OUT OF THE CLASSROOM AND INTO THE HALLS OF JUSTICE

Accompanying

a man on death row, speaking publicly against the death penalty, organizing in favor of restorative justice—these are ministries Sister Eileen Reilly, S.S.N.D. never expected as a young sister. When she entered the School Sisters of Notre Dame in 1965, she thought she would be in a classroom most of her life. That is how she spent her first 12 years.

this work,” she says about her ministry as a religious engagement associate for Catholic Mobilizing Network. Her community’s motto is “Transforming the world through education.” It aligns nicely, says Reilly, with her efforts to uplift human dignity through education and social action.

is a religious engagement associate for the Catholic Mobilizing Network. She organizes and educates religious communities and other groups of Catholics to oppose the death penalty and support alternative justice policies.

However, over time Reilly has applied her talents as an educator to a number of social justice ministries—including being an NGO representative to the United Nations for her religious institute. Today she focuses on educating, organizing, and advocating for two things: for restorative justice and against the death penalty.

“I feel my whole life was preparing me for

Salesian priest helps those with spinal cord injuries

THANKS to the ongoing efforts of Father Jaime Reyes Ratana, S.D.B. and his Salesian community, more than 100 people a year in Mexico can now access help after a spinal cord injury. In the fall of 2022 Reyes and the Salesians of Don Bosco established the Latin American Center for Comprehensive Care for Spinal Cord Injuries. Located in Guadalajara, it is the first comprehensive center of its kind in the country.

The center offers state-of-the-art equipment, including rehab exercise bikes, kinesitherapy devices for upper and lower limbs, walking support, and electric standing frames. The center also offers occupational therapy and promotes new science and technology for treating, caring for, and rehabilitating patients with spinal cord injuries.

Reilly keeps in contact with dozens of religious institutes so they can use their collective power to keep pushing for an end to the death penalty (now outlawed in 23 states) and to encourage restorative justice as an alternative model of criminal justice.

“Today is the first Friday of the month, so from 2-3 p.m.,” says Reilly, “a couple hundred of us will meet for prayer virtually.” Religious communities also respond to action alerts regarding legislative initiatives in their states.

To reach younger Catholics, she and her colleagues sponsor a poetry contest on the injustice of the death penalty. “A huge number of Catholics don’t know what the Catholic stand on the death penalty is,” she explains. Church teaching has consistently condemned it as out of sync with the sacredness of life.

The center builds on Reyes’ previous success in helping young people who needed wheelchairs. In 2010, Reyes established Don Bosco on Wheels to provide wheelchairs and social support to disabled youth in Guadalajara. The Latin American Center for Comprehensive Care for Spinal Cord Injuries is larger and more comprehensive, with a goal of serving 125 people a year.

The Salesian Missions website reports that some 9.2 million people in Mexico have some form of disability, most often related to mobility. As much as 45 percent of Mexico’s disabled population lives in poverty with no way to overcome it because of discrimination and the lack of access to holistic care.