Nuns on the Bus: A History!

Whether I’m talking to a congressional staff-person, an Advocates Team member, or one of NETWORK’s coalition partners, when I say, “Nuns on the Bus,” their faces light up in a smile. NETWORK’s iconic campaign that involves Catholic Sisters riding a large, wrapped tour bus over the course of many days across many states, captures the hearts and imaginations of almost everyone—and for good reasons!

My name is Meg Olson, and I’m the Grassroots Mobilization Director at NETWORK. I’ve been on staff at NETWORK since 2015, which means that I’ve seen five (soon to be six!) of our eight bus tours. For me, the Bus is about welcome and encounter. NETWORK staff welcome the riders on the Bus and offer hospitality and care. We in turn are welcomed by social service agencies, community organizations, and houses of worship when our Bus rolls up for a site visit or a town hall. On the road, we encounter everyone from families who receive their meals at the local soup kitchen to Members of Congress, and we listen to them deeply and learn from their experiences. We hold the people we encounter along the way and bring their stories to Capitol Hill.

The Bus is also about hope. Whether we’ve called out Paul Ryan’s budget or invited everyone to be multi-issue voters, our messages have provided hope to voters across the country who share our values. In turn, the good news on the ground, the stories of community, struggle, and resilience give us hope. Hope is a communal virtue, and the deep community that is forged between riders and at Bus events kindles the hope that sustains us in our advocacy.

Nuns on the Bus has toured the country seven times since 2012, including one virtual tour in 2020, promoting a just society where all people can flourish. This year, the nuns are hitting the road again–this time with multi-faith and secular partners–for the 2024 Nuns on the Bus & Friends “Vote Our Future” tour!

A History of the Nuns on the Bus Tour

Before we hit the road this fall, I think it’s helpful and grounding to reflect on where we’ve been. Many of you reading this may have been part of these previous tours, too. Join me in reflecting on our past bus tours, and in looking ahead to this fall!

2012 – Nuns on the Bus: Nuns Drive for Faith, Family, and Fairness

In 2012, nuns went on the first-ever Nuns on the Bus tour to advocate for an economy that includes everyone. They focused on opposing Rep. Paul Ryan’s budget, which slashed critical supports for our most vulnerable community members, threatened Medicare, and offered huge tax breaks to the wealthy. The inaugural bus tour spanned nine states, and, as Maureen Fiedler wrote in National Catholic Reporter, “captured the imagination of the media like nothing progressive Catholics have tried in a decade or more.” It even got our executive director at the time, Sr. Simone Campbell, on The Colbert Report!

While I was several years away from my ministry at NETWORK, I did have the honor and pleasure of joining one of the Nuns on the Bus “echo tours,” in Missouri. Catholic Sisters, associates, and I—and even a Brother—visited every Congressional District in the state delivering the Faithful Budget that NETWORK and our multifaith coalition partners wrote to Members of Congress and meeting with families who benefited from human needs programs and the ACA.

Read media coverage of the 2012 Nuns on the Bus tour.

2013 – Nuns on the Bus: A Drive for Faith, Family, and Citizenship

The next year, in 2013, Nuns on the Bus traveled across 15 states—hosting 53 events in 40 cities! We mobilized communities to press Congress for comprehensive immigration reform that reflects our values, not our fears. We called for commonsense reforms that ensured family unity, protected the rights of immigrant workers, sped up processing of already-approved immigrants, provided a clear and direct pathway to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented people in the U.S., and more. The tour met with support across the country for an immigration system that upholds dignity and human rights!

Read about immigration reform and the Nuns on the Bus 2013 tour

2014 – Nuns on the Bus: We the People, We the Voters

In 2014, we hit the road to support the “We the People” campaign to counter the influence of big money in the 2014 midterm elections. We were on the road, although not quite continuously, for over a month, on a whopping 11-state, 44-city, 115-event tour! We mobilized people to vote, encouraged others to vote, and called on candidates to uphold their commitments to policies that benefit the 100%. That’s because the nuns knew that when “We the People” vote, we get closer to mending wealth gaps, securing a living wage, providing health care for all, protecting immigrants’ rights, promoting nonviolent solutions to conflict, and more.

Read about the 2014 NOTB Tour 

2015 – Nuns on the Bus: Bridge the Divides: Transform Politics

My first bus tour with NETWORK! Nuns on the Bus answered Pope Francis’ radical call to change not just our policies, but our politics, too. The tour happened during a time in our nation’s politics characterized by intensifying polarization and gridlock. On this tour, we modeled politics centered on listening to real people and their real, daily experiences, and working for solutions from there.

We kicked off our tour in St. Louis, which was still grappling with how to bridge divides one year after a police killing of Michael Brown, an unarmed Black man. Over two-and-a-half weeks, we connected with people in places Pope Francis was unable to visit—the plains of Kansas, the Ozark foothills, downtown Nashville—listening to stories and bringing them to Congress to amplify and strengthen the call for change, healing, and a way forward for everyone. Along the way, we recorded over 40 people sharing their stories of how they bridge the divides in their community, and those recordings were delivered to Pope Francis!

Read about the 2015 NOTB Tour

2016 – Nuns on the Bus: Mend the Gaps

Equipped with the stories we heard in 2015, we went on the road in 2016 to live out a model of politics centered on healing, flourishing, and solidarity; and to launch our 2020 Public Policy Platform, “Mend the Gaps.” The 2016 tour focused on the growing income and wealth inequality in the U.S., and we called on our elected officials and candidates to “Mend the Gaps” in income and wealth in our nation. We knew that when people at the economic margins do better, we all do better!

That year, we brought the bus to both the Republican and Democratic Conventions, where we educated people on the gaps we are experiencing in our society, and on how good policies can help bridge those divides. At each of the conventions, we engaged in what we called “Lemonade Ministry.” Sisters and Bus staff pulled portable lemonade stands with wagons decorated to look like our Bus. We passed out lemonade to delegates and attendees and asked three questions: “Who in your family is it difficult to talk to about politics?” “What are your fears for our nation?” and “What are your hopes for our nation?”

Our goal was to offer an alternative to the anger, fear, and polarization that usually characterizes election cycles. We sought to bring a politics of inclusion to divided places, change the conversation to mending the vast economic and social divides in our country, counter political incivility with a message of inclusion—and of course, hold elected officials accountable to the promises they have made to legislate for the common good!

Read more about the 2016 Tour

2018 – Nuns on the Bus on the Road to Mar-a-Lago: Tax Justice Truth Tour

Over the years of learning about and seeking to model and promote a better kind of politics, we learned the importance of truth-telling for a politics of justice, inclusion, and healing, and launched the “Tax Justice Truth Tour” in 2018. In October of that year, Nuns on the Bus went on the road to Mar-a-Lago, traveling more than 5,600 miles to 21 states over 27 days, to tell the truth about the harmful effects of the 2017 tax vote—and to hold Members of Congress who voted for this disastrous tax bill and the repeal of the Affordable Care Act accountable for their actions.

The tour launched in Santa Monica, CA, included a Tax Justice Parade around Mar-a-Lago with community and national partners, and ended in West Palm Beach, Florida with a “Fiesta for the Common Good.” Along the way, nuns stopped in congressional districts where the incumbent Member of Congress had voted in support of the deceitfully named “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.” Events on the tour included rallies, lobby visits to the offices of elected officials, site visits at social service agencies, and “Town Halls for Tax Justice.” At each event, sisters met with constituents and carried their concerns to Members of Congress—and even all the way to then-President Trump at Mar-a-Lago.

Read about the 2018 NOTB on the road to Mar-A-Lago

2020 – Nuns on the Bus, The Virtual Tour: Who We Elect Matters

Amidst the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, we knew we wanted to be responsible and safe, and we knew we couldn’t sit out of a presidential election that seemed more consequential than ever. Luckily, nuns are creative, resilient, and adaptable! So, we launched Nuns on the Bus, The Virtual Tour: Who We Elect Matters.

We knew that we were facing critical decisions as a country, about how to respond to a global health crisis as well as racism and white supremacy, xenophobia, and economic inequality in our nation. We also know that all of these issues—and more—depend greatly on the people we elect to represent us. So, we met over Zoom with groups and communities all over the U.S. who are doing the work of justice, accompanying people impacted most by federal policies, and advocating for better policies that will help mend the gaps in our society. We encouraged Catholics and people of goodwill across the country to be Spirit-Filled Voters—because who we elect, at every level of government, matters!

Read about the 2020 virtual NOTB tour

2024 – Nuns on the Bus & Friends: Vote Our Future. Everyone Thrives, No Exceptions

Here we are…today! This year, nuns are hitting the road once again—but this time, with friends. All along, Nuns on the Bus hasn’t just been about the nuns, but about our partners, communities, members, advocates teams…and you! This year, multi-faith and secular partners are joining sisters as bus riders for the 2024 Nuns on the Bus & Friends tour, to live out what a thriving, multi-faith, multiracial democracy looks like.

Running from Philadelphia to San Francisco from September 30 to October 18, the nuns and their friends will join Catholics and people of good will across the country to proclaim that together, we will be multi-issue voters for a future where everyone thrives, no exceptions! They will lift up the freedoms that are essential for our communities to flourish–including the freedoms to care for ourselves and our families, to be healthy and safe from harm, to participate in a vibrant democracy, and to live in a healthy and welcoming country that values dignity and human rights.

Maybe you’ve been on some of these past tours, maybe you’re just learning about Nuns on the Bus now, or maybe you’ve been there since the start! Either way, we invite you to join us for this year’s 2024 Nuns on the Bus & Friends tour. Take a look at our stops to attend an event near you, follow us on Instagram or Facebook, view photos in our online Flickr photo albums, or buy a t-shirt or a yard sign!

The freedoms at stake this year call for nuns, a bus, and all of us to get engaged and show up together. It’s only together that we will vote OUR future–a future where everyone thrives, no exceptions!