Leadership Taking Action

IHM Leadership Endorsements and Public Statements

Below you will find the most recent endorsements by the IHM Leadership Council of organizational sign-on letters and position statements on issues that are important to the congregation.

Friday, March 31, 2023
We, the Leadership Council of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary of Monroe, Michigan, are sad and angry that another mass shooting has occurred at Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee, where six people, including three children, and the shooter lost their lives. We just released a statement on Feb. 15, 2023, denouncing the gun violence at Michigan State University, where three students and the gunman were killed. Now here we are, a little over a month later, addressing the same issue.

There have been over 130 mass shootings in the U.S. this year. Thanks to groups like the Michigan Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence and many other partners, Michigan is on the verge of enacting several gun safety laws. Universal background checks, safe storage requirements and extreme risk protection orders are working through each chamber of the legislature. The Nashville shooter had been in treatment for an emotional disorder. A national red flag law may have prevented the incident. Once again, we condemn the culture of gun violence that is the root cause of this tragedy.

We grieve with our brothers and sisters in Nashville, Tennessee. We oppose every act of gun violence that has infected and afflicted our country. We lament and pray for an end to the violence destroying the fabric of our families, neighborhoods and cities.

We also grieve the loss of 39 lives in a fire at a migrant processing center in Ciudad Juárez across from El Paso, Texas, along the U.S.-Mexico border. The dead and dozens injured included people from Guatemala, Honduras, Venezuela, El Salvador, Colombia and Ecuador seeking entry to the United States. These deaths are an indictment of the policies and structures implemented at large by both governments. We recognize our call to serve the needs of God’s people not only through the traditional works of mercy but also by working with others to eradicate the causes of injustice and oppression and help create structures that will promote justice and peace and bring unity among all people.

We can’t do everything, but we each can commit to doing one thing as we pray and advocate for our migrant, refugee and asylum-seeking sisters and brothers. These are our people. They are ours and we are theirs. The IHM Senior Living Community and faith community that gather for liturgy in the IHM Chapel continue to pray regularly for our migrant brothers and sisters and all those serving on their behalf.

We offer this prayer from Catholic Charities USA:
Merciful God, we pray for families and individuals who have left or fled their homes, seeker safer and better lives. We lift up to you their hopes, fears and needs that they may be protected on their journeys, their dignity and rights may be honored and upheld, and they may be welcomed with open arms into generous and compassionate communities. Amen.

Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2023

The IHM Leadership Council denounces gun violence on the MSU Campus
On Monday, Feb. 13, a lone gunman took the lives of three Michigan State students and injured five more before turning the gun on himself. IHM Sisters have a long history of denouncing gun violence. Monday’s mass shooting was no different from the 66 others have occurred in 2023, except that it was right in our own backyard.

In 2013, over 11,000 U.S. citizens were killed by gun violence. In 2020 (the latest year for which numbers are available), the total number of gun-related deaths more than quadrupled to 45,222. This increase was facilitated by our nation’s continued refusal to enact any meaningful gun safety legislation in the face of mass shooting after mass shooting.

We grieve with our brothers and sisters in East Lansing. We condemn the culture of gun violence that is the root cause of this tragedy. We are angry that this issue has not been addressed in a meaningful way by elected officials and we renew our commitment to enact change within ourselves, our congregation, our Church and our national and global communities.

We offer the prayer, A Prayer In Response to Gun Violence, from The Rev. Dr. Ellen Clark-King, Executive Pastor and Canon for Social Justice and invite others to pray with us:  

Let us lament with all those who are touched by gun violence
Let us lament the shooter’s choice for violence
Let us lament laws that allow violent men easy access to guns
Let us lament our politicians’ unwillingness to work for change
Let us lament with the hearts broken by loss today
Let us lament all the lives cut short today
Let us lament, O God, and then let us rise from our knees to work for change
In the name of Christ, the prince of peace. Amen.

We pray specifically for Brian Fraser, Alexandria Verner and Arielle Anderson who lost their lives and for the five individuals still recovering in the hospital. We keep their loved ones and all who were present during the attack in our thoughts as they grapple with its aftermath. We hold in our hearts all those killed by gun violence and those they left behind. Amen. 

The IHM Leadership Council
Margaret Chapman, IHM – Treasurer and Mission Councilor
Marianne Gaynor, IHM – Vice President and Mission Councilor
Mary Jane Herb, IHM, President
Patricia McCluskey, IHM – Mission Councilor
Ellen Rinke, IHM – Mission Councilor

Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2023

The IHM Sisters support the statement made by the National Black Sisters’ Conference on the death of Tyre Nichols
The IHM Leadership Council of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary of Monroe, Mich., support the statement made by the National Black Sisters’ Conference on the death of Tyre Nichols. 

…Yet here we are again grieving the death of another young black man, Tyre Nichols, whose life was taken at the hands of five black police officers on a night in a quiet Memphis neighborhood. Tyre Nichols’ life at the age of 29 was taken before he had a chance to fulfill his purpose. This young man was not a person to be feared or perceived to be a threat. He was a son, father, and contributor to society; respected and loved by all who knew him. His only crime was being black in the wrong place at the wrong time….

Tyre Nichols’ death is evidence of the abuse of power and excessive force that communities of color too often experience at the hands of police.  We stand with the National Black Sisters’ Conference and demand justice for Tyre by calling for the following:

• Immediate passage of the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2021 by Congress
• More progressive oversite and accountability of police departments by the Justice Department
• Local and State reform of policing
• The end to police brutality that continues to plague black and poor communities

We stand by our sisters and brothers of color and recommit ourselves to raising our voices and working for systemic change to build the Beloved Community. We pray for peace and comfort for the family of Tyre Nichols and for the countless other families before them whose lives were taken in similar acts of violence. We pray for strength and healing for all who have been traumatized in numerous ways by both individual and institutionalized brutality. We join you in calling for justice.

Thursday, Jan.19, 2023

The IHM Leadership Council calls for supportive action of the Oaks Shelter
We, the Leadership Council of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary of Monroe, Michigan, are heartbroken by the announcement to close the Oaks of Righteousness Shelter. Nationwide, the number of homeless, hungry people seeking shelter are also dealing with serious mental health issues. Overnight shelters are not equipped to provide services for them.

Nine years ago, Pastor Heather Boone came to serve the people of Monroe.  She has mounted a superhuman effort to create Dr. King’s “Beloved Community.”  We highly respect the work of Pastor Boone and Oaks Christian Ministries and consider their services at the Oaks Shelter a blessing for those in need.  Even if the Oaks Shelter closes, the residents that Pastor Boone and her staff now serve will remain in our community. Where will they go? What will happen to them?  We cannot look away when our brothers and sisters have so many unmet needs.

We live with the hope that the Monroe County Mental Health Services and local authorities will take action to prioritize the mental health issues affecting the Oaks Shelter as well as other social service providers in our city.  We encourage our congregation, families and friends to support the work of the Oaks Shelter.

The IHM Leadership Council
Margaret Chapman, IHM – Treasurer and Mission Councilor
Marianne Gaynor, IHM – Vice President and Mission Councilor
Mary Jane Herb, IHM, President
Patricia McCluskey, IHM – Mission Councilor
Ellen Rinke, IHM – Mission Councilor