Topic archive
Loretto at the UN
Loretto Community is an NGO (non-governmental organization) accredited with consultative status at the United Nations. The Loretto at the UN office works to disseminate information to the Loretto Community about issues being addressed at the United Nations and around the world. The NGO office also leverages the knowledge base of the Loretto Community for effective advocacy work with U.N. Member States and U.N. agencies. Having an office at the United Nations allows Loretto to advocate for human rights, Earth rights and a social-justice-oriented framework for creating international policy.
Learn more about Loretto at the UN.
Loretto Magazine – Summer 2026
Read Loretto Magazine Loretto Spotlight Video – Beth Blissman CoL A letter from President Buffy Boesen SL Thank you for your steadfast support of Loretto. Your generous gifts of friendship, prayers, encouragement, time, talent and financial support this past year…
Loretto at the UN: Students encounter the global stage
Loretto at the UN, established in 1991, and now in partnership with the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, offers unique opportunities for students and recent college grads to experience the workings of the UN. Along the way,…
Loretto Spotlight Video – Beth Blissman CoL
One of the things I’ve enjoyed most over this past decade is welcoming over two dozen interns and/or Loretto Volunteers to join me in the work of our office. Beth Blissman CoL For 35 years, Loretto at the UN has…
Planting Seeds of Justice and Equity: Fresh Thoughts from CSW70
Long before it was even warm enough to plant snow peas, Loretto/BVM at the UN intern, Grace Broome, and I were busy nourishing the soil of transformative learning. We checked off details like obtaining United Nations grounds passes; negotiating hotel…
Remembering Alice Kitchen CoL: Cities for CEDAW Role Model
In our work at the United Nations, we have long been blessed with an impressive intergenerational team of activists and advocates. Last fall we unexpectedly lost one of our key wisdom figures, Loretto Comember Alice Kitchen. So this spring is…
Catholic sisters call US-Israeli strikes on Iran illegal, immoral
Published by Global Sisters Report, March 5, 2026 Sisters and lay representatives of sisters’ congregations, as well as leaders of Catholic peace organizations, are condemning in the strongest possible terms the U.S. and Israeli war against Iran, calling it illegal,…
Loretto at the UN Finds Hope in COP30 Process on International Human Rights Day
Last month we invited our friends far and wide to join us as members of an informal Loretto/BVM+ virtual delegation to the United Nations annual climate talks (COP30) in Belém, Brazil. We had over 75 people sign up, and many took…
An interview with Loretto at the UN intern Hannah Reyes
By Sophie Connors2025-26 Loretto at the UN intern A 2024 graduate of St. Mary’s Academy (SMA), Hannah Reyes proudly shares that she was educated by Loretto for 13 years, starting in kindergarten. Hannah spent this past summer interning at the…
Intergenerational dialogue and leadership: Highlights of the 69th gathering of the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women (CSW69)
In Loretto’s 33-plus years at United Nations headquarters (UNHQ) in New York City, we have educated ourselves and others about the U.N., advocated for disarmament and climate justice, promoted the rights of elders, migrants and indigenous peoples. But no effort…
Loretto at the UN & CSW69: Community partners help us move toward just & sustainable future
At a recent talk to the Bioneers group in San Francisco, Indigenous poet Joy Harjo noted that “it’s always in those times of great disruption, chaos and disturbance that creativity steps forth.” It was a true joy to witness the…
Sisters hope new pope will continue Francis’ prophetic pastoral path
Posted by National Catholic Reporter April 28, 2025 Catholic sisters, including those based at the United Nations and whose ministries focus on international concerns, say Pope Francis set an example for the whole world in shedding a spotlight on the…
UN event spotlights the challenge of ‘rollback’ of women’s rights
Posted by Global Sisters Report April 3, 2025 Catholic sisters, joining thousands of other women from throughout the world in two weeks of meetings, networking and celebratory sisterhood at the United Nations, marked the 30th anniversary of the landmark 1995…