Global Sisters Report | A project of National Catholic Reporter

Aug 13, 2020

Shut up at home by pandemic, sisters find world is still with them

by Elizabeth Eisenstadt Evans

Sr. Elise García is a bridge for sisters, younger and older, as she assumes LCWR presidency

Sisters repurpose their COVID-19 stimulus checks to aid those in need

by Sydney Clark

Is God a woman? Some people would find this simple question blasphemous. But the question has been on my mind lately as I contemplate the related issue of the role of women in the Roman Catholic Church.

Continued violence in Cameroon threatens sisters

by Gloria Wirba

Aug 12, 2020

Sisters in Cameroon are caught in the middle of a conflict between two factions. During an incident in June at a hospital operated by my congregation, a soldier came towards me with a gun, and said, "I can shoot you."

Bringing Catholic social teaching to boys recovering from street life

by Jackline Mwikali Mwongela

Aug 11, 2020

In 2017, I began working as a social worker at Bosco Boys, a program started by Salesian priests to help boys overcome addictions and behaviors learned on the street and get them an education.

He calls me 'Action Nun!'

by Jane Marie Bradish

Aug 10, 2020

All of us wonder, all of us ask others the same profound question Jesus asked his friends and followers: "Who do you say that I am?"

The freedom of free fall: Just let go

by Virginia Herbers

Aug 7, 2020

Horizons - A global pandemic has demanded that we let go of so much — cherished experiences, annual encounters, anticipated plans, employment and financial certainties, even loved ones.

'Baptized and sent' to the Cameroonian refugees in Nigeria

by Mary Nyuylem

Aug 6, 2020

I help respond to the needs of thousands of Cameroonian refugees who live across 25 communities in this part of Nigeria. Despite the challenges, I find the mission fulfilling because it was a heartfelt call.

News

Sisters, humanitarian leaders warn that pandemic may worsen hunger

Aug 6, 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic's effects on those living in economic poverty may be spiraling out of control, leading to worsening hunger, the leaders of humanitarian organizations and Catholic sisters say.

Magazine report is aimed at silencing nuns on sex abuse, says Vatican critic

by Claire Giangrave, Religion News Service

Aug 5, 2020

An article in a Jesuit magazine describing alleged exploitation of nuns in Catholic convents has been criticized as an attempt to silence members of women's religious orders who have begun to speak out against sexual abuse by priests.

Adapted for COVID times, sisters' beer garden fundraiser breaks record

Aug 3, 2020

Spotlight needed on abuse in women's orders, says Jesuit journal

by Carol Glatz, Catholic News Service

Jul 30, 2020

Nuns, priests, bishops protest Duterte government

by Ma. Ceres P. Doyo

Jul 28, 2020

Head of Network remembers Lewis as 'determined, forceful, thoughtful'

by Betty Araya, Catholic News Service

Jul 27, 2020

Coronavirus

Deo Gratias Ministries Detroit co-directors Sr. Shelley Marie Jeffrey, left, and Sr. Felicity Marie Madigan sort and organize supplies in the food pantry. (Courtesy of the Felician Sisters of North America)

Sisters repurpose their COVID-19 stimulus checks to aid those in need

by Sydney Clark

Aug 12, 2020

Congregations have pooled economic impact payments sisters have received from the U.S. government during the coronavirus pandemic, and they've used the funds to establish grants for vulnerable communities.

Shut up at home by pandemic, sisters find world is still with them

by Elizabeth Eisenstadt Evans

Aug 10, 2020

Though the pandemic has been "overwhelming, and everyone has had to adjust to a new way of living," women religious, like everybody else, find a sense of balance by looking outside themselves.

Sisters, humanitarian leaders warn that pandemic may worsen hunger

Aug 6, 2020

The power of painting in a time of COVID

by Shini Melukunnel

Aug 4, 2020

Adapted for COVID times, sisters' beer garden fundraiser breaks record

Aug 3, 2020

For Poland's nuns, lockdown leaves space to reflect on mission

by Jonathan Luxmoore

Jul 31, 2020

Ministry

LCWR president calls assembly to fight racism, forge future of vocations

Aug 13, 2020

The destinations that beckon each sister or community will determine the vessel they choose, said Sr. Jayne Helmlinger in her presidential address before a virtual audience of 1,000 sisters and guests.

Sr. Elise García is a bridge for sisters, younger and older, as she assumes LCWR presidency

Aug 13, 2020

Before she became an Adrian Dominican sister at age 50, Elise García already lived a life engaged in social justice issues, advocacy and nonprofits. Now at 70, she is the president of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious.

Continued violence in Cameroon threatens sisters

by Gloria Wirba

Aug 12, 2020

Sisters repurpose their COVID-19 stimulus checks to aid those in need

by Sydney Clark

Aug 12, 2020

Bringing Catholic social teaching to boys recovering from street life

by Jackline Mwikali Mwongela

Aug 11, 2020

He calls me 'Action Nun!'

by Jane Marie Bradish

Aug 10, 2020

Religious Life

LCWR president calls assembly to fight racism, forge future of vocations

Aug 13, 2020

Sr. Elise García is a bridge for sisters, younger and older, as she assumes LCWR presidency

Aug 13, 2020

Q & A with Sr. Vimala Joseph Thottumannil, architect of churches and chapels worldwide

Aug 11, 2020

Shut up at home by pandemic, sisters find world is still with them

by Elizabeth Eisenstadt Evans

Aug 10, 2020

Whose house? Nuns' house!

by Maxine Kollasch

Aug 7, 2020

Magazine report is aimed at silencing nuns on sex abuse, says Vatican critic

by Claire Giangrave, Religion News Service

Aug 5, 2020

Community News

Ursuline Sisters of Louisville 2020 Chapter Statement

Ursuline Sisters of Louisville

Ursulines of Louisville Elect 2020-2026 Leadership

Ursuline Sisters of Louisville

Ministry During a Pandemic: Sr. Barbara Duffy, OP

Sisters of Saint Dominic of Blauvelt, New York

Congregation Spotlight: Cathy McCann, Associate

Sisters of Saint Dominic of Blauvelt, New York

Q&As

Q & A with Sr. Vimala Joseph Thottumannil, architect of churches and chapels worldwide

Aug 11, 2020

Sr. Vimala Joseph Thottumannil has lived in the same convent in Mumbai for more than 30 years because of her architecture work. She shared with GSR how she became an architect and how she sees God's will in it.

Q & A with Sr. Barbara Moore on US civil rights struggles 55 years after Selma

by Carol K. Coburn

Aug 4, 2020

Sr. Barbara Moore was among a group of Catholic sisters (and one of only two Black sisters) who went to Selma, Alabama, in March 1965 to protest the inequality of voting rights for Black Americans.

Q & A with Shamima Sakendar, a Muslim student whose story about a Catholic sister became a short film

by Sumon Corraya

Jul 28, 2020

Q & A with Abbess Máire Hickey: the impact of COVID-19 on her Benedictines' centennial

by Sarah Mac Donald

Jul 21, 2020

Q & A with Sr. Mary Margaret Ajiko, a surgeon saving infants' lives in Uganda

by Gerald Matembu

Jul 14, 2020

Q & A with Sr. Irene O'Neill, launching a platform for Sisters Rising Worldwide

Jun 30, 2020

Spirituality

Searching for SHE

by Hannah Vanorny

Aug 13, 2020

The freedom of free fall: Just let go

by Virginia Herbers

Aug 7, 2020

Horizons - A global pandemic has demanded that we let go of so much — cherished experiences, annual encounters, anticipated plans, employment and financial certainties, even loved ones.

The power of painting in a time of COVID

by Shini Melukunnel

Aug 4, 2020

Praying with the kitchen maid at Emmaus

by Angela Burke

Jul 28, 2020

GSR's The Life: God's designs were made known

by The Life Panelists

Jul 27, 2020

'Our most tragic time': Felician Sisters bear loss of 13 sisters to COVID-19

Jul 20, 2020

Environment

Sr. Lucy Slinger offers a garden tour on FSPA lands outside La Crosse, Wisconsin

Blog

Franciscan Sisters give NCR $1.5 million to help 'wake up the world'

by NCR Staff

Jul 31, 2020

The Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration announced on July 31 a gift of $1.5 million to NCR’s endowment earmarked to support and amplify “integral ecological education and journalism reflecting the spirit of Laudato Si’.” The gift marks the establishment of the Laudato Si' Fund at NCR.

Preserving trees by making charcoal from paper litter

by Charity Bbalo

Jul 16, 2020

As one solution to the practice of cutting new trees for fuel every day — including the long and dangerous walks to access trees — a women's group in the Chikuni area of Zambia is using recycled paper as an alternative energy source.

Amid biting drought, sisters in Zambia fend off hunger with organic farming

by Doreen Ajiambo

Jul 16, 2020

Kenya to demolish Catholic hospital to reclaim forest land

by Fredrick Nzwili, Catholic News Service

Jun 30, 2020

'I can't breathe' — the words that haunt us

by Joan Brown

Jun 4, 2020

East Africa flooding displaces thousands, sisters offer some relief

by Doreen Ajiambo

Jun 1, 2020

Social Justice

Continued violence in Cameroon threatens sisters

by Gloria Wirba

Aug 12, 2020

Bringing Catholic social teaching to boys recovering from street life

by Jackline Mwikali Mwongela

Aug 11, 2020

In 2017, I began working as a social worker at Bosco Boys, a program started by Salesian priests to help boys overcome addictions and behaviors learned on the street and get them an education.

Residents' needs are the 'North Star' of Mercy Housing

Aug 6, 2020

Q & A with Sr. Barbara Moore on US civil rights struggles 55 years after Selma

by Carol K. Coburn

Aug 4, 2020

Sr. Patricia Chappell has long been a leader. Now she's being honored for it

Aug 3, 2020

Catholic cognitive dissonance in the age of Trump

by Ceil Lavan

Aug 3, 2020

Arts and Media

Q & A with Sr. Vimala Joseph Thottumannil, architect of churches and chapels worldwide

Aug 11, 2020

Praying with the kitchen maid at Emmaus

by Angela Burke

Jul 28, 2020

Praying with art is a practice that is related to St Ignatius' method of prayer known as "imaginative contemplation." Ignatius encouraged his followers to use their imagination to make the Gospel come alive.

Q & A with Shamima Sakendar, a Muslim student whose story about a Catholic sister became a short film

by Sumon Corraya

Jul 28, 2020

Dynamic history of US church threads this book on sainthood

by Mary Beth Fraser Connolly

Jul 22, 2020

Q & A with Sr. Irene O'Neill, launching a platform for Sisters Rising Worldwide

Jun 30, 2020

Q & A with Sr. Judy Zielinski, producer of new documentary on Nicholas Black Elk

Jun 16, 2020

Migration

Mothers and children wait at Kaushambi Bus Terminal on the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border to go to their villages in eastern India hundreds of kilometers away. (Jessy Joseph)

Indian nuns aid migrant laborers stranded on way home during lockdown

by Jessy Joseph

Jul 13, 2020

Hundreds of Catholic nuns are on the front lines as the church reaches out to migrant laborers affected by India's lockdown, considered the world's largest and toughest attempt to contain the pandemic.

Sr. Marie Lou Barboza, left, a member of the Immaculate Heart of Mary congregation, speaks to Chandra, a migrant woman from Telangana state who now lives in Saligao, a village in Goa. (Lissy Maruthanakuzhy)

Migrant workers flood Goa beaches for jobs; sisters help them fit in

Updated

Jul 9, 2020

A Place to Call Home - Three Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary work with about 1,600 migrants, mostly tribal women of various religions, in the state of Goa, India's tourism hub.

Consecrated persons see the suffering face of Jesus

by Mary Lilly Driciru

Jul 1, 2020

World Refugee Day is June 20. Just imagine …

by Mary Leonora Tucker

Jun 20, 2020

Sisters adapt migration ministries in face of COVID-19, US stop on immigration

Apr 23, 2020

Sr. Elisabetta Flick, key figure in UISG ministry to migrants, dies

Apr 9, 2020

Trafficking

Catholic sisters lead the way in the anti-trafficking movement

by Sabrina Wong

Jul 29, 2020

Commentary - July 30 marks the United Nations' World Day Against Trafficking in Persons, a time to raise awareness around human trafficking and amplify efforts to stop it. We shine a light on the work Catholic sisters are doing to address the realities of human trafficking.

Online sexual exploitation of children increased during pandemic