April 29, 2019
U.N. conference on women sharpens students’ worldview
By Ealish Brawley ’14
Two Providence College students and a campus minister recently met people from all over the world without traveling the globe.
Alexandra Burch ’21 (Plymouth, Mass.) and Grace Maffucci ’22 (Mamaroneck, N.Y.), accompanied by Sister Anne Frances Klein, O.P., campus minister, attended the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women in New York City with Universal Fiat. The U.N. commission meets annually to discuss progress toward their goal of achieving gender equality and empowerment for women.
Universal Fiat is a program that chooses women from high schools and colleges all over the country to attend the UNCSW and provides a Catholic lens through which to view the proceedings. This year, 12 attended the high school track and eight participated in the college track.
Sister Anne Frances, who heard about Universal Fiat from fellow Dominican Sisters, encouraged Burch and Maffucci to apply, as both are members of the Women’s Study Group in Campus Ministry. The group, led by Sister Anne Frances, meets weekly to discuss how God’s grace enlightens and guides them in their lives. They discuss issues that impact women, such as the hook-up culture, balancing studies and friendship, and the intricacies of work and family life.
A gift from PC Board of Trustees member Susan M. Esper ’91, ’19P, & ’22P and her husband, Jeffrey ’19P & ’22P, helped Burch and Maffucci attend the program.
Burch majors in sociology and women’s studies with a minor in dance. She is a member of Peer Ministry, Women Will, and the Dance Company. Maffucci is a double-major in music performance and Spanish. She is a member of the Organization of Latin American Students, the I Cantori and Schola Cantorum choirs, and the Jazz Band.
The delegation from PC stayed busy during the six-day trip to New York. They awoke early to attend Mass and pray the rosary before their breakfast meetings. At the conference itself, they attended panels on women’s health, economic development, and human trafficking. At the end of the day, the college group would meet to discuss and digest all they encountered that day.
Sister Anne Frances described this part of the daily itinerary as a “wonderful opportunity to debate and see how faith enlightens the major cultural issues.”
She noted that Universal Fiat is an intentionally diverse group, with some members confidently grounded in their Catholic faith alongside others who are seeking and questioning. Every participant received a comprehensive tutorial on Catholic social teaching before the conference, so all were able to discuss the issues at hand and their relevance to the church as a whole and as individual believers.
Burch considered the dialogue one of the most rewarding aspects of the UNCSW experience.
“The discussions that I attended and the people, both the women who were a part of the Universal Fiat program and those who I met throughout the week, held so much wisdom and courage in what they believed and had to say, and they truly helped me to answer some questions that had been weighing on my mind,” she said.
Two highlights of the trip were visits to the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations and the Nigerian Embassy. The Permanent Observer Mission interacts with the U.N. as an advocate for the Catholic Church in helping the U.N. realize its vision of peace, justice, human dignity, and humanitarian cooperation and assistance. The mission is invited to attend all sessions of the U.N. and can make recommendations to guide decisions. The Holy See organized a side event which focused on social protection systems necessary in the fight against human trafficking.
The women heard from a variety of experts who advocated for education and employment assistance, as well as physical and mental health services in communities plagued by human trafficking. Group members met Rev. Roger Landry, a priest of the Diocese of Fall River, Mass., who is an attaché with the Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See.
At the Nigerian Embassy, the students attended a screening of Obianuju Ekeocha’s documentary Strings Attached. The documentary exposes the consequences for African women of the billions of dollars from Western nations allotted for their reproductive health and rights. After the screening and discussion, Burch, Maffucci, and Sister Anne Frances were able to speak with Ekeocha, who is an internationally acclaimed pro-life speaker and advocate.
Burch and Maffucci, and their peers, found that each interaction and discussion at the UNCSW continually affirmed Catholic social teaching regarding individual responsibility and societal justice.
Maffucci said, “I realized over the course of the week that the locus of most of the prominent human rights issues in our world is a disrespect for and degradation of human dignity, and that it is our job as united nations to come together to recognize and protect the dignity of every human person in order to begin to mend our social and political systems.”
Sister Anne Frances said she is eager to encourage more students to apply for Universal Fiat and hopes that another contingent from PC will attend UNCSW next year.
