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Other Sister Protests and Movements

The 1960s and 1970s marked a radical shift in the lives of many Catholic sisters. No longer confined to traditional roles in parochial schools or congregational hospitals, women religious began redirecting their skills toward the most urgent social issues of the time. These “new nuns,” as they called themselves, stepped out of the relative parochialism of convents and into the heart of societal struggles—working alongside non-Catholics, living in marginalized communities, and joining movements for civil rights, labor justice, and peace. Inspired by the reforms of Vatican II, the courage of the Selma marchers, and the radical pacifism of Dorothy Day, these “new nuns” became powerful voices for civil rights, labor justice, and nuclear disarmament.

The “New Nuns” and Social Activism

“For one thing, nuns form a tremendous reservoir of power and energy.“

(Muckenhirn 1967)

After the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965), many women religious embraced a new kind of mission. Aggiornamento or “bringing up to date” was used by Pope John XXIII, especially during Vatican II as a message to bring forward the Catholic Church with modern society. Catholic sisters followed Aggiornamento by working in outreach ministries on public university campuses, counseling recovering drug addicts, assisting labor organizers fighting for migrant farmworkers’ rights, and tutoring adults in public housing to pass high school equivalency exams. 

S. Charles Borromeo said:

“We can’t sit forever and listen to our arteries harden. We have to get out of our little nunnery world.”

In Chicago, the Sisters of Mercy were some of the first to follow this transformation. Seeing themselves as part of the “new nun” movement, and being inspired by the Sisters of Selma protestors, they engaged in campus activism at Loyola University in the late 1960s. They took to the streets, advocating for racial equality and later, an end to war. 

The Plowshares Movement

Some sisters took their activism even further, joining the radical Plowshares Movement, founded in 1980 by Philip Berrigan and others. The movement took its name from the biblical call to “beat swords into plowshares” (Isaiah 2:4) and engaged in direct action to protest nuclear weapons. 

One of the most famous actions involved Sister Anne Montgomery, a member of the “Plowshares Eight,” who broke into a General Electric plant in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, in 1980. They damaged missile nose cones and poured blood on documents to symbolize the bloodshed caused by nuclear war. 

Another dramatic protest, Trident Nein (1982), saw two nuns and five others canoe into a General Dynamics shipyard in Groton, Connecticut, where they boarded a Trident nuclear submarine. They hammered its missile hatches, poured blood on it, and spray-painted “U.S.S. Auschwitz” on its side to condemn the United States’ possession of nuclear weapons. 

These actions were not without consequence. Many Plowshares activists, including sisters, faced imprisonment for their civil disobedience. Yet they remained undeterred, and many are still proactive to this day. 

The Catholic Worker Movement

Another key influence on activist sisters was the Catholic Worker Movement, founded by Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin in 1933. The movement combined radical hospitality with a firm commitment to pacifism and social justice. 

Day’s belief that “God meant things to be much easier than we have made them” resonated with sisters who sought to live among the poor and challenge systemic injustice. The Catholic Worker houses provided food, shelter, and solidarity to those in need, while its newspaper spread the message of nonviolent resistance to war and economic exploitation. 

Many sisters found inspiration in Day’s example, integrating Catholic Worker principles into their own ministries—whether through direct service, anti-war protests, or advocacy for workers’ rights. 

Nuns on the Bus

The investigation into the Leadership Council of Women Religious (LCWR) by the Vatican, spearheaded by Pope Benedict and Seattle Archbishop Levada, who claimed they held “radical feminist themes incompatible with the Catholic faith.” The official investigation began in 2012 and ended during Pope Francis’ tenure in 2015. The Vatican opened this investigation with a highly critical document which also mentioned the group NETWORK, a Catholic advocacy organization open to all who share our values, working to achieve equity and justice for everyone.

After this Vatican document was published, NETWORK gained a lot of attention. They decided to use this new-found attention to start a new advocacy group, Nuns on the Bus. Founded in 2012 by S. Simone Campbell, Nuns on the Bus aims to promote the foundational beliefs of the Catholic church by advocating for social justice. The NOTB have toured the US eight times since that seminal trip in 2012, each focusing on a theme that was culturally significant to the political climate at the time. Some notable NOTB themes were:

2012 – Nuns on the Bus: Nuns Drive for Faith, Family, and Fairness

2013 – Nuns on the Bus: A Drive for Faith, Family, and Citizenship

2014 – Nuns on the Bus: We the People, We the Voters

2024 – Nuns on the Bus & Friends: Vote Our Future. Everyone Thrives, No Exceptions

Conclusion

Catholic sisters have often been at the forefront of movements for justice. Their willingness to risk arrest and imprisonment by standing in solidarity with the marginalized demonstrates their commitment to the Gospel’s call for peace and equality. 

Their legacy continues to inspire new generations of activists. These sisters did not just serve the Church—they challenged it, and the world, to be better.

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