LCWR Region 2 Calls on Congress Following Capitol Violence

January 19, 2021

To Members of the NYS Congressional Delegation:

January 6, 2021, a day to certify the results of the electoral college vote for Joseph Biden, was supposed to be a largely ceremonial event, marking the transition of power to a newly elected President, as has happened in our country since its founding. Instead, it is a day of infamy that will forever be remembered in the future story of our nation.

We write to you as members of The Leadership Conference of Women Religious. This national organization is made up of approximately 1350 members across the United States representing 80% of religious congregations. LCWR Region 2 represents 42 Congregations of Women Religious in New York State.

Among our number are mature women who spent many years teaching in elementary schools, high schools, colleges and universities about the principles of democracy. We believed and taught that the United States was the seat and shining example of democracy, a model we wished to export to the world! Some of you may have even been taught by one of us!

We join in thanking you who certified the election, knowing that it had been fairly won and certified by the states in question. We are deeply concerned for the future of our nation as others, even in the NYS delegation, continue to question results without evidence. Their actions serve only to deepen the divisions that we have painfully witnessed.

In our increasingly divided nation, we ask you to renew your commitment to the common good and pledge to take up the challenge to use your energy to repair our democracy and contribute to the work of building a more perfect union. We invite all people of good will to join us and we call on our elected leaders to point the way.