As the Church celebrates the Jubilee of Consecrated Life, Sr. Jane Wakahiu, LSOSF, shares the work of the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation to support religious sisters in their mission to accompany people facing hardship in all corners of the globe.
By Devin Watkins
Over 16,000 religious women and men, hermits, consacrated virgins, and members of secular institutes from 100 countries are set to gather in the Eternal City for the Jubilee of Consacrated Life.
Over the course of October 8-9, the pilgrims will make their way through the Holy Doors of the Papal Basilicas, and attend Holy Mass on Thursday with Pope Leo XIV in St. Peter’s Square.
Among the pilgrims is Sr. Jane Wakahiu, LSOSF, Ph.D., Associate Vice President, Program Operations and Head of Catholic Sisters with the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation.
In an interview with Vatican News, Sr. Wakahiu said the Jubilee of Hope is a “sacred occasion that encourages renewal, deeper connection to faith, and a beacon of hope to the world.”
“As religious during this Jubilee of Consecrated Life, we are joining together, and we serve as witnesses of love and hope in the margins of society where we serve,” she said.
Conrad Hilton, the late American hotel entrepreneur, had a deep respect and love for religious sisters, and in his will he asked his Foundation’s Board of Directors to allocate at least half of their charitable outreach to support the work of Catholic sisters.
Sr. Wakahiu, who oversees the Catholic Sisters’ Initiative, said the Hilton Foundation helps provide resources to help religious sisters support themselves through education, ageing and health care, sustainable organization, and ongoing formation.
Religious sisters are in every country of the world, helping children, young people, and families in conditions of hardship.
“We work with sisters who are expert in those issues that they are supporting,” said Sr. Wakahiu, “and we resource them particularly to support the most vulnerable, so that the dignity of the human person is elevated.”
Sr. Wakahiu upheld the sister-led “Youth Empowerment Initiative” in various counties, including Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, India, Mexico, and the United States.
In the last four years alone, the Catholic Sisters’ Initiative has assisted over 60,000 sisters, who in turn supported more than 3 million people with skills development, job placement, and agriculture, as well as empowering them to become agents of their own destiny.
The Kenyan-born sister said the Hilton Foundation is currently supporting 10 religious congregations in their work to help Haitian migrants in Tijuana, Mexico, on the US border, offering them language and skills training.
“Our work is to give hope to the most vulnerable people living in disadvantaged situations and helping to create pathways, so that they can have a more sustainable lifestyle,” she said. “We apply the lens of the Church’s preferential option of the poor, which is key in our work to be in solidarity with those who suffer.”
The Dicastery for Communication (our parent organization) has teamed up with the Hilton Foundation’s Catholic Sisters’ Initiative, through the “Pentecost Project,” which trains sisters in journalism to tell the stories of their congregations’ missionary work.
Sr. Wakahiu said the project has brought over 40 sisters to the Dicastery’s headquarters in Rome to receive on-the-job training, as well as online formation for hundreds of others.
“Communication is communion and evangelization, spreading the Gospel,” she said. “Sisters are disciples in every nation, so this project has provided sisters with a skill set, so that they can become excellent evangelizers and people who are bringing the Good News to the people they serve.”
Catholic sisters who have participated in the Pentecost Project have returned to their countries or missions to better write “stories of hope, stories of love, and stories that are sharing sisters’ living presence on the margins,” including in war-torn places like Ukraine, DR Congo, Sudan, or Myanmar.
“The presence of sisters in these spaces is not just to serve,” concluded Sr. Wakahiu, “but to accompany and give hope, and just be there as the feet, hands, and presence of Christ.”
