a precious child of God. George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Sandra Bland, Tony Robinson, Trayvon Martin … precious children of God. We, the Sisters of Loretto/ Loretto Community, stand in unity with those who feel the rage and despair of this moment. As  a majority white community in the United States, we recommit to prayer, self-examination and advocacy

Without justice, there can be no peace. Let us all recommit ourselves to welcoming, embracing and loving the other among us