Horizons - Although for some the pain of not belonging is more present in daily life and social structures than for others, we can all fill in the blanks in one way or another, at one moment in our lives.
Since March 2006, the Community Homicide Prayer Vigil group has organized over 530 vigils. When looked at as an accumulation, isn't that number "massive?"
I have heard remarks about sisters' "easy" lives: job and retirement security, just having to pray, free summers and vacations, no responsibilities for children or finances. Here's a reality check.
Simply Spirit: There is much good news for our world in Querida Amazonia. But much is lacking, for Amazonian Catholics and also for Catholics like me, who long to return to the practice of the early church.
Contemplate This - The range of justice issues the church embraces challenges us to exercise our prudential judgement, honed within a well-formed conscience.
Today there are many opportunities to use our personal power for good. We all have the power to take actions to build up a loving force that counteracts the misuse of power in other circles.
A Place to Call Home - "Homelessness in all its forms, including family homelessness, has been left behind in the global debate," Daughter of Wisdom Sr. Jean Quinn told the opening session at the U.N. this week.
Mercy Sr. Mary Scullion, co-founder and executive director of Project HOME, an organization that helps the homeless in Philadelphia, was one of the many guests who attended the Feb. 4 State of the Union, which she hoped would draw attention to homelessness and inspire federal aid to alleviate it.
Looking to change lives in prison and after release, sisters bring inmates food, underwear, sanitary pads, Bibles and basic health services, along with teaching skills, spiritual coaching and behavioral change.
Thailand's entire Catholic community is less than 1% of the population of more than 68 million. But in Bangkok, Ursuline sisters run an all-girls K-12 Catholic school that is thriving.
I have heard remarks about sisters' "easy" lives: job and retirement security, just having to pray, free summers and vacations, no responsibilities for children or finances. Here's a reality check.
"The Sisters of Providence out of Montreal have been at this for 175 years, and we have never changed our mission. We realize that we have to pay close attention to the formation and mission integration with our laypeople."
In multicultural India, "interreligious initiatives are not a luxury, but an indispensable obligation of every citizen," says Sr. Gracy Vadakara, Indian provincial of the Daughters of the Church.
Notes from the Field - After my first month in Chaparral, I wasn't sure if I should stay. But I refocused, I gave it more time, and eventually I fell in love with this life.
Today there are many opportunities to use our personal power for good. We all have the power to take actions to build up a loving force that counteracts the misuse of power in other circles.
Feb. 12 was the 15th anniversary of Sr. Dorothy Stang's assassination in the Amazon region of Brazil. The U.S.-born nun is remembered as a crusader for the poor and the landless and for her love of the land and the Amazon forest.
Last spring, we took a solidarity and service trip to Peru to clean up trash and meet with women who are partnered with our Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, San Antonio.
Horizons - Although for some the pain of not belonging is more present in daily life and social structures than for others, we can all fill in the blanks in one way or another, at one moment in our lives.
Since March 2006, the Community Homicide Prayer Vigil group has organized over 530 vigils. When looked at as an accumulation, isn't that number "massive?"
With renowned cartoonists and artists contributing, the project aims to raise awareness and funds to help sisters reintegrate survivors of trafficking back into society, with all proceeds going to Talitha Kum.
Medical Missionaries of Mary Sr. Bernadette "Bernie" Kenny brought her nursing skills to Appalachian Virginia in 1978. She has written a book about her experience caring for those in southwest corner of the state.
Sister of the Divine Savior Jean Schafer was inspired in the late 1990s to inform more people about human trafficking and, after the International Union of Superiors General released its first public declaration calling on religious women to work on behalf of this vulnerable population, she started a monthly newsletter. After 17 years, she is handing it off to two other sisters.
In addition to experiencing Cambodians' rich cultural heritage, we were invited by Br. Joseph Nguyen Thanh Tung to visit a parish that offers classes for 72 poor Vietnamese children living in Cambodia.
With renowned cartoonists and artists contributing, the project aims to raise awareness and funds to help sisters reintegrate survivors of trafficking back into society, with all proceeds going to Talitha Kum.
When St. John Paul II canonized St. Josephine Bakhita in 2000, he said the saint is a "shining advocate of genuine emancipation," noting how despite her abduction into slavery at a young age, she well understood God to be the source of true freedom.
