We affirm our public stance for Sanctuary taken in 1988. We wish to extend our welcome to people from many countries seeking safe haven in the United States, including those already living and working here in the United States whose legal status cause them to fear for their safety and the safety of their family.

We affirm the right of every person to earn a livelihood, to family unity, and to physical and emotional safety. Informed by these beliefs, we determine that current U.S. immigration law disregards these rights for millions, many of whom are U.S. citizens, resulting in serious workplace abuse of undocumented immigrants, harmful family separation, and widespread fear within the immigrant community.

Rooted in these principles, we commit ourselves to:

1) Provide sanctuary and to support religious communities extending sanctuary;

2) Advocate for the protection of immigrants against hate, workplace discrimination, and unjust deportation;

3) Reveal, through education and advocacy, the impact current and proposed legislation has on immigrant workers and their families;

4) Take a public, moral stand for just and comprehensive immigration reform.

We, the Sisters and Associates of St. Francis of Tiffin, Ohio in keeping with our position of nonviolence and respecting the inherent dignity of each person, corporately stand in support of human rights by explicitly opposing the trafficking of women and children for the purposes of sexual exploitation and forced labor.

[On Sunday, August 12, 2008, the Sisters of Notre Dame, Tiffin Franciscan Sisters, Sylvania Franciscan Sisters and the Ursuline Sisters, with the prayer support of our Contemplative Visitation sisters, proclaimed their corporate stance against human trafficking at St. Martin DePorres Church, Toledo, Ohio. We affirm the right of every person to earn a livelihood, to family unity, and to physical and emotional safety.]

February 1985

“The Sisters of St. Francis oppose any significant escalation of military intervention in Central America.”

April 1986

“All corporate holdings of the Sisters of St. Francis are established as nuclear free. The Sisters have notified the Department of Defense, the State Department, the President of the United States, and the news media of this decision. The holdings of the Corporation include: St. Francis Convent, Tiffin, Ohio, St. Anthony Pilgrim House, Carey, Ohio, 55 and 56 Birckhead Place, Toledo, Ohio; and all community cars.”

June 1986

“The Sisters of St. Francis support the efforts of the Navajo and Hopi Indians to continue to live on their traditional homeland of the Black Meza on the Colorado Plateau. The Sisters will work for the repeal of Public Law 93-531 or the Navajo/Hopi Land Settlement Act of 1974.”

August 1988

“We, the Sisters of St. Francis of Tiffin, Ohio, declare ourselves to be a public sanctuary for Central American refugees. We choose this stance as a ministry flowing from the spirit of Father Bihn and Mother Francis who provided a home for the homeless.”

June 1996

“The Sisters of St. Francis of Tiffin, Ohio, declare solidarity with our immigrant sisters and brothers, convinced that we are all equal in God’s eyes, and therefore, deserve to be treated with respect and dignity. We oppose any legislation which denies benefits to documented immigrants or prevents undocumented immigrants from obtaining education, jobs, health care and access to social services.”

December 1998

“We, the Sisters of St. Francis of Tiffin, Ohio, will use both our energies and our resources to close the School of the Americas. We wish to become the voice of the voiceless poor in Central America and Mexico who are terrorized and oppressed by graduates of the School of the Americas.”

May 2000

“We, the Sisters of St. Francis of Tiffin, Ohio, oppose the UN/US economic sanctions leveled against Iraq and we call for a complete halt to these sanctions.”

August 2000

“Because of our belief in the sanctity of life, and in support of life’s value from its beginning to its natural end, we, the Sisters and Associates of St. Francis of Tiffin, Ohio, join with the United Nations and international and national governmental and non-governmental organizations, as well as churches of many faiths, to oppose the death penalty by supporting the Moratorium 2000.”