Sr simone campbell biography examples

Sister Simone Campbell served as Executive Director of NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice from 2004-2021. She is a religious leader, attorney and poet with extensive experience in public policy and advocacy for systemic change. In Washington, she lobbies on issues that help “mend the gaps” in income and wealth in the U.S., focused specifically on how they disproportionately affect people of color and women. Around the country, she is a noted speaker and educator on these public policy issues.

During the 2010 congressional debate about healthcare reform, she wrote the famous “nuns’ letter” supporting the reform bill and organized 59 leaders of Catholic Sisters, including the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), to sign on. This action was cited by many as critically important in passing the Affordable Care Act. She was thanked by President Obama and invited to the ceremony celebrating its being signed into law.

In 2012, she was also instrumental in organizing the first “Nuns on the Bus” tour to oppose the “Ryan Budget” approved by the House of Representatives. This budget would decimate programs meant to help people in need. “Nuns on the Bus” received an avalanche of attention across the nation from religious communities, elected officials, and the media.

Since then, Sister Simone Campbell has led six cross-country “Nuns on the Bus” trips, focused on tax justice, healthcare, economic justice, comprehensive immigration reform, voter turnout, bridging divides in politics and society, and mending the gaps in wealth and access in our nation. In 2020, Sister Simone led the first virtual Nuns on the Bus tour, completing 63 virtual events in the weeks leading up to the 2020 Election.

Sister Simone has often been featured in the national and international media, including appearances on 60 Minutes, The Colbert Report, and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

She has received numerous awards, including

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Sister Simone Campbell is the former Executive Director of NETWORK.

Sister Simone Campbell has served as Executive Director of NETWORK since 2004. She is a religious leader, attorney and poet with extensive experience in public policy and advocacy for systemic change. In Washington, she lobbies on issues of economic justice, immigration reform, and healthcare. Around the country, she is a noted speaker and educator on these public policy issues.

During the 2010 congressional debate about healthcare reform, she wrote the famous “nuns’ letter” supporting the reform bill and got 59 leaders of Catholic Sisters to sign on. This action was cited by many as critically important in passing the Affordable Care Act. She was thanked by President Obama and invited to the ceremony celebrating its being signed into law.

In 2012, she was also instrumental in organizing the “Nuns on the Bus” tour of nine states to oppose the “Ryan Budget” approved by the House of Representatives. This budget would have decimated programs meant to help people in need. “Nuns on the Bus” received an avalanche of attention across the nation from religious communities, elected officials and the media.

She has led six cross-country “Nuns on the Bus” trips, focused on economic justice, comprehensive immigration reform, and voter turnout.

Simone has often been featured in the national and international media, including appearances on 60 Minutes, The Colbert Report, and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

She has received numerous awards, including a “Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Award” and the “Defender of Democracy Award” from the international Parliamentarians for Global Action. In addition, she has been the keynote or featured speaker at numerous large gatherings, including the 2012 Democratic National Convention.

Prior to coming to NETWORK, Simone served as the Executive Director of JERICHO, the California interfaith public policy organization th

Karen: Hello, I’m Karen Pascal. I’m the Executive Director of the Henri Nouwen Society. Welcome to a new episode of Henri Nouwen: Now and Then. Our goal at the Henri Nouwen Society is to extend the rich, spiritual legacy of Henri to audiences around the world. Each week, we endeavor to bring you a new interview with someone who’s been deeply influenced by the writings of Henri Nouwen, or perhaps even a recording of Henri himself. We invite you to share the Daily Meditations and these podcasts with your friends and family. Through them, we can continue to introduce new audiences to the writings and teachings of Henri Nouwen, and remind each listener that they’re a beloved child of God.

Now, let me take a moment to introduce today’s guest. Today on this podcast, I have the pleasure of introducing Sister Simone Campbell. This is a woman who can best be described as compassionate conviction in action. She’s a real champion for the cause of peace and justice. As Executive Director for Network, Sister Simone is well known for the Nuns on the Bus action that she and her sisters initiated in 2012. I wanted you to meet this feisty and inspiring nun, who brings moral authority rooted in her love of Jesus and her dependence on the Holy Spirit. Sister Simone Campbell is a clear and compelling voice for social and economic justice.

Sister Simone, I’ve read both A Nun on the Bus and your new book, Hunger for Hope. I learned from these two books a bit about the journey you have been on. Let’s start at the beginning. Can you tell me why you became a nun?

Sister Simone: Well, back – and it sort of feels like a million years ago. Actually, I was fairly young. It was after my freshman year of college. I joined my religious community because I was eager to get on about justice. And it’s more complicated than just joining the community, because so much of my care and concern were focused on civil rights, on the social justice at the time. I was taught by this amazing g

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Sister Simone Campbell is perhaps best known to many Americans as the most prominent of the Nuns on the Bus, who have criscrossed America since 2012, bringing attention to healthcare, immigration issues, and gaps in the social structure that affect the most poor and vulnerable. But Sister Simone, as she’s most often called, is also a seasoned attorney and lobbyist who is the executive director of NETWORK, a Catholic social justice lobby based in D.C.

In NETWORK’s statement on Deferred Action for Children Arrivals (DACA), Sister Simone, a member of the Sisters of Social Service, said that while some Republican leaders have called for congressional action for immigration reform, Republicans in the House and Senate “have willfully refused to address our broken immigration system to date.”

When I spoke to her last week, she had just come from a meeting “on the hill with Democratic leadership” about DACA. We discussed immigration reform, what the end of DACA might mean, and how to speak about immigration across the political divide.

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Kaya Oakes: Immigration reform is complex. What is the best way for those of us who support DACA to organize and change the system?

Sister Simone Campbell: That’s the $64,000 question. If we’re supportive of young people who were brought to the U.S. as children and only principally know the U.S. as their home, and if we believe they add to our community, [then we need] to speak up for them and say that we as a nation are better having them.

There are two different bills right now in the House. In the Senate, there’s the Dream Act, which has been introduced before. It’s the effort to legalize their status so there would, after a bunch of years, be a pathway to permanent residence and citizenship. From my perspective as a person of faith but also as a person of this nation, I think we shouldn’t have two levels of residence. We shouldn’t have basically folks in the shadows.

Everyone should be on a path to