March 17, 2004

U.S.News & World Report
1050 Thomas Jefferson Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20007

Dear Editor,

I am writing to add the voice of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) to those who are expressing concern with your choice to run a cartoon in your March 9, 2004 edition that portrayed Catholic sisters in a way that we find disrespectful and offensive.

LCWR is the organization of approximately 1000 leaders of Catholic sisters in the United States who represent approximately 75,000 sisters, the vast majority of whom have given their lives as teachers and the vast majority of whom are committed to nonviolence. Cartoon images that perpetuate unfounded, violent stereotypes of these women are both damaging and cruel.

I ask that in the future you consider the implications of publishing material in your magazine that perpetuates destructive stereotypes of any religious or ethnic group and that you ask if the benefit of including such material is worthy of the hurt that it inflicts.

Sincerely,

Carole Shinnick, SSND

Executive Director

Leadership Conference of Women Religious