Lovers of the Holy Cross sisters draw from Vietnam roots as they serve in LA
The sisters of the Lovers of the Holy Cross of Los Angeles carry on the spirit of founder Bishop de la Motte, who began the congregation in Vietnam some 350 years ago. Today, their California ministries focus on helping the poor and suffering, especially women and children, and faith formation in areas that include some of the largest concentrations of Vietnamese and Hispanic populations in the U.S.
French Catholics raise voices, demand measures to prevent further clergy sex abuse
The outrage sparked by the program "Abused Sisters: The Other Scandal of the Church" on the Franco-German public television channel ARTE, which aired in early March, has led many French Catholics to raise their voices to call for new measures to make sure these crimes do not happen again.
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Casa Ursulina is grounded in friendship and solidarity among women
Chillán, Chile - Founded by Ursuline Sr. Mimi Ballard and seven Chilean women, Casa Ursulina today has roughly 200 participants and about 15 programs, including baking, embroidery, belly-dancing and visiting the sick. But the real help the women get is deeper than their acquired skills. Local psychologists and social workers prescribe joining Casa Ursulina to depressed patients, and women find mutual listening they otherwise lack in their homes.
In pursuit of health care for all Missourians, I have a journalistic role
Notes from the Field - My favorite work at Missouri Health Care for All is collecting stories. I interview people, draft their stories, and then post them online. The stories can further expose the human impact of our health care crisis.
UISG, LCWR leaders discuss clergy sex abuse, and the credibility of religious life
GSR recently held a discussion with Sr. Carmen Sammut, president of UISG; Sr. Pat Murray, executive director of UISG; Sr. Sharlet Wagner, president of the LCWR; and Sr. Carol Zinn, executive director of LCWR, about abuse of sisters, the role of women in the church, interreligious dialogue and work at the margins.
Rural Missionaries of the Philippines denounces military's 'red-tagging'
After close to 50 low-profile years working among rural people who live in poverty, the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines now faces the Duterte government's accusations that the organization aids communist rebels and engages in trafficking tribal children.
Sr. Mary Ellen Merrick, leader in addiction counseling, dies at age 71
The hallmark of Sr. Mary Ellen Merrick's ministry was the way she infused it with spirituality and strong leadership. "I can honestly say that I have learned more from her than any other supervisor in my clinical career," said a member of Merrick's clinical team at Guest House.
New book expands on study of foreign-born sisters
The book contains the many voices of international sisters and their experiences in the U.S., and allows them to be heard and seen in a collective way.
Irish commission: Grave for children was improper, but not a septic tank
The commission investigating the historic treatment of unmarried mothers and their children in religious-run care homes in Ireland has dismissed claims that an underground burial plot was in fact a sewage tank.
Update: Indian police charge bishop with repeatedly raping nun
Indian police charged Bishop Franco Mulakkal of Jalandhar of repeatedly raping a nun in her rural convent, the Associated Press reported. The bishop was charged April 9 with rape, illegal confinement and intimidation, said Hari Sankar, a district police chief in the predominantly Catholic state of Kerala.
A jar of beans, a designer bag and a volunteer's unexpected dilemmas
Notes from the Field - I have to recognize each time I ride in a private car or eat at an agency luncheon that this is part of my work. Mentally rebuffing them brings me no closer to realizing what it truly means to live in service of others.
It's in the cards for woman religious who threw perfect pitch
The perfect pitch Dominican Sr. Mary Jo Sobieck threw prior to a Chicago White Sox game last summer not only went viral but is still out of the park. First, there was a bobblehead in her image and now, she has her own baseball card.
Where science warnings fail, can moral force push us out of climate inertia?
National Catholic Reporter: Pope Francis' Laudato Si' positioned the church to be a prominent voice on climate change. But despite that energy, there's still a feeling that Catholics have the potential to do more.
Farmers benefit from organic farming initiated by sisters
Sisters in Vietnam counteract the country's massive use of pesticides and herbicides by educating farmers about health risks. Sisters from different congregations teach farmer groups and parishes how to grow organic food such as vegetables, fruits and beans. The tactics keep local farmers running a sustainable livelihood, while providing more organic crops for communities, and decreasing the amount of pesticides used in the region.
Pope asks anti-trafficking nun to write Way of Cross meditations
Pope Francis has asked an Italian nun, who has been on the frontlines in the fight against human trafficking, to write this year's Way of the Cross meditations.
In Catholic-owned rooming house in Boston, older tenants face displacement
Residents of a Boston rooming house run by an order of Catholic nuns earned a short-term victory last week when the owners agreed to suspend eviction proceedings against the few older women left in the building, pending a state inquiry into allegations of age discrimination.
A spiral of Hilma af Klint's art illuminates ties of spirituality, friendship
Notes from the Field - I have found inspiration and guidance through the community of Loretto volunteers, co-members and vowed sisters, reminiscent of af Klint's relationships with her spirit guides and the Five.
'Ouch' moments discomfit, challenge sisters at convocation on racism
This year's convocation of the Justice Conference of Women Religious focused on systemic racism operating invisibly and insidiously — including, leaders said, in virtually all of the religious congregations that proclaim justice as their mission.
Cyclone Idai relief underway with help of sisters in Zimbabwe and Mozambique
Dozens of women religious are helping vulnerable families affected by Cyclone Idai, which swept through parts of Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe in mid-March. The devastation is worse than initially assessed, according to humanitarian aid agencies. At least 750 people have died, thousands have been displaced, nearly 2 million affected. "We are providing food rations to one hundred families with an average of six people per family every month starting now in order to alleviate hunger," said Sr. Marceline Mudambo of the Carmelite Nuns, working in eastern Zimbabwe.