© 2024 MICHIGAN PUBLIC
91.7 Ann Arbor/Detroit 104.1 Grand Rapids 91.3 Port Huron 89.7 Lansing 91.1 Flint
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Catholic nuns bringing anti-budget cutting message to Michigan this week

Nunsonthebus.com

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney isn’t the only one with a bus tour passing through Michigan this week.

A group of Catholic nuns will be touring the state to criticize Republican plans to cut federal spending.

The Nuns on the Bus tour started over the weekend in Iowa and will reach Michigan by Friday. The bus tour has stops planned in Grand Rapids, Jackson and Detroit.

While in Michigan, the group plans to demonstrate outside the offices of two Republican congressmen who voted to turn Medicare into a voucher program and cap non-defense spending.

“Some of your politicians who voted for it…and actually some who voted against it are Catholics,” says Sister Simone Campbell is part of the group called Network, which describes itself as a progressive national Catholic social justice lobby, “and we’re hoping to point out to those who voted for it the serious flaws in the budget and what devastation it will do to Michigan.”

Campbell says the bus tour has received a lot of support so far.

“As a person of faith, it makes me know that the Holy Spirit is alive and well and is blowing hard on this project…to stir up a whole bunch of stuff,” says Campbell.  “I have no idea where it is all going…but I really trust that if we are really faithful to the gospel and lifting up the needs of people in poverty that good things will happen. This will be good.”

The Nuns on the Bus tour will reach Washington D.C. in two weeks.

Steve Carmody has been a reporter for Michigan Public since 2005. Steve previously worked at public radio and television stations in Florida, Oklahoma and Kentucky, and also has extensive experience in commercial broadcasting.