Las Hermanas (organization) facts for kids

Las Hermanas is a special group for Hispanic women involved in the Catholic Church. It was started between 1970 and 1971. This group was the first of its kind in the United States to represent Spanish-speaking women within the Church.

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

About Las Hermanas

Even though many Spanish-speaking nuns lived in the United States, they were the last group of women to form a special organization within the Church. Las Hermanas was created to help these women feel proud of their culture. By doing this, 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 help their communities because they understood their needs. The group also fought against sexism in the Church, calling it a serious problem. They also supported the idea of women becoming ordained (officially recognized as religious leaders).

Early on, Las Hermanas also wanted to improve the lives of nuns who worked as cooks and maids for men in Church buildings. Many Mexican nuns were sent to the United States and were often seen as cheap labor. Las Hermanas also worked on important issues like childcare, stopping violence against women, improving education, and fighting poverty. They even marched to support the rights of farmworkers.

At first, only nuns could join Las Hermanas. But later, the group welcomed lay women (people who are not clergy) from many different Spanish-speaking backgrounds. Las Hermanas has worked with other groups, like PADRES, to achieve their goals. They have also influenced important Church organizations in the United States. Many religious women helped Las Hermanas by giving donations.

Las Hermanas published a newsletter called Informes four times a year. Even though it's recognized as an "official" Catholic organization, Las Hermanas makes its own decisions and is independent from the Church.

History of Las Hermanas

Sisters Gloria Gallardo and Gregoria Ortega started Las Hermanas in 1970 in Houston. A friend helped them connect. They began by asking bishops across the United States and the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) for names of Mexican-American women.

They invited these women to a meeting in Houston in April 1971. The invitation asked women to 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, Gallardo worked for the Galveston-Houston diocese.

About fifty Mexican-American women attended the first meeting. Many of them had joined religious life after Vatican II (a major Church meeting) or just before it. They often shared the experience of having to hide their cultural heritage after becoming nuns. The nuns came from eight different states, including Arizona, California, and Texas. One delegate even came from Monterrey, Mexico.

During this three-day meeting, they chose the name and motto for their organization. "Las Hermanas" means "the sisters" in Spanish. Their motto was "unidas en acción y oración" (united in action and prayer). They purposely put "action" before "prayer." The sisters chose Gallardo as their first president.

At the April 1971 meeting, the nuns decided their main goals were to create social change and teach Church leaders, who were mostly Anglo (European-American), about the needs of Spanish-speaking communities. European-American nuns in the group either did not return for the next meeting or became associate members, as the group wanted to focus on developing Hispanic women's leadership.

Within six months, the group grew to about 900 nuns. On September 19, 1971, the first issue of their newsletter, Informes, was sent out. Gallardo was the editor.

The next meeting was in November 1971 in Santa Fe, where 900 nuns of Hispanic heritage attended. Women from Puerto Rico and Cuba also came. At this meeting, they agreed to create teams to help Spanish-speaking Catholics and raise awareness about issues facing Hispanic communities. They also wrote a constitution for the group. The state of Texas officially recognized the organization on February 22, 1972. Gallardo stepped down from leadership in 1972.

Las Hermanas moved its main office from Houston to San Antonio and started using a team leadership style. Sisters Maria de Jesus Ybarra, Mario Barron, and Carmelita Espinoza became the new leaders. In 1973, the national meeting was split, with half the sisters going to Fresno to protest how farmworkers were being treated. By 1975, lay women were allowed to join the organization.

At their seventh conference in 1977, Las Hermanas decided to plan how they would promote women's concerns at a big meeting for Hispanic Catholics later that year. In 1978, sisters from Las Hermanas were important speakers at a national conference about women becoming ordained.

In 1985, the group spoke about the National Conference of Catholic Bishops' letter on women. During their testimony, Sisters Beatriz Diaz-Taveras, Maria Teresa Garza, Ada María Isasi-Díaz, and Carmen Villegas talked about the challenges Hispanic women faced in the Church, in their families, and in society.

That same year, at another big conference, the group held a protest outside the final session. The conference's final document was supposed to include a line about women's ordination. When the organizers didn't allow a vote on this, Las Hermanas, including Isasi-Diaz, protested by praying the rosary outside and refusing to go in. Eventually, the organizers agreed to discuss it again. Even though the document didn't fully support women's ordination, the language was changed to be more welcoming to women in all parts of church work.

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.

Legacy of Las Hermanas

Las Hermanas helped spread Latina theology (religious ideas from a Latina perspective) not just in the Catholic Church, but also in other Christian churches in the United States. The way Las Hermanas combined spirituality, religious ideas, politics, and feminism led to the creation of mujerista theology. Early members, Yolanda Tarango and Ada María Isasi-Díaz, first wrote about mujerista theology 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. Medina used interviews with women from the group to tell their story.

Important papers and records for Las Hermanas are kept at Our Lady of the Lake University's Sueltenfuss Library.

The Mexican American Catholic College (MACC) was started in 1972 through a partnership with Las Hermanas, PADRES, the Texas Catholic Conference, and the Archdiocese of San Antonio. Father Juan Romero said that MACC saw Las Hermanas and PADRES as co-founders of the school.

See also

• Associations of the faithful
• Catholic laity