Inside the effort to identify Catholic-run boarding schools for Indigenous children

Students, sisters, and a priest pose before the newly reconstructed St. Benedict's Industrial School, an off-reservation boarding school for students from the White Earth Tribe in Minnesota, in 1886. ("Indian Girls Industrial School," College of Saint Benedict/Saint John's University Libraries, accessed March 28, 2023, https://csbsjulib.omeka.net/items/show/915.)

Sisters are helping compile a list of all boarding schools that Catholic entities ran from the 1820s to the 1960s. During this time, tens of thousands of Native American children endured abuse at boarding schools across the U.S.

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Tent of refuge (Pexels/Taryn Elliott)

Looking for a tent of refuge in the desert of our times

"Tent of refuge" is a powerful biblical image of God Amma that indicates protection, welcome, shelter and training. Faced with our difficult reality, I propose to rediscover the tent of refuge called Christian community.

Sisters attend a Talitha Kum Uganda Network (TAKUN) training workshop ahead of advocacy for vulnerable victims of trafficking in persons. (Mary Lilly Driciru)

Toward becoming a wounded healer with Jesus

Ursuline Sr. Amelia Stenger teaches students from Sts. Peter and Paul School in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, about growing a garden sustainably on the grounds of the Mount St. Joseph motherhouse in Daviess County. (Courtesy of Ursuline Sisters of Mount St. Joseph)

The blessings of our precious land

News

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Women collect water in Blantyre, southern Malawi, March 17. (AP/Thoko Chikondi)

UN Water Conference shows global consensus on universal right to water

Water is connected to hope, peace and unity, say attendees of the 2023 U.N. conference, which brought together governments, businesses, scientists, environmentalists and civil society groups like sister congregations.

Students, sisters, and a priest pose before the newly reconstructed St. Benedict's Industrial School, an off-reservation boarding school for students from the White Earth Tribe in Minnesota, in 1886. ("Indian Girls Industrial School," College of Saint Benedict/Saint John's University Libraries, accessed March 28, 2023, https://csbsjulib.omeka.net/items/show/915.)

Inside the effort to identify Catholic-run boarding schools for Indigenous children

Sisters are helping compile a list of all boarding schools that Catholic entities ran from the 1820s to the 1960s. During this time, tens of thousands of Native American children endured abuse at boarding schools across the U.S.

Sr. Kathleen Feeley of the School Sisters of Notre Dame holds a child at a village meeting in a small village near Sunyani, Ghana. (Courtesy of Kathleen Feeley)

Q & A with Sr. Kathleen Feeley, author of a history of SSNDs in Africa

Sr. Kathleen Feeley's career as a writer merged with her vocation as a School Sister of Notre Dame beginning with her doctoral dissertation and continuing with her work as an English professor in the U.S. and Ghana.

Michelle O'Neill, the first minister-elect of Northern Ireland and deputy leader of Sinn Féin, speaks as part of a March 16 panel on the role of women in the 1998 Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland. The panel, held at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., also included, from left, Monica McWilliams, a signatory to the Good Friday Agreement; Mary Robinson, former president of Ireland; Liz O'Donnell, former minister of state of Ireland; and Melanne Verveer

Georgetown event lauds women's role in peace, but the world can do better for them

GSR Today - One of the rewards of covering the work of Catholic sisters is having the chance to step back occasionally and reflect on both the progress women have made worldwide and the ongoing challenges they face.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Amid darkness of Lent, 'God is bigger than any difficulty'

No one repaid your student loans? Rejoice for debt forgiveness for others.

After volunteering at US-Mexico border, sisters move permanently

Religious Life

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Mercy Sr. Rosemary Connelly

Mercy sister, lifelong advocate for those with disabilities, to receive Notre Dame's Laetare Medal

Mercy Sr. Rosemary Connelly, former executive director of Misericordia and lifelong advocate for individuals with developmental disabilities, will receive the oldest and most prestigious honor given to American Catholics.

Monastery of the Angels in the Hollywood Hills

Nuns, friars partner to explore future for iconic shuttered Hollywood monastery

The North American Association of Dominican Monasteries has partnered with the Dominican Friars of the Western Province as they prepare to launch a public process to explore future options for the restoration and use of the Monastery of the Angels in the Hollywood Hills.

Zoom call with Liliana Franco

Head of Latin American religious urges members to advocate for the poor, against abuse

Sr. Liliana Franco said that while Latin America remains a place of pain and bloodshed, it is one where the church can help the "perpetually excluded."

Mother Mary Elizabeth Lange

Vatican accepts 'positio' in Mother Lange's cause; dicastery to review documents on her life

The canonization cause of Mother Mary Lange, founder of the world's first sustained women's religious community for Black women, has taken a step forward.

Community News

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School Sisters of Notre Dame to host summer service week in Ellington, Missouri

June 11-17, 2023

The North American Vocation Team (NAVT) of the School Sisters of Notre Dame (SSND) invites young

Centro Corazón de María Appoints New Executive Director Alma Alegria

The Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary and Centro Corazón de María Board of Directors have app

MORE THAN A VISION: MAKING NEW FORMS OF BENEDICTINE LIFE A REALITY TODAY

April 23 - May 28, 2023

A series of Zoom presentations about how the Center for Benedictine Life at the Monastery of St.

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Ministry

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Residents of Mary Mother of Mercy Home for the Elderly and Abandoned in San Pedro, Laguna, Philippines, gather in the home's outdoor hut to recite the Divine Mercy prayer and the rosary. They also watch TV there. (Oliver Samson)

4 nuns take care of abandoned older women in Philippines

Four Sisters of St. Francis Xavier — two Filipina sisters and two sisters from Myanmar — look after 18 residents of a home in San Pedro that provides shelter to women ages 60-90 who are experiencing homelessness.

Sr. Bincy Parambakathu, superior of the Daughters of St. Camillus, manages Jeevadaan center in Mangaluru, India. (GSR photo/Thomas Scaria)

Camillian nuns in southern India bring hope, community to girls with HIV

Camillian nuns who run an HIV/AIDS rehabilitation center in Mangalaru have helped more than 400 HIV-infected women and children settle into healthy lives with jobs or marriage.

Priest stands and talks to a group of people sitting in blue chairs.

Kenyan priest and sister tackle youth drug abuse, teen pregnancy

A Kenyan church program seeks to improve the lives of hundreds of young people with addictions and at risk of teen pregnancy.

Nun holds baby.

Even in 'explosion of hell,' God's love comforts Ukrainians

Soon after the sounds of the first bombings, we went to the basement to set up a bomb shelter. The Institute of Theological Sciences of the Immaculate Virgin Mary began welcoming people displaced in the war.

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.