When Sister Simone Campbell first heard about Congressman Paul Ryan’s budget deal, she was less than impressed. “America was not founded on individualism, you can’t have a quilting bee alone. We need to encourage solidarity. He made it seem like it’s the responsibility of the poor to pull themselves up by the bootstrap, that’s not right.”
So, Campbell called a meeting, and the “Nuns on the Bus” tour was born. Campbell and a group of Roman Catholic Sisters traveled to nine states in 2012 protesting Ryan’s budget and spreading their message rooted in traditional catholic school teaching principles. They came through Iowa in June, 2012, and during this River to River interview, Sister Campbell talks with Ben Kieffer about the bus tour, her new bookand the criticism she’s received from the Catholic church for her activism.
Today during River to River, we also heard John Pemble's conversation with Sister Helen Prejean, known for her work with inmates on death row and her book "Dead Man Walking." Her book has been written into an opera, which will be performed this weekend and in early July by the Des Moines Metro Opera.
