The Role of Digital Technology in Social Inequalities

Serving Across the Digital Divide: Catholic Religious Witness to the Role of Digital Technology in Social Inequalities

This event featured members and associates of several congregations of Catholic women Religious, who shared generously how the communities they serve have experienced digital disconnection and offered some of their strategies for bridging that digital divide to continue providing vital services where they are needed most. It was co-sponsored by the 19 member NGOs of the Justice Coalition of Religious, who collectively represent nearly 200 congregations of Catholic women and men Religious at the United Nations.

From Sr. Lorraine Connell, SND, we learned about the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur’s African Photovoltaic Project (APP), which has established a clean energy source, water purification systems, and internet access for tens of thousands of people, including the Sisters, students, and patients in hospitals and clinics in nine remote communities in Nigeria and seven in the Democratic Republic of Congo.   

Sr. Coltridah Mooya, RSHM, shared how the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary are expanding computer and assistive technology training and access for students with visual and hearing impairments at St. Mulumba School for special needs in southern Zambia.

From Medical Mission Sisters Associate and teacher Naydesign Joan Talasan, we gained insight into the particular need for digital device access, touchscreen training, and reliable public health information for the lumad (indigenous) communities of the Philippines.

Sr. Elena Saavedra Pardo, FMA, conveyed the resilience of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, who have adapted to pandemic restrictions in Ecuador by broadcasting classes over a local radio station and providing their most remote students’ communities with shared radios and solar lights by which to do their schoolwork.

Finally, the Sr. Bethanie Sulleza, RSCJ, Sr. Joy Luz, RSCJ, and Lizette Santiallan-Paas took us on a colorful visual and musical tour of the Society of the Sacred Heart’s Saint Madeline Sophie Foundation, which has provided community-based support, home library kits, computer loans, and other essential goods and services for their low-income community in the Philippines in the wake of the dual crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic and typhoon Ulysses.

The testimony given by these five congregations of women Religious represents a small snapshot of the incredible digital connection efforts being made by the global family of Catholic Sisters, Brothers, priests as well as their Associates and partners in mission. Their ongoing witness to both suffering and solutions in their respective communities provided us with much reason to hold onto hope for a digitally united world and deep inspiration to go forth and deliver it.