Notes from the Field - To me, intentional communal living can be an antidote to the isolation we are feeling across the generational spectrum as well as the very real effects of economic strain that are changing millennials' outlook on the housing market and the trajectory of our future generally.

The U.N.'s structure is outdated and unwieldy, and it faces financial challenges and remains in thrall to its most powerful members, like the United States, writes Sr. Margaret Scott in her recently published Gospel Women at the United Nations. 

Focus on Human Trafficking - Human trafficking has been on the rise in Brazil. One goal is to keep people who fit the main demographics of trafficking victims — children and women ages 8-29 — from falling into networks of sexual exploitation through prevention in schools.

We are called to be sowers of seeds and to remember the power of small, sown seeds. Several weeks after the UISG assembly in Rome, I carry with me strong images from our gathering, of events that exemplify small actions that begin to change landscapes of impossible situations.

A Good Death, Part 2 - Though they are separated by a generation, two Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia have spent years living with cancer diagnoses, sharing a life-altering experience of an illness that threatens to turn deadly. Both find strength in being of service to others and in the support from their community. "When they say, 'I'm praying for you,' I know they are, and I know I can go the next few feet," says Sr. Margaret Lewis. 

For many who grew up Catholic and left the church, the influence of the education they received in Catholic school stays with them for their entire lives — for better or worse. Lexa Walsh's show, "Oh, Sister!", is a collection of sculptural vessel-portraits (statues that are also functional jars) of the sisters she remembers, who she says both "taught and tormented" her.

A Good Death, Part 1 - When it comes to death and dying, sisters bring eternal hope, humor and a well-organized file folder ... just in case. Interviews with sisters in a variety of communities suggest that many bring a bracingly practical, even matter-of-fact approach to preparing for the inevitable.

When I first discovered Good Shepherd Volunteers, I spent a lot of time scouring the program website. Now, as I approach the end of my year, I've been thinking: If I could go through this process all over again, what would accurately explain why I fell in love with Good Shepherd Volunteers? 

Daughter of Wisdom Sr. Jean Quinn, executive director of UNANIMA International, is pushing the global body to mount a head-on effort on homelessness. But the issue is complex, with no internationally agreed upon definition and a host of taboo associations surrounding the crisis. 

Maryknoll Sr. Janet Carroll, who founded and led the U.S. Catholic China Bureau for 20 years and worked with Chinese priests and nuns studying in the United States, died May 28 in Ossining. She was 85.

Focus on Human Trafficking - Sisters from the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul and other sisters from different congregations in Nigeria are fighting human trafficking through advocacy and creating awareness to dissuade young girls and women from taking a dangerous route across the Mediterranean Sea to Europe, where they can be trafficked into prostitution or slavery.

A new book published by CARA looks at the experiences of women religious who come to the United States to work. The book included results from a survey of nearly 1,000 immigrant sisters.