Responding to the Context of the World: The LCWR and Migration in America

The Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) has a long, rich history of defining what it means to be a Catholic, and a Catholic woman, in America and in the world. Since its inception in 1952, the LCWR has faced the same challenges that the Church has faced and worked to address them by prioritizing justice and love. They have also faced challenges from Church leaders about what the role of women in the hierarchy of the Church should be. Now, the LCWR is faced with an unprecedented opportunity to apply their institutional framework of justice and love to modern challenges. The LCWR is comprised of Church leaders, and the actions of the Trump administration and the United States government prompt action to exercise leadership in guiding the Church through the migrant crisis. The organization has set a precedent to stand with the marginalized, and right now, this implies a duty to stand with migrants. Throughout the LCWR’s history, the conference has been called upon to act in ways that defy what society expects. They have led the Church with integrity and purpose in order to cultivate justice and understanding.This paper argues that the LCWR’s historical trajectory of social engagement and theological grounding in Catholic Social Tradition positions it to assume a leadership role in responding to contemporary migration challenges in the United States. In this way, they will also show how women can lead a new vision for Catholicism in America.

I. Historical Formation of the LCWR

American Catholic women have long played an important role in the shaping of society. The first American-born saint was a nun named Elizabeth Ann Seton; she converted to Catholicism and then became a religious sister who shaped the American Church in the early nineteenth century. Another nun and saint, Mother Frances Cabrini, was a key figure for the Italian Immigrant community in the early 20th century.^[1] Catholic nuns worked as nurses in the Civil War and established settlement houses for immigrants. ^[2]Sisters in the American West were shaped by its unique identity and influenced its rapid expansion; Sisters in the East took on their communities’ identities from rural South Carolina to New York City. Sisters have long been active in education at every level, from early elementary school to college. ^[3]They were the public face of American Catholicism, outnumbering priests and brothers for over one hundred and fifty years.^[4] Nuns helped shape the American identity and in turn were shaped by it. They served immigrant groups and provided a point of pride and legitimacy as Saints for the Catholic Church in America. Nuns and Sisters have always played an important part in the social and cultural fabric of America; there is no reason to consider a future where this is not the case.

The Leadership Conference of Women Religious is an association of the leaders of congregations of Catholic women religious in the United States. The full membership of 1,270 members includes representatives for approximately 66% of the 35,000 women religious in the United States. The organization's purpose is to collaborate in Church and societal efforts to influence systemic change, study and strategize solutions to current issues, stand in solidarity with those experiencing violence and oppression, and create and offer resource materials on religious leadership skills. They focus on dialogue and work with groups across society concerned with the rights of the marginalized. The LCWR was inspired by a directive from Pope Pius XII in 1950 during the First General Congress of the States of Perfection; in a message to religious leaders, he said that their organized collaboration could make them a powerful instrument for the transformation of society.^[5] Indeed, the LCWR has tried to transform, or at least affect, society by strengthening its internal representative structure and working for the rights of the marginalized across the United States and across the world.

Over the years, the LCWR has evolved to strengthen its structure based upon representation. The conference was officially founded as the Conference of Major Superiors of Women (CMSW) on November 23, 1956, with the goal of promoting the spiritual welfare of the women religious of the USA. In 1971, they officially became the Leadership Conference of Women Religious. The organization's second president, Margaret Brennan, called for the women religious to live out their faith and values, which requires “strong supportive communities and a degree of apartness from the dominant culture.” The LCWR lived this mission from the 1970s-2010s through advocating for the marginalized, engaging in issues facing Catholicism, curating a history of women in the Church, and responding to crises (including Hurricane Katrina).

Sixteen years ago, the LCWR redefined their role within the Church and implicitly addressed the role that women can play in leadership positions. In 2009, the Vatican announced an investigation into all orders of religious life in the United States. Cardinal William Levada, the prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), sent a letter to LCWR announcing his concern with “both the tenor and the doctrinal content of various addresses given at the annual assemblies of LCWR.” ^[6]During the investigation, the Vatican accused the LCWR of promoting “radical feminist themes incompatible with the Catholic faith.” After a six year investigation, leadership changed (Pope Francis assumed his role and Cardinal Gerhard Muller took control of the CDF), a meeting occurred, and a joint report was issued by the LCWR and CDF where neither side won, but neither side lost. The Vatican didn’t lose authority and the daily workings of the LCWR were largely unchanged.^[7] Underneath this investigation lay fear about the direction of the Church and fear of women having power in the Church. The LCWR reaffirmed its mission and commitment to dialogue, which will continue to inform the organization’s actions.

II. Migration as a Contemporary Moral Crisis

Throughout its history, the LCWR has been unafraid to challenge injustice and to push for the rights of the marginalized. They have led the Church in America in a direction that they see best fits the teachings of the gospels. One of the organization’s founding principles was a commitment to responding to the context of the world. Right now, the context of the world demands action. There are many issues that necessitate radical action: the climate crisis, human trafficking, the dignity of life from conception to natural death (abortion and the death penalty), and more. Based on Church doctrine and the signs of the time, the LCWR's greatest present opportunity is to stand in solidarity with the marginalized and address the migrant crisis in the United States. In order to do this, they will once again be inextricably linked with America, and will contribute to cultivating a beloved community and preventing harm among some of the most vulnerable. In order to do this, the LCWR will have to draw upon our tradition of redefining the leadership role that women can– and should– take in the Catholic Church.

In the first 100 days of his term, Donald Trump made unprecedented changes to U.S. immigration policy. The Trump administration made it almost impossible for asylum seekers to enter the United States, shuttered humanitarian programs that provided temporary pathways into the United States for some Latin American refugees, and signed an executive order in January suspending the refugee program. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration office experienced staffing cuts, green cards and Visas will be delayed by “extreme vetting,” and student visas are being threatened. The number of ICE-initiated arrests has more than doubled, the number of immigrants detained is increasing, and the administration is threatening to terminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for several groups of immigrants which means that they will lose protection from deportation. Additionally (and perhaps most concerningly), the administration has expanded where and how immigrants can be targeted for deportation. Schools, hospitals, and churches are no longer off-limits. The Alien Enemies Act was invoked in March to justify deporting alleged gang members to a prison in El Salvador without a court hearing. Students and scholars who have spoken out as pro-Palestine advocates have been deported without due process. Three children, including one with cancer, were removed from the United States when their mothers were deported. The number of deportations per day is still behind the Biden era, but the number of cases that enter the system each day is growing, and it’s only a matter of time until deportations follow.^[8]

III. Theological Mandate for Solidarity

In addition to a precedent of action for justice, the LCWR has a responsibility to act rooted in theological doctrine. The Bible has countless examples of teachings that encourage respect and love for migrants and neighbors. In Exodus 23:9, God tells the Israelites, “Do not oppress a foreigner; you yourself know how it feels to be foreigners, because you were foreigners in Egypt.” Jesus himself was a migrant; Mary and Joseph took him from Israel to Egypt to flee persecution from King Herod. ^[9]Pope Francis led the Church to be open to and welcoming of migrants, and to work on their behalf. He took seriously his role as an “agenda setter” and made a just and stable solution for migrants and refugees worldwide his primary goal. He wanted the Church to realize its mission as a Church on the peripheries ministering to those in need with a mission carried out by clergy and layperson alike.^[10]

Pope Francis directly addressed the importance of interconnectedness and respect in the migration process in an encyclical entitled Fratelli Tutti. He wrote about the importance of responding to division with “a new vision of fraternity and social friendship that will not remain at the level of words.” ^[11]He references Saint Paul’s early directives to Christian communities who were tempted to form closed and isolated groups: abound in love for one another and for all.^[12] Abounding in love is rooted in an understanding of the fundamental human dignity of each person, regardless of where they were born or what they were born with. According to Pope Francis, unless the basic principle of human dignity is upheld, “there is no future either for fraternity or for the survival of humanity.”^[13] The LCWR has an opportunity and a responsibility to address the ways that human dignity has been forgotten or harmed in the migration process in the United States.

In March of 2025, the National Association of Evangelicals released a report co-authored by representatives from four Christian organizations. The report’s purpose is to show the ramifications of deportations of the vulnerable on the “U.S. Citizen family” and all Christians. Roughly one in 12 Christians in the United States are vulnerable to deportation or live with a family member who is vulnerable to deportation. In James 2:14-16, we are encouraged to love our neighbors beyond “vague expressions of sympathy that do not actively care for the tangible needs of our brothers and sisters.”^[14] Perhaps one of the most tangible illustrations of this sentiment– and one of the most tangible biblical illustrations of the importance of going to the margins– is the Parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke

10:25-37. In the parable, Jesus responds to a lawyer’s question about who his neighbor is with a story about a man who was attacked by robbers on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho. A priest and a Levite passed him by, but a Samaritan, a man of a different religion, took pity on him. The Samaritan tended to the injured man’s wounds and paid for him to stay at an inn. This parable illustrates an active love that the Samaritan shows for a man who is a stranger and unrelated through religion or immediate community. According to Pope Francis, the parable of the Good Samaritan summons us to “rediscover our vocation as citizens of our respective nations and of the entire world, builders of a new social bond.”^[15] This provides a theological grounding for how the LCWR should shape action around issues of migration: treating people with active love, regardless of religion or nationality.

We can also consider the Catholic Social Tradition as a framework for thinking about the LCWR’s response to migration. Catholic Social Tradition (CST) is “a call to action, an invitation to be part of a living tradition, and a challenge to think and see anew in light of a biblical vision of justice.” The core belief of CST is that each person is made in the image of God as a unique reflection of God’s infinite goodness, and therefore every life is undiminishably worthy.^[16] Pope John XXIII's 1963 encyclical Pacem in Terris is a core text for Catholic Social Tradition. He writes that a well-regulated society rests on the principle that “each individual is truly a person” who has rights and duties that are “universal and inviolable, and therefore altogether inalienable.”^[17] One universal right is freedom of movement within one’s own state and, when there are just reasons in favor of it, the freedom to emigrate to other countries.

Citizenship in a particular state does not exclude an individual from “citizenship in that universal society, the common, world-wide fellowship of men.”^[18]

Hospitality is a tangible response to human dignity; it is the act of welcoming others because they are human, regardless of any other characteristic or action that they’ve taken. Matthew 25:31-46 illustrates hospitality in a particular way. In the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats, Jesus separates people into sheep and goats when he comes again in glory. He tells the sheep on his right to come and take their inheritance, for “I was a stranger and you invited me in.”^[19] The righteous ask Jesus when they welcomed him; he replies, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” ^[20]This parable illuminates Catholic Social Tradition because it highlights the inherent human dignity in everyone– the poor, the sick, the hungry, and strangers. It is a call to take notice and care of others, engage in works of mercy, and pursue systemic change that recognizes the rights for the poor, the sick, the hungry, and strangers. In the context of migration, the Parable of the Sheep and Goats calls us to see Jesus in strangers and preserve human dignity through direct actions (providing shelter, clothing, food, acceptance into community) and by advocating for systems that preserve human dignity.

Strategic Framework for Institutional Response

Theological grounding and a history of action for justice have influenced the LCWR’s current governance structure, which makes mass action possible. Previous leaders of the LCWR have provided examples for action that re-defines what it means to be a Christian in America. Of the members of the LCWR, 9% come from diocesan institutes, 55% from pontifical, and 33% from international institutes. Over half of the organization's members come from institutes with over 73 members. Delegates to the LCWR come from all across the United States and represent a diverse group of religious communities.^[21] Because of the diversity of experience, communities, and geographic locations, the LCWR has the potential to follow a three-fold plan: legal activism, social services, and political participation.

The LCWR was founded on principles of responding to the context of the world. Historically, members of the LCWR have pushed the envelope on the role that women can and should play in leadership positions within the Church. In August of 2024, Dominican Sister Maureen Geary, outgoing LCWR president, said that “we shall be women who answer the call to serve in this world in which we live– this world that has so much pain and so many needs. We shall be nourishment for the life of the world.” ^[22]To be a member of the world can mean engaging in professions, which the LCWR can respond to by encouraging institutions that have the means to send sisters to law schools in order to stand with the marginalized in the legal system. Limited access to immigration lawyers and the growing backlog of cases will likely contribute to huge numbers of deportations. In the early 20th century, nuns were sometimes sent to Normal schools to pursue teacher training, which was a way of responding to the needs of their own communities^[23]. Sisters who train to be lawyers will be able to engage in the legal process of fighting illegal deportations and accompany refugees through the process of applying for asylum. They will be able to advocate for children and those affected by violence in order to restore dignity where it is lost. Sisters who are trained lawyers would have the ability to directly impact their communities through work with Parishes and schools.

Secondly, there is an opportunity for the LCWR to respond to the context of the world through work that sisters are already doing. Many sisters are already involved in social service ministry of some kind; they are teachers in Catholic schools, involved in running food pantries, working in hospitals as chaplains, and more. In this unique role, they are better equipped than other members of the clergy (like Bishops and Cardinals) to directly impact migrants because they work more closely with the marginalized. Sisters led by the LCWR can show active love for migrants in their own communities by learning their languages (or recruiting people who do know their languages) and inviting them into their services. Teachers can commit to refusing immigration officials at their schools and sisters who work with the unhoused can commit to listening to the stories of migrants and learning about other community resources where they can pursue a path to citizenship and government benefits. Undocumented immigrants can’t access welfare from the United States government; sisters who work in social service organizations have a unique ability and opportunity to provide these services so that migrants can accept them without fear of being deported or flagged for being undocumented. Being proximate means reaching out, showing up and providing a listening ear and a shoulder to lean on; sisters in the LCWR have the opportunity to do this for migrants in a special way.

Lastly, a precedent of making decisions that aren’t guided by a particular political philosophy can influence LCWR members to engage in political activism against mass deportations. Throughout the history of the LCWR, our sisters have engaged in peaceful political protests. In 1974, about 75 sisters joined picket lines manned by the United Farm Workers of America in Houston while there for the Leadership Conference of the National Assembly of Women Religious. LCWR sisters protested and prayed for the closure of the School of the Americas, which is located in Georgia and has trained soldiers from Latin America in counterinsurgency and combat-related skills. They have been at the forefront of conversations about peace and justice in society; in 1977, the LCWR was granted

non-governmental status at the UN and appointed to the Peace and Justice Commission of the Vatican. In addition to organizing for change in the government, the LCWR has advocated for changes in the Catholic Church. In October of 1979, LCWR president Theresa Kane, RSM, asked Pope Paul II to open all ministries of the Catholic Church to women during his first visit to the United States. ^[24]The precedent set by decades of social justice action shouldn’t necessarily guide LCWR sisters to endorse a political party or candidate; however, it should encourage participation in non-violent protests against laws that they know to be unjust. In practice, sisters can attend marches in their communities protesting illegal deportations and write letters to their elected officials. The LCWR’s history as voices for change within the Church compels the organization to advocate for change within all the context of the Church and the United States.

The LCWR has a history of powerful leaders who fought for justice and inspired the rest of the Catholic Church to follow their example. Joan Chittister, a former LCWR president, said that the role of the leader is to “define the truth and figure out how this congregation is going to tell it” – a leader should articulate a vision and maintain the process of realizing that vision.^[25] Another past president, Nancy Schreck, said that leaders in religious communities need a “willingness to be at the frontier” and loyalty to the needs of people who are poor and marginalized.^[26] In her Presidential Message, Bette Moslander said the challenge of leadership was to navigate the “frontier of vast need, desirous of fulfilling our destiny to be servants, given that others might have life.”^[27] The leader of the LCWR has a responsibility to articulate a vision of what a Christian organization looks like and to lead the organization towards their vision, even and especially if it takes them to the frontier of vast need. This may contradict the Christianity in the White House, where conservative Evangelicalism is prominent and informs President Trump’s decrees on gender and definition of the separation between Church and state. However, the role of the LCWR in this moment is to define a different sort of Christianity rooted in justice, loving action, and a commitment to the marginalized. When members of the LCWR commit to advocating for migrants in America, the organization will further realize its mission to stand with the marginalized and lead the Catholic Church in America to a vision of Christianity rooted in love and justice.

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