Jubilee: Hilton Foundation seeks to ‘elevate voices of Catholic sisters’
As dozens of nuns gather in Rome for the Jubilee for Communication, Linda Hilton, president of the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, describes her charity’s efforts to provide financial support to Catholic sisters in their missions in serving the causes of peace: justice and education.
By Devin Watkins
“Their stories need to be told so that everyone understands what is really happening in the world, and these sisters do it with their hearts and their compassion for others. »
Linda Hilton, chair of the Hilton Foundation Board of Trustees, shared this belief in an interview about the work of Catholic sisters around the world.
She spoke with Vatican News on the sidelines of a conference entitled “Weaving communion through communication”, organized by the Dicastery for Communication (our parent entity).
The event brought together approximately 80 Catholic sisters to explore how they can communicate their work to elevate the voices of others. It was sponsored by the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, founded by the hotel entrepreneur in 1944.
Ms. Hilton shared that she and other foundation board members were moved to tears upon hearing about the work of Sr. Norma Pimentel, MJ, who works with migrants on the US-Mexico border in Texas.
“Knowing what’s going on there through their (funding) requests was eye-opening,” Ms. Hilton said.
Like Sister Pimentel, who spoke at Thursday’s conference, there are hundreds of thousands of other religious sisters who serve Christ in people from all facets of society, often silently but always with love.
In his will leaving much of his estate to the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, the hotel entrepreneur requested that the Catholic sisters always represent the largest investment in the Foundation’s portfolio.
“In our vision it says, love one another, for this is the whole law,” quoted Mrs. Hilton, her granddaughter. “The people of the world deserve to be loved and encouraged, never to be abandoned, to wander alone in poverty. »
She said the Hilton Foundation board seeks to meet the changing needs of the world.
A project financed by the foundation offers continuing training to sisters in communication and is carried out in collaboration with the Dicastery for Communication. Each year, dozens of sisters receive online training in modern media, and several spend three months in the Dicastery’s offices in Rome as interns to receive in-depth training.
In addition to training young nuns, the Hilton Foundation also launched “The Anna Trust for Elderly Catholic Sisters” on January 22.
Created in collaboration with the International Union of Superiors General (UISG), the initiative will support a “healthy and dignified aging process” for sisters around the world.
Ms. Hilton and the board met Wednesday at the Vatican with Pope Francis, whose commitment to the most vulnerable and concern for the elderly inspired the foundation to create The Anna Trust.
She said the board believed it was important to support Catholic sisters who have dedicated their entire lives to serving others, citing a 2009 report showing that the average age of sisters in the United States at he time was 69 years old.
“The nuns do not keep the money they earn but give it to their superiors because of their vow of poverty,” Ms. Hilton said. “So when there’s nothing for them, it’s important to step in and take care of them.” »