Thank you, Sister Simone (by Laura LeBrun Hatcher)
I first heard Sister Simone speak at the Women’s March in Washington D.C. on January 21, 2017. Like many people on that unseasonably warm winter day, I’d never been to a protest march before. I was unsure what to expect, and uncertain if I belonged.
Sister SImone on the jumbotron at the Women’s March. Photo from networklobby.org
As I made my way toward the Capitol I joined a growing sea of pink hats and smiling faces. People carried signs quoting Mother Teresa and Dr. King, little girls in kitten-eared beanies bobbed above the crowd upon their mother’s shoulders, and members of the local Black church offered marchers water, granola bars, and words of encouragement as we passed.
By the time I reached the edge of the Mall my nerves had dissipated. The crowd slowed to a stop, and the clear voice of a smiling woman with a neat gray bob rang out from the nearest stage.
As I listened I realized she was quoting scripture:
“... they say that we were gathered in one place - frightened and afraid … afraid to go out … and then a mighty wind came. A mighty wind that stirred the hearts and lifted the courage and let people know we’re not alone. We’re together. We’re together regardless of our faith, regardless of our color, regardless of who we define as our neighbor. We are all neighbors to each other and that is the deep truth our nation was founded on. We are our sister's keepers. We are our brother’s keepers. It is that truth that will help us to mend the gaps in our society.”
In that moment, I was transported back to my all-girls Catholic high school days in Baltimore City, where the Sisters of Mercy filled our heads and hearts with the knowledge that we were put on this earth to make it better. I was shocked, yet equally unsurprised, to learn the speaker was a Catholic sister – once again calling me to be a happy warrior in the mission for social justice.
I knew I was right where I belonged.
That day, Sister Simone gave me my marching orders and I’ve been following them ever since. In our quest to make this world a better place through the work of Little Lobbyists, Sister Simone has been a constant support and source of inspiration.
Sister Simone stands to my right, next to Elena Hung and Ady Barkan, as I speak at a press conference in the Capitol at the invitation of then-Leader Nancy Pelosi.
Later that same year, in December 2017, Sister Simone stood by my side as I spoke at my first “big” press conference with then-Leader Nancy Pelosi. Sister Simone nodded in quiet encouragement as I asked Congress to protect our children with complex medical needs and disabilities. She later invited us to her office at Network Lobby, and asked us to teach her organization about our children and what they needed. Over the next four years, we found there was always room for our families on Network Lobby’s national “Nuns on the Bus” tours, and at stop after stop Sister Simone lifted our families’ voices on her platform. She lent us her strength and amplified our message, adopting our cause as one of her own.
This month, Sr. Simone is retiring as Executive Director of Network Lobby. Though I know we Little Lobbyists and so many others will miss her leadership, I also know she will always be with us. I can think of no better way to honor her than by recommitting ourselves to following her charge –
“So my friends, can we commit in this moment to exercise joy, to claim our passion, to have curiosity about our neighbors and then, share it around. Because if we each do our part, we the people will triumph, we the people are what our nation needs, and we the people will make the difference. Let’s do it together.”
Thank you, Sister Simone.
Click here to listen to Sister Simone’s full speech at the Women’s March in Washington D.C., January 21, 2017: https://youtu.be/wcrbgSKF80U
