The presidency and staff of the Leadership Conference of Women
Religious congratulate President-elect Donald J. Trump and promise to work with
him to build a society worthy of our values where the dignity of each person is
respected and all can flourish.
We thank Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton for her many years of
service and sacrifice on behalf of our nation. We are especially grateful for
her tireless commitment to promoting the wellbeing of women and girls
everywhere.
After a difficult and contentious election characterized by
partisan rancor and divisive rhetoric, it is time for all of us to ask
forgiveness and be reconciled with one another. We are called to “. . . put on
a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with
one another, and forgive whatever grievances you have against one another.
Beyond all these things put on love which is the perfect bond of unity.”
(Colossians 3:12-14)
Now is the time to heal the deep divisions laid bare by this
bruising political campaign and to tear down the walls, real or imagined, which
divide us by gender, race, class, geography, lifestyle, political party and
belief. This moment, these times, require us to engage in deep contemplative
prayer and to risk courageous action for the sake of all who call these United
States their home.
Now is the time to make space in our hearts and our homes for the
needs and concerns of all God’s people, the undocumented mother, the unemployed
steel-worker father, and those children and elders consigned to live in
poverty. It is long past time to make room in our politics for those who have
been disaffected, disenfranchised, and discarded.
We recall the many times that Catholic sisters in the United
States and around the world have been called upon to exercise courage in the
face of fear and division. We promise once again to be the healing hands of
God. We pledge to hold the needs and concerns of all in a contemplative space,
in the heart of a loving and ever faithful God.
We recommit ourselves to the Gospel call to welcome the stranger,
care for creation, establish economic justice, abolish every form of modern-day
slavery, and promote nonviolence and just peace and we pledge to continue to
work together with all people of good will to build God’s beloved community in
this place we call home.
