Sisters Rising
How One Catholic Nun is Mobilizing her Sisterhood in the face of COVID-19
Irene O’Neill is a lot of things to a lot of people. She’s an activist, championing the rights of Somali refugees in her hometown of St. Paul, Minnesota; she’s a rollerblader, feminist, fundraiser, and a zip-liner, when given the opportunity.
She’s also a Catholic Nun.
Sister O’Neill belongs to the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, an order that was established in France in 1650. And as the President of Sisters Rising Worldwide (SRW), she leads an organization empowering Sisters across the globe to address root causes of injustices. But now, in the face of COVID-19, O’Neill’s job, and that of her Sisterhood, just got a whole lot bigger: they’re on the frontlines of a global, Sister-led effort to prevent the spread of the virus to those who are already living on the brink — refugees, marginalized communities, and low-income families.
“Sometimes the job can seem really big,” says O’Neill, “but when we’re together, we believe we can change the world.” And right now, in the face of COVID-19, the world needs their help more than ever.
This isn’t the first time Catholic Nuns have stepped up in a global health crisis: they have a long history of being on the frontlines of some of the world’s deadliest pandemics. From the plagues of the middle ages, to the Spanish Flu of 1918, Sisters have often been the first ones to volunteer — and also the first to suffer the consequences.
Despite the threat to their personal safety, O’Neill also knows that this is exactly what their Sisterhood is for. As the pandemic gained traction and spread throughout the world, Sisters once again mobilized their efforts in their places of work, often communities that are underserved and under-resourced.
“These are women working in communities that have next to nothing,” says O’Neill. “How can officials ask people to wash their hands when there’s no soap and running water? How can they stop working when their families will starve?”
Nuns on the frontlines fly in the face of the stereotyped image so often portrayed in popular culture; those stern, habit-wearing women who are quick with a knuckle-smacking ruler, cloistered away in an abbey, or maybe, if they’re of the Whoopi variety, belting out their prayers to the tune of Diana Ross. Mostly though, people associate nuns with the things they’ve given up — marriage, a salary, personal possessions — while living vows of obedience and silence.
Silent is one thing O’Neill is not. Like most of her fellow Sisters, and especially the more progressive congregations, she also doesn’t wear a habit. Instead, she opts for a small, easy to overlook cross necklace, blouses, and slacks.
“People, when they first hear ‘Sister’, are picturing someone in black garb who’s hidden away, and that’s where it ends,” says O’Neill. “But our lives aren’t defined by restriction and silence. Our lives are filled with purpose, and meaning, and action.”
There are over 700,000 Catholic Nuns in the world, part of a two Millenium-long tradition of religious women fighting for social justice. And through SRW, O’Neill has a vision to eventually connect them all.
“Sisters know the root cause of social injustices because they themselves live in the communities where the most vulnerable live,” says O’Neill. “Understanding the root causes and helping all Sisters act to respond to them allows for true, systemic change to occur.”
Over the past several years, SRW has connected and supported hundreds of Sisters’ work as far afield as India, El Salvador, and the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. They contribute financially to Sister-led schools, youth centers, homeless shelters, women’s homes, and more, channeling funding from individual donors and foundations, as Sisters often work without any parish backing or financial support from the Catholic Church.
Now, O’Neill and SRW have teamed up with Minneapolis-based Alight to help give legs to their coronavirus response movement, bringing on additional technical support and a bigger fundraising net.
So far, the organizations have convened over 200 Sisters in 30 countries. They’re channeling financial support to help Sisters build up their prevention programs, getting soap to El Salvador, face masks to Nigeria, food supplies for people living in slums in India, and more. They’re providing communications toolkits, which include packaged WHO guidelines, myth-busting facts about the virus, and messages translated and tailored to each region.
They’ve also gotten in on the Zoom call phenomenon. One recent Zoom call connected 65 Sisters from 16 countries, exchanging ideas, challenges, and the joys they’re finding in unexpected places.
“This is a BIG deal,” says O’Neill of the joint COVID response. “It is an occasion where the result is far greater than the sum of the parts. We’ve heard each Sister recall within herself why she is giving her entire life to serve and may feel for the first time the great Sisterhood around the world and their part in it. We are living out the name Sisters Rising Worldwide.”
As she connects with her Sisterhood on the frontlines of the pandemic, O’Neill is humbled by the scale of the challenge, but she also knows that this isn’t the first time Sisters have stepped up in response to a global crisis — and it won’t be the last.
“In some ways, we find strength in our past from the thousands of courageous and loving Sisters who have gone before us. We find strength in our connection to each other. We’ve overcome some really tragic, terrible things, together — for centuries! We’ve done it before. We’ll do it again.”
Learn more about the collaboration between Alight, Sisters Rising Worldwide, and how you can help the Sisterhood here.
