Las Hermanas (organization) facts for kids

Las Hermanas (which means "The Sisters" in Spanish) is a special group for Catholic Hispanic women. It was started in the United States between 1970 and 1971. This group was the first of its kind in the U.S. to represent Spanish-speaking women in the Church.

Las Hermanas has worked hard to make life better for religious Hispanic women and their communities. They speak out against sexism (unfair treatment based on gender) in the Church and in society. The group is very involved in political and civil rights actions, like protests, to bring about change. Currently, Las Hermanas is taking a break, but they plan to continue their important work in the future.

What is Las Hermanas?

Even though many Spanish-speaking nuns lived in the United States, they were the last group of women to form their own organization within the Catholic Church. Las Hermanas was created to help these women feel proud of their culture. This way, they could become leaders for change and speak up for other Hispanic Americans.

One of the founders, Gloria Gallardo, believed that Spanish-speaking nuns were the best people to understand and help their own communities. The group also fought against sexism in the Church, calling it a "sin." They also pushed for women to be allowed to become priests, which is called ordination.

Early on, Las Hermanas also aimed to improve the lives of nuns who often worked as cooks and maids for men in Church buildings. Many Mexican nuns were sent to the U.S. because they were seen as "cheap labor." Beyond Church issues, Las Hermanas also supported causes like childcare, stopping violence against women, improving education, and fighting poverty. They even marched to support farmworkers' rights.

At first, only nuns could join Las Hermanas. But later, lay women (people who are not priests or nuns) from many different Spanish-speaking backgrounds were welcomed. Las Hermanas has worked with other groups, like PADRES (which means "Fathers Associated for Religious, Educational, and Social Rights"), to achieve their goals. They have also influenced important Church groups like the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Las Hermanas published a newsletter called Informes four times a year. Even though it's an "official" Catholic organization, Las Hermanas works independently from the main Church leadership.

How Las Hermanas Started

The group was founded by Sisters Gloria Gallardo and Gregoria Ortega in 1970 in Houston. A friend helped them connect. They started by asking bishops across the United States for names of Mexican-American women who were nuns. They also got names from the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR).

In October 1970, they invited these women to a meeting in Houston in April 1971. The invitation said they should come together "not just for strength and support, but to educate ourselves as to who we are, where we're going, and how." At that time, Gloria Gallardo worked for the Galveston-Houston diocese (a Church district).

About fifty Mexican-American women attended the first meeting. Many of them had joined religious life around the time of Vatican II (a major meeting in the Catholic Church in the 1960s). They often shared stories of having to hide their cultural heritage after becoming nuns. The nuns came from eight different states, and one even came from Monterrey, Mexico.

During this three-day meeting, they chose the name "Las Hermanas" and their motto: "unidas en acción y oración" (united in action and prayer). They purposely put "action" before "prayer" to show their focus on making a difference. The sisters then chose Gloria Gallardo as their first president.

At the April 1971 meeting, the nuns decided their first goals would be to "affect social change" and teach other Church leaders about the needs of Spanish-speaking communities. Within six months, the group grew to about 900 nuns. Their first newsletter, Informes, was sent out on September 19, 1971.

The next big meeting was in November 1971 in Santa Fe, where 900 nuns of Hispanic heritage attended. Women from Puerto Rico and Cuba also joined this meeting. They decided to create teams to help Spanish-speaking Catholics and raise awareness about community issues. They also wrote a constitution for the group. Las Hermanas officially became a recognized organization in Texas on February 22, 1972. Later that year, Gloria Gallardo stepped down from her leadership role.

Las Hermanas moved its main office from Houston to San Antonio and started using a team of leaders. In 1973, the national meeting was split, with some sisters going to Fresno to protest how farmworkers were being treated. By 1975, lay women were allowed to join the organization.

In 1977, Las Hermanas decided to work on promoting women's issues at a big meeting for Hispanic Catholics. In 1978, sisters from Las Hermanas were important speakers at a national conference about women becoming priests.

In 1985, the group spoke out about the National Conference of Catholic Bishops' Pastoral Letter on Women. Sisters from Las Hermanas talked about the challenges Hispanic women faced in the Church, in their families, and in society.

That same year, at another big conference, Las Hermanas held a protest. The final document from the conference was supposed to include a statement about women becoming priests. When the organizers didn't allow a vote on this, Las Hermanas protested outside by praying and refusing to enter. Eventually, the organizers agreed to discuss it again. Even though the document didn't end up supporting women's ordination, the language was changed to be more welcoming to women in all Church roles.

In the early 1990s, the group moved its office to Our Lady of the Lake University. By 1991, Las Hermanas had about 1,000 members. However, around this time, the group started to slow down because its leaders were very busy.

Lasting Impact

Las Hermanas has helped spread "Latina theology" (a way of understanding faith from the perspective of Latina women) not just in the Catholic Church, but in other Christian churches in the U.S. Their approach to spirituality, faith, politics, and feminism led to the creation of something called mujerista theology. Early members of Las Hermanas, Yolanda Tarango and Ada María Isasi-Díaz, wrote about this in their 1988 book, Hispanic Women: Prophetic Voice in the Church.

A book about Las Hermanas called Las Hermanas: Chicana/Latina Religious-Political Activism in the U.S. Catholic Church (2004) was written by Lara Medina. She used interviews with women from the group to tell their story.

Old papers and records for Las Hermanas are kept at Our Lady of the Lake University's library.

The Mexican American Catholic College (MACC) was started in 1972 thanks to a partnership with Las Hermanas, PADRES, and other Church groups. One of the founders of MACC said that Las Hermanas and PADRES were considered co-founders of the school.

See also

• Associations of the faithful
• Catholic laity