Called to Action: NETWORK’s 50 Years of Political Ministry

Called to Action

By Mara D. Rutten. Tells the story of a group of Roman Catholic nuns in 1971 — inspired by the reforms of the Second Vatican Council and Catholic social teaching, that called for political engagement as “a constitutive dimension of preaching the Gospel”  — who gathered in Washington, D.C. to found NETWORK. Shows how they offered an alternative vision of what it means to be church as they worked to advance the rights and dignity of all people — occasionally running afoul of powerful political and church interests. Includes the development of the “Nuns on the Bus,” which grew from this prophetic interpretation of social teaching and models the promise of Catholic engagement for a more just world. Read more.