We’re excited to share a few of the ways our Sisters are supporting our dear neighbors through their presence, wisdom, and work in recent weeks:
Sisters Janice Vanderneck and Mary Pellegrino are featured in a compassionate and compelling Pittsburgh PublicSource article titled “Nuns, sisters bring ‘moral authority … in spades’ to anti-ICE actions.”
“‘I actually see religious life right now as more counter-cultural than I have ever seen it,’ Pellegrino said.
Nuns and sisters today have had to alter their ministries since taking their vows. Pellegrino said sisters have increasingly found that their influence lies not in their institutions but in their ‘social capital.’ For a significant portion of U.S. women’s congregations today, modern ministry is about bringing ‘a moral voice into the public square,’ she said.”
Sister Sarah Crotty is featured in “Hindsight is 2020,” a video documentary series by RiverWise that reflects on the year 2020, including local Black Lives Matter demonstrations. The video also honors the impact and legacy of our friend, Shon Owens:
“I have my days where I feel the anger, or then days where I feel this grief – literally grief, you know, sadness – around the state of things, how we treat one another. And then there are days where I feel hopeful and optimistic. . . there are definitely those two tensions in life where this is this doesn’t seem hopeful. You know, ending racism seems like an absolute impossibility. It’s been since the dawn of time. It seems, certainly, since the founding of our country, racism has been alive and well. But it’s still worth the fight. It’s still worth the effort. For my worldview, that’s the Christian way. You know, Christianity is so filled with paradox. You know, give your life to gain it, that kind of thing. There’s light in the darkness. So, Christianity is kind of paradoxical in that way, and is meant to hold those tensions. Because justice will come, justice flows like a river. The fight for justice is what we are called to do and be as Christians.”
Sister Sally Witt had a poem titled “October Morning Rose” published in the Fall 2025 issue of The Garden Quarto from Coe College, Iowa:
October Morning Rose
Good morning, October rose
atop the breakfast table.
I would have ignored you
in favor of wheat toast with jam,
but you called me with your fragrance,
reminding me
I cut you from the bush
two days ago,
afraid cold night
could harm you.
Now you open fully in our kitchen
where just two
of the world’s eight billion people
see you,
and you speak out to tell them
that bearing beauty bravely
is the greatest
of their daily tasks.
~Sally Witt, Sister of St. Joseph of Baden, Pennsylvania