MEDIA ADVISORY: “Nuns on the Bus” Holds Rally on National Mall to Welcome Pope Francis to the United States

Joe Ward | jward@networklobby.org | 202.601.7871

WASHINGTON– Today, Sept. 22 from 2-3:00 p.m. the “Nuns on the Bus” will hold a rally on the national mall, on Fourth Street (between Madison and Jefferson) to welcome Pope Francis to the United States. The rally will be the culminating event of the fourth national Nuns on the Bus tour, this year’s themed, “Bridge the Divides: Transform Politics.” The13-day tour was launched on Sept. 10 in response to Pope Francis’s historic U.S. visit, and urgent call in his recent encyclical (Laudato Si’) to build an economy of inclusion.

The more than 2,000-mile bus trip includes 33 events such as town hall meetings, visits to shelters, transitional housing facilities, schools, food pantries, parishes, congregations, and social justice ministries, in Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas, Tennessee, Indiana, Ohio, and West Virginia. Those present will be asked to pledge that they intend to work for a transformed politics and economy, and will sign the exterior of the bus as evidence of their commitment. The “Nuns on the Bus” tour is a campaign of NETWORK, a National Catholic Social Justice Lobby, which educates, organizes, and lobbies for economic and social transformation.

Rally and Press Conference

Who:

Sister Simone Campbell, SSS, Executive Director, NETWORK

U.S. Representative Raúl Grijalva

Bertrand Olotara, Capitol Hill worker with Good Jobs Nation

Karen Reed, MetroAccess driver

Esmeralda Dominguez, We Belong Together activist

Patricia Mejia, Board Chair, NETWORK

Where:

National Mall

Fourth Street (between Madison and Jefferson) Washington, D.C. 20004

When:

Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2:00-3:00 p.m. (the bus will arrive at the Mall around 1:55 p.m. and stay parked on the National Mall until 5 p.m.)

For more information, see www.nunsonthebus.org/presskit and www.nunsonthebus.org

NETWORK, A National Catholic Social Justice Lobby, which educates, organizes, and lobbies for economic and social transformation, has a more than 40-year track record of lobbying for critical federal programs that support those at the margins and prioritize the common good.

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