Archbishop Lori Urges Women Religious to Renew Society

Baltimore Archbishop William E. Lori told leaders of women’s religious communities that renewing American political culture requires more than institutional or partisan change; it begins with the renewal of individual character, relationships and spiritual life. In his Sept. 18 keynote address to the 2026 National Assembly of the Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious in Florissant, Missouri, Lori said the Church must remain above partisan politics without withdrawing from public life. He praised women religious for centuries of service to schools, hospitals, immigrants and vulnerable people, calling them often-overlooked contributors to American freedom and human dignity. Lori urged them to model a form of freedom rooted in the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity and obedience, arguing that consecrated life is not an escape from society but a witness capable of transforming it. The address framed the nation’s 250th-anniversary reflection as a call to address polarization, loneliness and declining trust through holiness, reconciliation and renewed civic friendship.