Former directors reflect on ASEC's gifts, 25-year milestones

s. Anne Munley, left, and Jane Wakahiu have served as executive director of the African Sisters Education Collaborative, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. (GSR graphic/Chris Herlinger; courtesy of LCWR)

GSR asked two former directors of the African Sisters Education Collaborative to comment on the successes of the 25-year-old organization. 

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Graduates of the Hilton-Hekima Sisters Scholars Program toss their certificates in celebration after the May 2024 graduation. (Courtesy of Religious Sisters Communicators' Foundation Uganda)

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Sr. Celestine Nelima of the Sisters of Mary of Kakamega, interacts with flood victims in the Khumwanda displacement camp in Busia, a town in western Kenya, on July 17. Religious sisters have supported homeless individuals by offering shelter, food, clothing, education, medical assistance, and spiritual guidance and counseling. (GSR photo/Doreen Ajiambo)

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Left without shelter or access to infrastructure following severe floods, Kenyans live in vulnerable conditions in camps for displaced people, where sisters regularly minister to them.

News

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A prayer service inside St. Peter's Basilica starts the first session of the Synod of Bishops for the Amazon at the Vatican Oct. 7, 2019. (CNS/Vatican Media)

Amazon synod reverberates through the Catholic Church five years later

As the second and final session of the synod on synodality continues at the Vatican, the roots of that meeting trace back to the Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazon region held a half-decade earlier.

Sr. Julia Walsh, a member of the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, recounts her recovery from a life-threatening fall in her memoir For Love of the Broken Body. (Julia Walsh)

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Just like Walsh's lengthy recovery from a 20-foot fall off a cliff — involving months of physical therapy, treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder and sipping pureed meals through a wired-shut jaw — her foray into convent life involved a slew of doubts.

s. Anne Munley, left, and Jane Wakahiu have served as executive director of the African Sisters Education Collaborative, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. (GSR graphic/Chris Herlinger; courtesy of LCWR)

Former directors reflect on ASEC's gifts, 25-year milestones

GSR asked two former directors of the African Sisters Education Collaborative to comment on the successes of the 25-year-old organization. 

The African Sisters Education Collaborative, or ASEC, is located on the campus of Marywood University in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. (GSR photo/Chris Herlinger)

Over 25 years, ASEC programs to educate sisters have evolved

ASEC initially brought sisters from Africa to the U.S. for training. Since its founding in 1999, the collaborative has evolved to offer scholarships, service opportunities and alumnae programs.

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Religious Life

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Graduates of the Hilton-Hekima Sisters Scholars Program toss their certificates in celebration after the May 2024 graduation. (Courtesy of Religious Sisters Communicators' Foundation Uganda)

Catholic sisters embrace the study of theology in full swing in Africa

The study of theology in Africa has been male-dominated, left only to those interested in the priesthood. But the Hilton-Hekima Sisters Scholars Program is changing that for religious and laypersons.

(Unsplash/Providence Doucet)

Enlightened by the Spirit: My reflection on vocations

Religious life is a treasure that we carry in earthen vessels and is nurtured by prayer and the word of God prayed together as a community.

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A different kind of journey

During these days of being elderly, there is sometimes sadness as we hang up the energy that fueled us for so many years, as we worked shoulder to shoulder to help gentle the life of this world. 

Four different fall leaves lined up on a wooden table (Unsplash/Markus Spiske)

Cultural and spiritual differences can challenge us, enrich our faith journeys

The Life - Our sister panelists consider: When have you engaged with people whose life experiences are vastly different from your own, and how did these interactions transform your long-held ideas about life?

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Ministry

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Franciscan Catechist Sr. Laura Vicuña Pereira Manso, center, leads a prayer Oct. 4 after a panel on synodality and ministry of women at Pope Pius XI Hall in Rome. Manso said tending to duties that would normally be performed by a deacon are part of daily life for some women religious since there are few pastoral workers in the remote region of the Amazon where she serves. (GSR photo/Rhina Guidos)

For sisters in remote regions, a type of diaconate is part of ministry

Where neither deacons or priests can be found to tend to the local population in remote regions of the world, sisters keep Catholic customs alive by carrying out a form of the diaconate.

Franciscan Sister of the Eucharist Sr. Maria David Magbanua speaks with Abraham Rada as he comes to pick up his 2-year-old son Yonatan from the St. Rachel Center day care in Jerusalem after a day of work at a nearby minimarket. Rada, who arrived in Israel as a refugee from Eritrea in 2008, says the nuns at St. Rachel take care of Yonatan "like family." (Judith Sudilovsky)

St. Rachel Center provides child care for refugees, migrants in Jerusalem

Run by Sr. Maria David Magbanua, St. Rachel Center offers a safe alternative for parents from the refugee and migrant community, whose children are often looked after in overcrowded, unregulated day cares in Israel.

Devotees light candles at the St. Alphonsa Pilgrim Centre in Bharananganam in the Palai Diocese, southwestern India. (Thomas Scaria)

300 nuns spread out in Palai Diocese on 'home mission' to renew Catholics' faith

More than 300 nuns from 12 congregations are on a faith renewal mission among Catholic families to help the Palai Diocese in southwestern India celebrate its platinum jubilee.

A delegation of women ministries leaders meet with Pope Francis at the Vatican on Sept. 30, 2024. (Courtesy of Pilar Timpane)

Pope Francis meets with women ministry advocates ahead of the synod opening

On Sept. 30, Pope Francis met with a delegation of women at the Vatican who presented voices from the Amazon region and around the world.

GSR in the Classroom

Youth in a classroom raising their hands to answer questions

The project shines light on the mission and ministry of Catholic women religious around the world.

Each lesson connects articles about sisters or columns written by sisters to the good news found in scripture and church teaching. Action ideas and compelling prayer bring new learning alive. Teacher guides provide vital context and engaging activities to launch group discussions.