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Nuns on the Bus & Friends Tour Launches with Call to Vote
Voting, it is not only our right, but our obligation
October 1, 2024 | By Sr. Robbie Pentecost, OSF
This message was heard loud and clear across Love Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at the kick-off rally for the 2024 Nuns on the Bus & Friends “Vote our Future” Tour. A diverse lineup of speakers made a passionate plea on a wide range of issues, summoning us to be multi-issue voters and to realize that how we vote matters.
While the issues to be weighed and considered when voting are many, all the speakers sounded the call to build a community of compassion in which equity, inclusion, and kindness are at the core. In the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection, the call to vote went out, loud and clear, that we are one community, and when one rises, we all rise.
Surrounding the opening rally was an array of diverse people including tourist, businesspeople who seemed preoccupied with their own thoughts, office workers scurrying to get to and from their place of work, and seemingly unhoused folks waiting for what might come their way. One of the striking moments for me was witnessing the signing of the bus by a man who appeared to be unhoused. Everyone included, no exceptions!
Sisters from diverse congregations, along with faith and community partners in the work, then boarded the bus to encourage those along our path to recognize our call as people of faith and siblings to one another to focus on our values as a guide in voting. A sacred journey for sure, carrying everyone along the way with us.
A vision is now set where all are welcomed and where every person has an opportunity and the resources to flourish. Now to make that a reality through our vote!
Congresswoman Mary Gay Scanlon (PA-02) and Congressman Brendan Boyle (PA-05) hold a Nuns on the Bus t-shirt after making a call to vote to all gathered at Love Park in Philadelphia, PA
Catholic Sisters, social justice advocates, and Philadelphia residents gathered in Love Park signed the Nuns on the Bus & Friends tour bus
Bishop Dwayne Royster (l) pictured with Bus Riders Rev. Dr. Cassandra Gould, Rev. Dr. Starsky Wilson
Rev. Dr. Cassandra Gould, Faith in Action, and Rev. Dr. Starsky Wilson, Children's Defense Fund Executive Director, after Rev Gould's rousing call to vote and make a plan to vote with loved ones
Joan F. Neal, NETWORK Deputy Executive Director and Chief Equity Officer opens the Nuns on the Bus tour at Love Park in Philadelphia, PA
NETWORK's Laura Peralta-Schulte applauds the call to vote at the Nuns on the Bus rally in Love Park, Philadelphia, PA