Nuns on the Bus & Friends Tour Launches with Call to Vote
Voting is not only our right, but our obligation
October 1, 2024 By 2024 Nuns on the Bus & Friends Riders
Writer: Sr. Robbie Pentecost, OSF
Sr. Robbie Pentecost, OSF and Sr. Eilis McCulloh, HM at the Nuns on the Bus & Friends Vote Our Future Tour kick-off rally in Philadelphia, PA on Sep. 30, 2024.
This message was heard loud and clear across Love Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at the kick-off rally for the 2024 Nuns on the Bus & Friends “Vote Our Future” Tour. A diverse lineup of speakers made a passionate plea on a wide range of issues, summoning us to be multi-issue voters and to realize that how we vote matters.
While the issues to be weighed and considered when voting are many, all the speakers sounded the call to build a community of compassion in which equity, inclusion, and kindness are at the core. In the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection, the call to vote went out, loud and clear, that we are one community, and when one rises, we all rise.
Surrounding the opening rally was an array of diverse people including tourists, businesspeople who seemed preoccupied with their own thoughts, office workers scurrying to get to and from their place of work, and seemingly unhoused folks waiting for what might come their way. One of the striking moments for me was witnessing the signing of the bus by a man who appeared to be unhoused. Everyone included, no exceptions!
Sisters from diverse congregations, along with faith and community partners in the work, then boarded the bus to encourage those along our path to recognize our call as people of faith and siblings to one another to focus on our values as a guide in voting. A sacred journey for sure, carrying everyone along the way with us.
A vision is now set where all are welcomed and where every person has an opportunity and the resources to flourish. Now to make that a reality through our vote!
This reflection is from the 2024 Nuns on the Bus & Friends bus rider blog.
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- Nuns on the Bus & Friends stopped at Love Park to kick off the Vote Our Future Tour.
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- Sisters of Saint Joseph of Philadelphia holding their banner in Love Park.
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- St. Joseph’s University student Baylee Fingerhut, a Coston Fellow with NETWORK’s Young Advocates Leadership Lab (Y.A.L.L.) speaks.
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- Bishop Dwayne Royster, Rev. Dr. Cassandra Gould, Faith in Action, and Rev. Dr. Starsky Wilson, Children’s Defense Fund Executive Director, after Rev. Gould’s rousing call to vote and make a plan to vote with loved ones.
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- Congresswoman Mary Gay Scanlon (PA-02) and Congressman Brendan Boyle (PA-05) hold a Nuns on the Bus t-shirt after making a call to vote to all gathered at Love Park in Philadelphia, PA.
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- Eric Hammel was visiting Love Park when Nuns on the Bus & Friends stopped. It was his first time learning of NETWORK.
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- Joan F. Neal, NETWORK Deputy Executive Director and Chief Equity Officer opens the Nuns on the Bus tour at Love Park in Philadelphia, PA.
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- NETWORK made many new friends at the rally!
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- Leg 1 bus rider Sister Quincy Howard, OP, signs the bus after the rally.
