She is best known for her support of students in an Abilene school walkout and her co-creation of the religious organization for Hispanic sisters and lay women in the Catholic Church, Las Hermanas.
[1][2] When she was very young, her father impressed on her that being a sister was an important job, saying, "They are women who dedicate their entire lives to the Church and to God.
[2] In 1970, she helped form a Chicano group to deal with issues facing Mexican Americans in the public schools in Rotan.
[11] Ortega met Gloria Gallardo through a friend, Father Edmundo Rodriguez, and the two of them worked together to form Las Hermanas in 1971.
[14][15] Later, Ortega and Sister Carmelita Espinoza were involved in the creation of El Centro Guadalupano, which served Mexican parishioners and was created between 1985 and 1986 in Spokane.