Brentwood Visit Affirms Our Call to Care for One Another

Writer: Sr. Erin McDonald, CSJ

Nuns on the Bus & Friends and NETWORK staff gather outside a house that New Hour is constructing to help women transitioning out of prison.

Day 3 of NETWORK’s Nuns on the Bus & Friends tour was an incredible experience filled with the zeal and energy of the Holy Spirit. 

Our bus arrived in Brentwood, NY for a site visit with New Hour, a ministry founded to provide meaningful support to currently and formerly incarcerated women, their children, and families. They are a leading provider of reentry services for women across Long Island, and their programs have reduced participants’ recidivism from 65 percent down to 2 percent. 

We also had the incredible opportunity to tour a new home that New Hour is building as safe housing for women transitioning out of prison. Our site visits are an opportunity to listen to people, to deepen our understanding of their concerns and hopes for their community, and to dialogue about our shared values for our future. 

NETWORK’s “Vote Our Future” tour has outlined six key freedoms, and learning about New Hour’s programs helped to expand my understanding of how the freedom to take care of ourselves and each other is essential for communities to thrive!  

New Hour has a collaborative relationship with the Sisters of St. Joseph of Brentwood, NY, so the site visit was infused with the love and support of the Sisters. New Hour staff joined us on the bus as we rode into our Brentwood, NY rally, to the exuberant reception of the Sisters of St. Joseph and Brentwood community! 

As a Sister of St Joseph myself, this site visit and community rally rejuvenated my call to live Jesus’s command to “love one another as I have loved you.” The Brentwood community energized my spirit with the Great Love of God and inspired me to continue to advocate for a future of U.S. policy that puts this love into action and ensures all of God’s creation thrives, no exceptions. 

As political polarization and hateful rhetoric are on the rise, NETWORK’s Nuns on the Bus & Friends tour reminds us that what we hold in common is greater than what divides us and, even in our differences, we can work together to serve the common good. 

This reflection is from the 2024 Nuns on the Bus & Friends bus rider blog.