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Harlem-Based Order of Black Nuns Advocates for the Poor on
the Hill
The Franciscan Handmaids of the Most Poor Heart of
Mary head to the Capitol to talk relief
for low-income people with
nation’s lawmakers
Issue call to action to
young people on poverty
The Franciscan Handmaids of
the Most Pure Heart of Mary, Inc. (FHM), one of only three
orders of mostly black nuns in the United States, recently
headed to Capitol Hill to urge the lawmakers to not abandon
the nation’s poor. The Harlem-based order, which was founded
in 1916 to serve and educate the impoverished, met with
members of Congress to place the needs of low-income
Americans front and center in legislation. The sisters were
in town for the Catholic Social Ministry Gathering February
2 to 5 and joined other Catholic leaders in doing outreach
to the legislature on Catholic priorities.
Members of the order met
with Harlem congressman Adriano Espaillat and aides to
Senators Chuck Schumer and Kristin Gillibrand as well as
Representatives Eliot L. Engel.
The FHM yearly feeds 22,000
New York families with its St. Edward Food Pantry in Staten
Island, the need increasing since Hurricane Sandy despite
news reports touting a robust economy.
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“We are not politicians. We are women of faith, encountering
Jesus in our neighbors,” said FHM Congregation Minister
Sister Gertrude Lilly Ihenacho. “It is our moral
responsibility as a religious community with a charism of
social justice and pastoral care to work for justice, be the
voice of the voiceless and through our ministries to defend,
protect and uplift human dignity, empowering the poor to
rise above poverty.”
Ihenacho was joined by
Sisters Precilla Takuh, FHM, and Anne Okorie, FHM, in
advocating that Congress preserve funding for nutrition
programs to prevent hunger in children and adults, including
the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP),
Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), Commodity
Supplemental Food Assistance Program (SSFP) and Women,
Infants and Children (WIC) Program, which aim to help the
one in eight American households that are food-insecure. In
addition to promoting anti-hunger programs, the sisters
urged legislators to invest in the affordable housing and
community development programs of the Department of Housing
and Urban Development and the Department of Agriculture
(USDA) as homelessness is on the rise for the first time in
six years at the same time that available housing units are
on the decline.
With locations in Harlem,
Staten Island, Yonkers and Owerri, Nigeria, the FHM
continues its work to help provide basic needs to the
people. The order, once facing closure is currently
increasing its numbers and seeking additional women who wish
to serve God by serving his people.
The order issued a call to
action to young leaders to join forces with the FHM to work
together to help meet basic human needs, including joining
the sisters in prayer for Divine intervention; assisting in
its work around the U.S. to alleviate food insecurity
affecting 15 million American households, shelter the
homeless, educate the needy, and empower the vulnerable by
removing the root causes of hunger, poverty, homelessness
and encouraging self-reliance and development; and joining
with the FHM to advocate for those less fortunate to the
powers that be.
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