Sion Charism Stories

Marge's Story

For almost 25 years I worked at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, from the exciting earliest days of space exploration. During those years I was also involved in Jewish-Christian dialogue and with various social justice issues. It was a full and, I felt, a productive life. However, when, due to cuts in federal funding of NASA, JPL decided to significantly increase military research, I felt that I could no longer stay, so I left JPL not knowing where I would go, what I would do. A widow with grown children, I prayed and reflected for almost a year. During that time I once again traveled for several months in Israel and for three of those months dug in an archeological dig in Israel. Also I spent time praying and reflecting in our convent in Ein Karem. While in Israel I met the Sisters of Sion for the first time.

The more I learned about Sion's charism, the more drawn I became to Sion. One thing led to another and I entered, moving from Southern California to Toronto, on to England, then back to Toronto.

In Canada my primary work was in Jewish-Christian relations working at the grassroots level, primarily within the Jewish community. I worked extensively with Holocaust survivors, studying the economic and political situation in Germany and Europe, particularly Eastern Europe, trying to understand how the Holocaust could have happened. More and more I came to realize the impact of social and economic injustice and the violation of human rights in furthering a situation like the Holocaust.

In 1990 I moved back to the States; I began to study Catholic teachings on worker justice as well as the teachings of other Christian and non-Christian groups. I continued working in Jewish-Christian relations, but also to work more seriously on the grassroots level on issues of social justice, particularly economic injustice affecting workers.

When I moved to St. Paul, Minnesota, although I continue some Jewish-Christian involvement, my primary work is concerned with labor/economic justice. I have supported various worker efforts to confront employer imposed injustice, for instance, I picketed with hotel workers on strike, nurses on strike; various informational efforts in support of workers efforts for justice, such as packing house workers, auto workers, nursing home workers, school bus drivers, and such. Most recently for 444 days I picketing and supported union mechanics on strike against Northwest Airlines, in addition to being on the solidarity committee supporting the strike effort. In recognition of this work, I was made a life-time honorary member of the local union.

I see the outsourcing of good paying jobs, the compromising of working conditions and the eradication of benefits, pensions and health care, and am deeply concerned for the impact on the individual worker and for the shrinking of the middle class. Therefore, I'm actively involved in efforts to support workers against loss of jobs and encroaching degradation of working people. I.ve been on several solidarity committees to help workers in strike situations; I'm involved in enlisting public support for the plight of workers unjustly treated by their corporate employers as well as lobbying state and national legislators regarding legislation effecting labor. I'm a long-time member of a national interfaith organization supporting worker justice.