The nuns are on the bus again, this time heading to President Trump's winter home in Mar-a-Lago, FL against claimed inequities of the recent federal tax cut. They made a stop Monday night at St. Joseph's University Parish in North Buffalo.
The nuns are from a variety of religious congregations. Their bus was in the parking lot of St. Joseph's, resting from the 14th day of the "Tax Justice Truth Tour." The goal is for the nuns to be at Mar-a-Lago on Nov. 2 for a "Fiesta for the Common Good."
"Being on the bus is like the best. It recharges my batteries every morning," said Sister Simone Campbell, the longtime leader of the Nuns on the Bus. "I think, 'Oh, my gosh, this is Day 14' and so I think like, 'Can we do another day?' We ground our morning in prayer. We do it for a half hour of prayers, sisters in the morning, and then that sets us for the day to meet amazing people all across this country."
Campbell said this year's tour goal is to show the unfairness of the recent federal tax cut schedule. Nuns on the tour read about actual affected individuals to congregations.
"What will be shown is the bottom 20 percent - a family we know - is only going to get $60 back as a refund," said Campbell. "Sixty dollars for a low-income family means a lot. I don't want to minimize that. But it's not enough when the top 1 percent - the top 1 percent, who we call George - it's another family we know. That family is going to get $193,000."
Campbell said talk of cutting health care also scares members of the public, particularly those dealing with illness.
"Politicians talk about cutting programs that people rely on, but it strikes terror in their hearts and I think it's irresponsible to scare our people. That is wrong," she said. "So we are on the road to say, 'We're with you. We've got your back. We're in this together and together we can make this happen. No more scaring our people. Stop it. And let's change this tax law.'"
The bus tour is also pushing people to get out and vote because, the nuns say, only voting can change anything.
