Experience

In August 2000, the LCWR National Assembly passed a resolution that“LCWR membership will be informed and work actively for the improvementof the living, working, and environmental conditions of our 1.2 millionbrothers and sisters (ages 16-25) who work in maquiladora manufacturingfacilities along the Mexico-U.S. border and in other sweatshop conditions.”In February 2001 at the Systemic Change Think Tank, participants exploredmore fully the implications of the resolution. In the words of Nancy Schreck,OSF, the Think Tank gave us “time to reflect on the ‘big questions’. .. .Consistently we need to locate ourselves at the edges of life wherepain and injustice place themselves so squarely in front of our faces andso deeply in our hearts that we are compelled into reflection and action(“The Heart of the Matter: Symbolic and Meaning-Making Dimensions of Leadership,”LCWR Occasional Papers, Fall l998). We identified the systems involvedin perpetuating and alleviating injustice, suggested actions we want totake individually and within our Congregations, and highlighted the resourceswe bring to the transformational task.

We became more conscious that any initiative toward justice and peaceleads us into the interrelated social, political, economic, cultural, ecological,and religious system, so that a move toward justice in any one area makesthe whole system more just.

Social Analysis

We are integral to the maquiladora system. Through our portfolios, weare part owners of the companies. We use the dividends from the stocksto fund our ministries, living expenses, and retirement needs. We are consumersof the products produced. We benefit economically from the fact that maquilaworkers are paid a “competitive wage” rather than a sustainable/livingwage.

Maquiladoras are an expression of globalization as described by AmataMiller, IHM: “The world is increasingly one, linked by instantaneous communicationand rapid transportation, unfettered mobility of capital, and a globalmarketplace in goods, services and ideas – all of which diminish the significanceand protections afforded by national boundaries and laws.” 

In our work for justice regarding the maquiladoras, we must find newways to: 

• moderate the excesses of those who control capital and resources
• give working people a voice and power to press for their rights
• foster new enterprises to employ the talents and skills of those marginalizedby globalization
• enable people to participate in shaping their own societies according totheir own cultural norms and goals.
• build coalitions active for change.   
  
  (Amata Miller, IHM, “The Age of Globalization: Challenges and Opportunities,”LCWR Occasional Papers/Fall 2000).

We reflected on Nancy Schreck’s reminder that essential to justice isour engagement “in remembering and telling our deep stories. The powerof these stories and their telling ground us in our charism and traditionand move our hearts to balance the common good with our individual rightsand needs. It is a challenge to explore our charism with its nuances andwisdom for today, because the busyness and the routine of our lives canoverwhelm us and steal the stories from our hearts” (“The Heart of theMatter”).

Catholic Social Teaching is clear and demanding. Our deep story includesa call to act for the inalienable dignity of each human person, requiringbasic economic and social rights (Pacem in Terris, 11ff, EconomicJustice For All, 80); commitment to the common good for which we areall responsible (Solicitudo Rei Socialis, 38); and investment of financialcapital in creating a more just society (EJA, 111). Listening toour deep story we remember and reclaim the radical truth that “the justiceof a social system is to be judged by its treatment of the poor and powerless.”(EJA, 38). Each person has dignity and worth.

Action

Participants in the Think Tank found that their consciousness was raisedand changed, while their energy to effect change came to life in relationshipwith others gathered around the same issue. They saw in others’ actionsspecific, realistic and creative possibilities for themselves and theircongregations. In this same spirit we offer the following suggestions forour LCWR action:

1. Evaluate our purchasing practices. To raise awareness aboutwhere items are made, check the labels on our clothes. As leadership, takeinitiative in checking with administrators of our community-owned institutions(motherhouses, hospitals, schools and colleges) to see where uniforms aremade.
2. Use our various communication media (e-mail, newsletters,conversations at regional meetings) to share practical, effective, andcreative ideas around disturbing the systems that perpetuate injusticein the maquiladoras. 
3.   Review our congregational investment portfoliosto see how companies do and do not promote justice in the labor marketand environmentally sound practices.
4. Encourage immersion experiences throughout our congregationsso that issues take on a human face for our membership.
5. Engage in letter writing to such companies as Wal-Mart addressingthe concern of sweatshop labor. Raise these concerns at local Wal-Martswhen we shop there.
6. Educate ourselves on the Purchasing Power Index Study, whichdocuments wages Mexican workers are receiving. Make its findings knownwithin our congregations and to the public. Challenge the companies wehold in our investment portfolios about the wages they pay.
7. Continue to bring the issue of the maquiladoras to our LCWRnational and regional meetings and to our own congregational gatherings,thereby keeping alive the sense of solidarity and collaboration integralto sustained energy to make a difference.
 

The Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) hasapproximately 1,000 members who are the elected leaders of their religiousorders, representing 76,000 Catholic sisters in the United States. TheConference develops leadership, promotes collaboration within church andsociety, and serves as a voice for systemic change.