Nottingham Nun Speaks at the United Nations

Last week in Geneva, Sister Liz Dodd CSJP, a young sister of St Joseph of Peace, whose order was founded in and continues to minister in the Diocese of Nottingham, addressed the United Nations on the issue of migration and the ministry she undertakes with her sisters in the City of Nottingham. Her intervention formed part of a panel discussion which preceded the UN premiere of the award-winning film Cabrini at the Palais des Nations.

This film premiere and panel discussion was organised by the Permanent Mission of Italy to the United Nations and supported by the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See within the cultural framework of the work of the United Nations. This powerful epic focused on Cabrini’s arrival in New York City in 1889, where she is greeted by disease, crime and impoverished children. Mandated by Pope Leo XIII to tend to the needs of these children, she set off on a daring mission to convince the hostile mayor to secure housing, education and housing for society’s most vulnerable. With broken English and poor health, Cabrini used her entrepreneurial mind to build an empire of hope unlike anything the world had ever seen.

Whilst set nearly one hundred years ago, the film touched on many issues relevant to multilateral Geneva and to the Church today, including human dignity, human rights, migration, health, equality of women and education. In this respect, the panel discussion, which preceded the film premiere, provided an occasion to explore these themes and remarks were given by a number of people including the lead actress Cristiana Dell’Anna, the Director General of the United Nations Office, Geneva and H.E. Archbishop Ettore Balestrero, the Holy See’s representative to the UN.

Addressing an audience of some 450 people, Sister Liz Dodd CSJP shared about her Congregation’s ‘House of Hospitality’ in Nottingham and her life and ministry in this house alongside two other Sisters, asylum seekers, refugees and young homeless women. The Sisters, she said, welcome women with ‘no recourse to public funds’, which means that they do not have settled status, as well as women who are appealing a decision about their asylum claim. Sister Liz took the opportunity to highlight the witness of her Sisters and said,

‘I am not the ‘Cabrini’ in my home; my two sisters are. Both nearing 90, with health conditions, they are the first ones to say ‘yes’ to a guest; yes to the disruption, the change, and the challenge. They have been in religious life for a long time, and I think they have learned that saying yes- to the things that scare us or make us uncomfortable- is usually saying yes to God.’

She spoke of her own desire to still ‘be saying yes’ to God when she is 90 years old. Sister Liz then concluded her remarks by challenging those gathered with these words, ‘…I have a hope for today, a prayer, maybe. Many of you here in this room have the power to say yes and no; in the Church and in the world. My hope is that this film would inspire you to say yes- to God and to God, particularly in the poor- and to keep saying yes.’

Sister Liz’ intervention not only showcased the important work of her Congregation in the Diocese and City of Nottingham at this prestigious international forum, it was also a testimony to the fact that Cabrini is not just a historical figure in the life of the Church but that, even today, Catholic women are still choosing to follow Christ in this way and to serve Him amongst those most in need.