Gregoria Ortega is a Mexican American activist and

religious sister A religious sister (abbreviated ''Sr.'' or Sist.) in the Catholic Church is a woman who has taken public vows in a religious institute dedicated to apostolic works, as distinguished from a nun who lives a cloistered monastic life dedicated to pra ...

. She is best known for her support of students in an Abilene school walkout and her co-creation of the religious organization for

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties forme ...

sisters and lay women in the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

, Las Hermanas. She continues work as an activist today.

Biography

Ortega was raised in

El Paso, Texas El Paso (; "the pass") is a city in and the county seat, seat of El Paso County, Texas, El Paso County in the western corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau w ...

and attended Bowie High School. When she was very young, her father impressed on her that being a sister was an important job, saying, "They are women who dedicate their entire lives to the Church and to God." She became a sister at 18 when she joined the Our Lady of Victory Missionary Sisters, also known as Victorynoll. She was newly

professed A vow ( Lat. ''votum'', vow, promise; see vote) is a promise or oath. A vow is used as a promise, a promise solemn rather than casual. Marriage vows Marriage vows are binding promises each partner in a couple makes to the other during a weddin ...

in 1962. After taking vows, she served in San Angelo and Eagle Pass, Texas. On August 5, 1967, she took

perpetual vows Religious vows are the public vows made by the members of religious communities pertaining to their conduct, practices, and views. In the Buddhism tradition, in particular within the Mahayana and Vajrayana tradition, many different kinds of re ...

and then was assigned to

Tulare, California Tulare ( ) is a city in Tulare County, California. The population was 68,875 at the 2020 census. It is located in the heart of the San Joaquin Valley, eight miles south of Visalia and sixty miles north of Bakersfield. The city is named for t ...

. Ortega also spent time studying

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

Guanajuato City Guanajuato () is a city and municipal seat of the municipality of Guanajuato in central Mexico and the capital of the state of the same name. It is part of the macroregion of the Bajío. It is in a narrow valley, which makes its streets narrow a ...

. In 1969, she arrived in Abilene. She started teaching religious education in the highly segregated schools in the diocese of

San Angelo San Angelo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Tom Green County, Texas, United States. Its location is in the Concho Valley, a region of West Texas between the Permian Basin to the northwest, Chihuahuan Desert to the southwest, Osage Pl ...

. Ortega opposed the "severe

physical abuse Physical abuse is any intentional act causing injury or trauma to another person or animal by way of bodily contact. In most cases, children are the victims of physical abuse, but adults can also be victims, as in cases of domestic violence or wo ...

of Chicano/a students by their teachers. She encouraged her students to learn about peaceful

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life o ...

protests which led to a nine-day walkout which Ortega supported. Around 300 students participated in the walkout. Ortega also helped support the students throughout the lawsuit which the students and their families brought against the Abilene School Board. The

Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) is a national non-profit civil rights organization formed in 1968 by Jack Greenberg to protect the rights of Latinos in the United States."MALDEF" entry in ''Los Angeles A to Z: An ...

(MALDEF) was involved with the lawsuit which was filed in December of 1969. MALDEF counsel supported the students' rights to free speech and assembly. Without support from her superiors, alone, "she faced down police officers, judges, school principals and school boards." Ortega's life was threatened for her involvement. Because of her involvement, she was expelled from the diocese. In 1970, she helped form a

Chicano Chicano or Chicana is a chosen identity for many Mexican Americans in the United States. The label ''Chicano'' is sometimes used interchangeably with ''Mexican American'', although the terms have different meanings. While Mexican-American ident ...

group to deal with issues facing Mexican Americans in the public schools in Rotan. Ortega met Gloria Gallardo through a friend, Father Edmundo Rodriguez, and the two of them worked together to form Las Hermanas in 1971. When Gallardo showed interest in creating a group for Spanish-speaking sisters and invited Ortega to live with her, Ortega obtained travel funds from Victoryknoll's mother superior and bought a one-way ticket to

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...

. Gallardo and Ortega formed Las Hermanas by finding and inviting Mexican-American women to meet in Houston in April 1971. The group eventually grew to have around 900 sisters who were members, and met annually. In 1973, Ortega and other members of Las Hermanas protested for farmworker's rights in

Fresno Fresno () is a major city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley region. It covers about and had a population of 542,107 in 2020, maki ...

. Later, Ortega and Sister Carmelita Espinoza were involved in the creation of El Centro Guadalupano, which served Mexican parishioners and was created between 1985 and 1986 in

Spokane Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Ca ...

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ortega, Gregoria Date of birth unknown Living people Activists from El Paso, Texas American people of Mexican descent Catholics from Texas 20th-century American Roman Catholic nuns Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American women