Singing hymn-inspired lyrics, like “Mary, don’t you weep, don’t you moan, under the weight of those student loans,” and “elections should be based on the voting count, not on the size of your bank account,” a group of 20 nuns and their supporters gathered in front of the New Hampshire State House on Friday to protest nationwide inequality.
“The Nuns on the Bus,” named after members who tour the country on a 40-foot long bus, is an organization that seeks to bring attention to social issues such as economic and racial injustice, and immigration and health care reform, through the Catholic faith.
The Nuns on the Bus was founded in 2012 in defiance of criticism of American nuns by the Vatican for being too outspoken on issues of social justice, but silent on issues that the church hierarchy viewed as more important, like abortion and same-sex marriage.
Since 2012, The Nuns on the Bus have organized five bus trips across 10 or so states, each year tackling a different theme and visiting homeless shelters, food pantries, and education and health care facilities run by nuns.
Last year, the chosen theme was “Bridge the Divide” with a focus on transforming politics, coinciding with the visit of Pope Francis to the United States.
The 2016 tour, which commenced July 11 in Wisconsin, focuses on “Mending the Gaps.” The nuns are calling on government officials and candidates to mend the gaps in income and wealth inequality.
The Nuns on the Bus leader, Sister Simone Campell, who is a lawyer and the executive director of the National Catholic Social Justice Lobby, said New Hampshire was an essential stop for the group. This was its first time in the Granite State, and the nuns spent all day here, protesting in Concord at the State House and in the afternoon in Manchester.
“We are spending more time in New Hampshire than a bunch of other places because we think the Senate race here is just so important,” Campbell said. “We’re not endorsing anybody, but we want the candidates to sign onto our platform.”
The organization handed out pamphlets summarizing the tax, living wage, and parental leave policies of Republican Sen. Kelly Ayotte and Democratic Gov. Maggie Hassan, who will be facing off for one open seat this November.
The pamphlets also shared facts on current New Hampshire legislation – like the state’s minimum wage, which is $7.25 and has not been increased since the national increase in 2009, or the fact that 48 percent of working parents in the state are not eligible to take unpaid, job-protected leave.
Campbell said the nuns adopt a bipartisan approach to their activism – they only hope to present personal stories and data about candidates to help voters make informed decisions.
The organization stopped at the Republican convention last week, and will be ending their tour in Philadelphia at the Democratic convention.
In Cleveland, the nuns participated in what Campbell called “lemonade ministry” or a type of street ministry where the group pulled around two red wagons in the shape of their bus and served lemonade out of igloo coolers to the heated crowds.
“We’d engage in conversation, like, ‘what worries you about this election, or what gives you hope for our nation? Who in your family is it difficult to talk to about politics and why?’ ” she said.
Campbell found that many people did not have confident answers to these questions.
“They could answer what their worry was, but they didn’t know what their hope was,” she said. “We heard a lot of Republicans saying there wasn’t a good candidate for president, which makes us worried about voter turnout. We’ve got to do our best to get data out there so people see what the reality is.”
Woullard Lett, the president of the Greater Manchester NAACP thanked the crowd for “heeding the divine call” to “mend the frayed society we share.”
“We also encourage that people recognize that for some, we have to do more than mend the gap. We have to create the bridge that has never been there in the first place,” he said.
After the crowd heard from speakers, supporters were asked to sign the bus – a tradition for the nuns, who have had many famous signers, like Vice President Joe Biden.
Lyn Marshall, minister at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Concord, signed the bus Friday morning and said she was feeling “really good” about it. Marshall is a fan of Campbell’s, and has seen her speak before.
“Her tagline of ‘walking towards trouble’ has really stayed with me,” she said. “That’s our obligation as people of faith, to walk towards the needy and the crying out places.”
Sara Smith of Pembroke, who is a supporter of the American Friends Service Committee, a national quaker organization with an office in Concord, said working together will be an imperative role for religious organizations during this election cycle.
“There’s a lot to gain by coming together and working to find our common ground,” she said.
(Leah Willingham can be reached at 369-3305 or lwillingham@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @LeahMWillingham.)