Loretto Marches with the Poor People's Campaign

“Do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God.”
Micah 6:8

The Poor People’s Campaign (PPC) is a community of faith that hopes to counter narratives of exclusion. Loretto Link’s Good Trouble Working Group joined the Poor People’s Campaign and subsequently presented the idea of joining to Loretto’s Community Forum and to Link’s board of directors. The Forum and the board agreed to join and now Good Trouble represents the Loretto Community and Loretto Link as members of the Poor People’s Campaign. As Friends of Mary at the Foot of the Cross we stand with the Poor People’s Campaign.

The Poor People’s Campaign has 14 points that are aligned with Loretto work. Here are just a few of the reasons, summarized from the PPC’s Fundamental Principles that make our participation in this organization so exciting. PPC is:

A Black-led organization.
Faith-based
Aware of the relationship between problems such as poverty, systemic racism, the war economy, climate change, voter suppression and unfair incarceration
Committed to confronting these injustices with the nonviolent principles of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Inviting people from all walks of life to participate and work together

This past weekend Loretto marched with the Poor People’s Campaign in Washington, D.C.! Approximately 30 Loretto members and friends went a day early to lobby with NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice. Highlights of Loretto’s lobbying and marching experience are portrayed in the following photos.

From left to right, Pierson Furnish, spokesperson for Senator Josh Hawley, met with Mason Qualis, Kathleen Kennedy, Noah Woods and Christopher Watkins from NETWORK and Mary Ann McGivern SL. Mason and Noah are Kathleen’s grandsons. Senator Hawley is not a sponsor of the criminal reform bills Loretto and NETWORK lobbied for.
Photo courtesy of Josh Hawley’s staff

The Latin America/Caribbean Committee was dismayed to learn that they would meet senators by Zoom. They asked, “How can we help move the work?” And the staffers responded, “Contact more senators.” Now the committee members are going home with plans to continue collaborating with NETWORK, utilizing Zoom and inviting all they meet to come to the border.
Photo by Rox Monterastelli

Paulina Olvera Cáñez, Director of Espacio Migrante in Tijuana, Mexico, organized a meeting with Loretto’s Latin America/Caribbean Committee, Refugees International, the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), the Latin America Working Group and two other agencies that advocate for immigrants and migrant children.
Photo courtesy of LACC

From left to right, Dora Rodriguez, founder of Salvavision, and Paulina Olvera Cáñez speak with a Washington legal advisor about migrant children traveling alone.
Photo courtesy of LACC

“This weekend has shown the strength that lives in each of us to act toward love for all persons. I leave D.C. with joy at seeing everyone and continued hope for our world.”
Lillian Moskeland CoL