Corporate Dialogue
The School Sisters of Notre Dame, in cooperation with other religious investors, utilize shareholder activism (advisory shareholder resolutions and related dialogue) to challenge corporations to be more responsive on a wide range of social justice issues, many of which have their foundation in human dignity and human rights.  For example …

• The St. Louis Province has co-filed a shareholder resolution and participated in dialogue with Chevron concerning the adoption of a corporate human rights policy. 

Twice a year for the past several years the Milwaukee Province has joined with other religious investors to meet with Kohl’s’ executives to discuss ways of improving what the company is doing to secure the fair and humane treatment of workers who produce clothing and other goods for sale in their stores.

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Public Witness
“As an organization comprised of women religious committed to the values expressed in the Gospel of Jesus, it is imperative that we voice our beliefs and give public witness on behalf of or in defense of those values, even though this action might involve risk.” (from the Milwaukee Province ’s “Giving Public Witness” Policy)
We are called to “join our voices with those who cry for justice.” (SSND SHALOM Document)

At the School of the Americas/WHINSEC (Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation) demonstrations (below) …

At rallies and hearings for immigrants and for worker rights
(below) …

At rallies and hearings for immigrants and for worker rights (below) …

(above) Sister Barb Paleczny, SHALOM coordinator for Dallas Province

(left) Milwaukee Province Associate Marge Grasser; Affiliate Beth Huggins; and Sisters Niva Langreck, Jan Gregorcich, and Jeanne Rusch

(below) S. Barbara Pfarr, ML

In Little Ways
I prepare the Amnesty letters each month and then instead of just signing them myself, I put them out in the mail room and let any sisters who care to sign them. I signed on to the Jena Six letter, and we prayed for them in our small community. I respond to some of the alerts for Haiti and Columbia and those the GHR/USA (Guatemala Human Rights) put out, depending on how complicated they are or where they have to go.

I sometimes write letters to the governor of the state where an execution is scheduled and ask him to intervene.  I usually get a sample letter with the data. I try to modify that so that it is more my own letter. 
Each effort can seem tiny, but I always think of the actions as being one of the snowflakes on the branch that eventually falls.

Sister Gladys Schmitz, Mankato Province

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At the United Nations (below)
The School Sisters of Notre Dame sent a delegation of 25 students and adults representing all the major areas of the congregation to participate in the 51st session of the Commission on the Status of Women February 26-March 9 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. The School Sisters of Notre Dame has been a registered NGO (non-governmental organization) with the U.N.’s Department of Public Information since 1993. School Sisters of Notre Dame actively participate in the work of the United Nations by presenting written and oral testimony to ECOSOC and its commissions, particularly on issues related to the welfare and education of girls and women, economic justice, and sustainable development.

Front row: Jamie St. Eve from Notre Dame High School, SL; S. Ann Scholz, SL; Agnes Agyemang-Barnie, a student at Notre Dame Girls Senior Secondary School, Sunyani, Ghana; Linda Kennedy, a teacher from NDHS; Vanessa de los Milagros Juárez Arévelo, a student from María Teresa de Jesús Technical High School, Peru; S. Marleny Bardales Raymundo, a Sister of Notre Dame de Namur and principal of  Vanessa’s school in Peru, and S. Mary Peter Colantuoni, AM
Second Row: Felizitas von Boeselager, teacher at Gymnasium Brede in Brakel, Germany; S. Leonora Tucker, AM, teacher at Agnes's school in Ghana; Juliane Bungartz, teacher at Theresia-Gerhardinger-Gymnasium in Munich, Germany; Milwaukee Affiliate Beth Huggins, a Mount Mary College student; Yasmin Karimian, a 2007 graduate of Notre Dame Prep, Baltimore; S. Carolyn Jost, AM, and S. Ethel Howley, AM
Back Row: S. Eileen Reilly, AM; Nadine Binder, student at Gymnasium-Brede, Brakel, Germany; Jennifer Testi, 2007 graduate of Academy of the Holy Angels, Demarest, N.J.; Olivia Reekie, a teacher from Jennifer's school; S. Yvonne Nosal, CA, who ministers in Peru; Stephanie Braun, student at Theresia-Gerhardinger-Gymnasium, Munich, and Caitlyn Byrnes, student at St. Saviour High School, Brooklyn, N.Y.

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Education & Advocacy
Many School Sisters of Notre Dame help staff important human rights organizations.  For example, S. Mary Burke, AM, is the lead staff for the Justice for Immigrants Campaign; S. Mary Ellen Dougherty, AM, works with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) on trafficking issues, and S. Alice Zachmann, MK, works fulltime for the Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition (TASSC).

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Prayer (below)
Hundreds participated in a public Prayer for Peace & Unity on the International Day of Peace, Sept. 21, in Elm Grove.

“For the executed, his victim, all involved in or affected by this execution, and for an end to the death penalty in the U.S. and that all life be respected from the womb to natural death, we pray…” – For Whom the Bells Toll prayer recited at Notre Dame of Elm Grove every day that there is a scheduled execution in the United States

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Each of Us
“I believe that promoting human rights begins with each of us and our personal interactions with others. I need to step back frequently and analyze how I respond to others' ideas or insights, especially when they differ from mine.  I need to frequently remind myself of the Genesis account that God saw all creation as good and, therefore, I need to honor the God-message, the good, in whomever or whatever situation I meet…”

Sister Jeanne Wingenter, Mankato Province

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