Network was founded in December 1971 when 47 Catholic sisters involved in education, healthcare, and other direct service activities gathered from across the U.S. at Trinity College in Washington, D.C., with the intent to form a new type of justice ministry.
[4] In January 2001, President Bill Clinton presented the Presidential Citizens Medal, the US's second highest civilian honor, to a Network founder and first executive director, Sister Carol Coston.
In 2010, during the 2010 healthcare reform debate, lawyer and the executive director of Network, Simone Campbell a member of the Sisters of Social Service,[1][2] wrote the "nuns' letter" supporting the bill.
On March 18, 2010, Sr. Simone Campbell was interviewed by NPR about Network's support of the then pending US national health care bill, when she, along with "heads of dozens of religious orders"[5] signed a letter to congress urging passage.
[7] On April 18, 2012, the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith under Pope Benedict XVI issued a report criticizing the Leadership Conference of Women Religious,[8] a group that represents the vast majority of the 57,000 nuns in the U.S.
Noted Campbell: "The sweeping condemnation came like a bolt out of the blue--it even took the American bishops by surprise--and it came without the courtesy of input or a response from our organization."
[10] In response to the "blistering critique" they received, NETWORK created the "Nuns on the Bus" program, which The New York Times called a "spirited retort to the Vatican.