Socal native to receive Medal of Freedom

Sister Simone Campbell gets top civilian honor at White House ceremony

A nun who grew up in Long Beach and who has made it her life’s work to advocate on social justice issues — including some that run counter to America’s more conservative Roman Catholic leaders — will receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom next week, the White House announced Friday.

Sister Simone Campbell, the former executive director of Network, a Catholic social justice organization, is one of 17 people who will receive the nation’s highest civilian honor.

The medal is awarded to individuals “who have made exemplary contributions to the prosperity, values, or security of the United States, world peace, or other significant societal, public or private endeavors,” according to a White House news release.

This year’s honorees include a number of current or former politicians and others who have worked to combat gun violence and racial injustice, advocated for marriage equality, or have served or had a loved one serve in the military.

Campbell is not the first person from Long Beach to receive a Presidential Medal of Freedom. In 2009, tennis legend Billie Jean King, one of the first openly gay athletes in a major sport and a champion of gender equality, was awarded the medal by President Barack Obama.

Campbell is a longtime social justice lobbyist in Washington, D.C., who has advocated for racial and economic justice, immigration reform and other causes. She’s often credited for her role in gathering signatures from Catholic nuns in support of the Affordable Care Act — the signature legislative achievement of Obama — to help secure its passage.

The liberal stalwart, who left Network in early 2021 after 16 years, also started that organization’s Nuns on the Bus campaign, where nuns travel across the country by bus to advocate on positions they support. Nuns on the Bus recently celebrated its 10year anniversary.

In a phone interview, Campbell recalled how then-vice President Joe Biden, a devout Catholic, joined her in Des Moines, Iowa, in 2014, to help kick off a Nuns on the Bus tour.

Earlier Friday, in a series of tweets after news broke that she will receive a Presidential Medal of Honor, Campbell expressed optimism that the recognition will bring more publicity to the causes that she and other Catholic nuns have been championing.

Her latest effort is a project called Understandingus, which aims to bring together people of differing viewpoints to engage in dialogues in order to end political polarization.

“When so many are struggling economically and still do not have access to meet their basic needs, the work of groups like @ Network and Understandingus is being acknowledged for living out faith seeking justice,” she said. “I trust that our work for economic justice and political healing might receive a renewed focus in these challenging times!”

She reiterated that sentiment by phone.

“It’s such a great recognition of all of our work,” she said. “Catholic sisters — we just do the work. We don’t expect awards. But to have it seen is humbling and exciting.”

Campbell was born in Santa Monica and lived in Westchester until she was about 5, when her family moved to Long Beach. She graduated from St. Anthony’s High School in Long Beach and joined Sisters of Social Service in Encino.

She’s spent the better part of the past two decades lobbying for social justice in D.C.

At 76, Campbell said she has far too much energy to slow down just yet. Though registered a Democrat, Campbell called herself “an equal opportunity annoyer” and a “mischief maker” when it comes to calling on politicians and drumming up noise to advance a social justice agenda.

While many Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients are iconic figures in U.S. history, from athletes to elected officials — Obama awarded the medal to Yankee great Yogi Berra while President Donald Trump gave it to Babe Ruth — deciding who receives one also often has a political bent.

Obama, for example, gave the Presidential Medal of Freedom to late U.S. Sen. Daniel Ken Inouye, a staunch Democrat from Hawaii. Trump awarded the medal to conservative Republican firebrand and talk radio host Rush Limbaugh.

Campbell has made a career advocating for liberal causes. In 2020, she gave the invocation at the Democratic National Convention.

As such, she has often run afoul of the more conservative U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, according to Religion News Service.

Biden, who will present the medal to her and the 16 others on Thursday, is a devout Catholic.

The White House’s announcement comes as the Supreme Court — with six Republican-appointed justices, including three Catholics — has taken a hard turn to the right. As its term has ended, the court has upheld the right of a public high school football coach to pray with his players on the field — and last week, in its biggest shift from precendent — overturned Roe v. Wade and the constitutional right to an abortion.

Campbell, in the past, has said Catholics have been too focused on trying to criminalize abortion nationwide. Friday, she said that she is pro-life, though she reiterated that she does not believe in criminalizing abortion.

“One of the best ways to care for the unborn is to provide adequate nutrition and care to the moms,” she said. “Those are the issues I try to work on to make abortion less likely. But criminalizing it just hurts women and that’s crazy.”

“It should be a woman’s choice to choose life and the fact that different religions have different perspectives on when life begins, I don’t think I should force my religious view on everybody else.”

Although Campbell has opinions about the abortion debate, she stressed that she’s focused on advocating for economic justice, including access to good wages, health care and education.

In addition to Campbell, the list of recipients the president will honor next week includes:

• Former U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords of Arizona, a survivor of and advocate against gun violence.

• The late U.S. Sen. John Mccain, also of Arizona, who received a Purple Heart for his service in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War.

• Diane Nash, a cofounder of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee who worked closely with Martin Luther King Jr.

• Alan Simpson, former U.S. senator from Wyoming who has advocated for campaign finance reform and marriage equality.

• Richard Trumka, former president of the AFLCIO, who died last year.

• Brig. Gen. Wilma Vaught, one of the most decorated women in U.S. military history.

• Raúl Yzaguirre, former CEO and president of National Council of La Raza and former U.S. Ambassador to the Dominican Republic under Obama.

The president, whose late son, U.S. Army Maj. Beau Biden, served in Iraq, is also a strong supporter of veterans and military families, as reflected in some of this year’s recipients.

Additional Medal of Freedom recipients include Julieta García, the first Hispanic woman to serve as a college president when she led The University of Texas at Brownsville; Fred Gray, an attorney who represented Rosa Parks, the NAACP and Martin Luther King Jr.; the Rev. Alexander Karloutsos, former vicar general of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese, who provided counsel to several U.S. presidents; Khizr Khan, a Gold Star father who served on the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom under Biden; and Sandra Lindsay, a New York nurse who was the first American to receive a COVID-19 vaccine outside of clinical trials.

Olympic gymnast Simone Biles, the late Apple co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs, women’s soccer player Megan Rapinoe and actor Denzel Washington round out the list of recipients.

Campbell