A Call to Social Justice

by Sister Ellen Dolores Lynch, CSC

Sister Ellen Dolores Lynch, CSC

     "This is what I ask of you:  
to act justly, to love tenderly, 
and to walk humbly with your God.” 
(Micah: 6-8)

When I reflect on the experiences and graces that brought me to Holy Cross and where I find myself today, I realize that my path has been full of meanderings and pitfalls. In spite of this, God has led me here, where I am spending my energies working for peace, in myself and the world – that peace which only God can give and which is born, not out of fear, but of hope.

My two brothers and I were born on a farm near the family home in Locust Grove, West Virginia.  Though I do not remember the first few years, I am sure they were happy ones filled with love amid hardships.  My father was always my model and inspiration although he died long before I decided to enter Holy Cross.  He was a simple farmer by birth and a carpenter by trade.  When I was three years old, my mother died following a buggy accident. My father moved his young family back to Locust Grove where my younger brother died the next year of spinal meningitis.  When we were school age, my brother, George, and I were sent to live with our grandmother and our aunts and uncles in Washington, D.C., since there were no Catholic schools near us in West Virginia, and my mother had always hoped we could have a Catholic education.

Those years were full of experiences more varied than most children have.  We spent our winters in Washington, D.C., and our holidays and summers on the farm.  We always had two Christmases with loads of presents and lots of love.  I grew up during the depression when things were tough, yet, because of my father’s sacrifice, we always had enough for our needs.  If I were to describe myself during this period of my life, I would say I was a typical tomboy, a naturalist, and an avid reader.  On the farm, I spent most of my time out of doors doing chores, exploring the creek, meadow, forest and fields, listening to the birds and animals, watching the sun set, the stars at night, smelling the mint, the honeysuckle – and always reading.  In school, I was never an honor student, for I always had too many other interests like playing touch football in the back alley with the boys or hide and seek in the Smithsonian Institution.  Through all of this I was deeply influenced by the faith of my family, the rich Dominican spirituality in which I was immersed in our parish, and exposure to three religious communities:  Dominican, Notre Dame de Namur, and Holy Cross.

During grade and high school, I never felt the call to religious life or if I did, it was a fleeting one, for though I admired the Dominicans and the Notre Dame sisters as excellent teachers and dedicated women, I was never drawn to join them.  As might be expected from my early experiences with nature, I was deeply interested in science.  My father and aunts sacrificed to help me attend Dunbarton College where I came in contact with the Sisters of the Holy Cross.  My first and lasting impression of the Holy Cross sisters was their friendliness and interest in each person.  I was fortunate to have Sister Ann Elizabeth Waters during my student years and later when I was a faculty member in the science department.  The other sisters through their concern, sense of justice and good humor, who were influential in my later decision to enter religious life, were Sisters Lillian Gleason, Gabrielle Marie Christianson, and Margaret Marie Doyle.  I graduated from Dunbarton during World War II and immediately went into the U.S. government as a chemist.  Women were hired then because the male chemists were in the service.

The fall after my graduation from college, my father died following a long illness.  I was on my own then, and my brother was on his way to England to prepare for the D-Day invasion of Europe.  For the next six years I worked, played, explored life and ignored the call to religious life.  Finally, I faced myself and, with the help of a very holy priest, I was able to make the decision to give up my independence, my apartment, my car and other attachments, and enter Holy Cross.  I knew that God was calling me to a life far greater and more challenging than I had heretofore experienced.

I entered the Congregation in January 1950 and began my graduate work during the summer of 1953 in the chemistry department at the University of Notre Dame.  After two years of teaching at Dunbarton College in Washington, D.C., I received a grant that enabled me to study full-time and to do research with Brother Columba Curran, CSC, who was a real inspiration to me. I lived at Saint Mary’s and helped in the infirmary on weekends and for relaxation worked in the kitchen preparing for feast day celebrations.

After completing work for my doctorate in 1957, I returned to Dunbarton College and taught there until it closed in 1973.  During those years I read papers at chemical society meetings and conducted student research.  I studied and taught courses in the history and philosophy of science and environmental science in addition to my chemistry classes.  I began to understand the enormous influence of science on civilization, e.g., current lifestyles, the biosphere, and consumerism.  The writings of Teihard de Chardin greatly influenced my thinking during this period.  I realized that, in light of the changing understanding of the universe and cosmology, many famous scientists, some of them Nobel laureates, began to reinterpret the very scientific research in which they had earlier participated.

After Dunbarton College closed and I had been vice president for development at Saint Mary’s College for three years, I tried teaching high school chemistry at the Academy of the Holy Cross.  It soon became apparent to me that I was not cut out for high school!

In the summer of 1980, I had the privilege of attending a Saint Mary’s summer program where I heard Father Samuel Rayan, SJ, an Indian Jesuit, discuss the topic, “For the Evangelized and Evangelizing Community.” He spoke on global realities and the Church’s response, how evangelization is carried out in history, the meeting of biblical faith with our reality, the guidance of the Holy Spirit and how religious are called to work for social justice in the world.  This rich experience gave me a new insight.  I began to read scripture more carefully, to reflect on the social dimension of the readings and the meaning of the phrase, “good news to the poor.”

(Left to right) Sister Patricia Mary Crane, Representative Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY), Sister Ellen Dolores Lynch and Sister Patricia McCabe discuss debt relief.

At that time the Congregation was beginning to become actively involved in peace and justice issues and in working for systemic change.  With the encouragement of Sister Olivia Marie Hutcheson, I decided to explore the possibility of moving in that direction.  I began to “pound the pavement” and to visit all types of organizations that were engaged in peace and justice work, e.g., NETWORK, Bread for the World, Archdiocesan Office of Social Concerns, Washington Office on Latin America, Churches’ Center for Theology and Public Policy, and the Coalition for a New Foreign and Military Policy.  It was at the coalition that I was to spend the next seven years.  The coalition worked on legislative issues in the area of disarmament, budget and human rights, especially in Central America and South Africa.  Comprised of 55 national organizations, it included church-related groups as well as peace and environmental groups.  As an intern my work involved support for all issue areas, telephone calling around the country into congressional districts where grassroots action was needed on particular legislation, sending out action alerts, getting coalition literature out to conferences and to our member organizations and a myriad of other tasks.  Eventually, I was asked to do fund raising and to be responsible for the financial records of the coalition.

Sister Ellen Dolores meets with Todd Crawford from the U.S. Executive Directors’ office at the World Bank.

Prior to my work at the coalition, I was not active in speaking out on national and international issues of injustice.  In fact, I had an aversion to attending demonstrations, boycotts, vigils, and other activities even though they were nonviolent.  It was all right for others, but not for me.  However, as I began to move toward my present ministry, my values, my prayer and my lifestyle changed. God was calling me to commit my whole being to work for peace. I was even arrested along with Sister Rose Marie Canty as we demonstrated against apartheid at the South African Embassy. Although we did not spend the night in jail, and the charges were later dropped, the experience made me aware of the powerlessness of those who are oppressed.

When I left the coalition in 1987, I was approached by Sister Maureen Fiedler, SL, who had been on the coalition board.  She asked that I consider a temporary position at the Quixote Center to work on the Communities of Peace and Friendship (CPF) Project of their Quest for Peace Program.  The project plan was to raise $2 million for projects in poor rural communities ravaged by the contra war that the United States was waging against the government of Nicaragua.  I was needed to try to straighten out the fiscal records that were piled in a box!  I had the reputation of being able to bring order out of chaos from my previous work at the coalition.  When the temporary period came to an end I stayed for nearly 12 years.  While working at the Quixote Center I made two trips to Nicaragua with Quest for Peace delegations to visit some of the CPF projects and to meet with the staff at the Institute of John XXIII which coordinates the Quest for Peace projects. Although I continued with the CPF Project I became involved in other aspects of the Quest for Peace work and of the Quixote Center itself.  For a few years I was chief lobbyist for Quest for Peace on Capitol Hill.  I was on the advisory group for the Haiti Reborn Project from 1994 until I retired at the end of June 2000. At that time the Quixote Center honored me with a great send-off party. I still continue to volunteer at the center and to attend the Wednesday night liturgy and supper that has been a part of the center for 25 years.

Sister Jeanine Grammick discusses justice issues with Sister Ellen Dolores.

My involvement in the public sector has been linked with opportunities to work within the Congregation in order to raise our members’ consciousness of justice issues, first on the Eastern Regional Peace and Justice Committee and, since 1992, as a member of the Congregation Justice Committee.  Since 2000 I have been part-time staff to the Holy Cross International Justice Executive Committee which has representatives from the Sisters of the Holy Cross, the Marianites of Holy Cross, the Sisters of Holy Cross and the Priests and Brothers of Holy Cross with Sister Mary Turgi as the coordinator of the office at Saint Mary’s, Notre Dame, Indiana.

As I look back on my life, I can see many people and circumstances that have influenced my conversion and I am grateful.