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Columns

To see and be seen: Embracing presence as a ministry of learning

by Colleen Gibson

Sep 24, 2021

Horizons - When we probe more deeply into the practice of ministry of presence — being actively present to the people in front of us — we discover that what seems to be simple is, in reality, rather complex.

The flowers of creative fidelity

by Lissy Maruthanakuzhy

Sep 23, 2021

One morning on my way to the chapel I was stopped by purple button flowers in our drawing room. I expressed surprise at the tiny white blossoms within the flowers: God's creativity never stops. He is creatively creating.

Mission work in Thailand continues, despite COVID-19

by Frances Hayes

Sep 22, 2021

Our mission community in Thailand serves 21 villages through many ministries. Though COVID-19 lockdowns have restricted some work, sisters have used extra time to plan for the future development of the people they serve.

Living the charism during the pandemic in Peru

by Marian Champika Hanzege

Sep 21, 2021

I live in an outlying area of Lima, Peru. For me, the pandemic has been a call to live my commitments as a Franciscan Missionary of Mary with great intensity, in a new way.

A contemporary Sikh 'saint' may offer insights into overcoming polarization

by Simone Campbell

Sep 20, 2021

Commentary: I had the opportunity to join the 20th anniversary memorial of Balbir Singh Sodhi, a victim of a hate crime killing after Sept. 11. It was at the memorial that I learned of the Sikh commitment to revolutionary love.

Feed the hungry, Jesus said. Really, give them something to eat. Now.

by Margaret Cessna

Sep 20, 2021

"What do you need?" I asked. She never made eye contact with me. I would like a sandwich for my daughter and me. That's all she said. I tried to chat a little. Not what they needed. They needed food for their bodies.

News

Maryknoll Sisters celebrate 100 years of ministry in China

Sep 23, 2021

It was 100 years ago — on Sept. 24, 1921 — when the Maryknoll Sisters first set sail from Vancouver, British Columbia, to China, the order's first mission.

Members of Taliban forces check a vehicle on a street in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Aug. 16. (CNS/Reuters)

One Catholic sister's harrowing tale of escaping Kabul

by Joyce Meyer

Sep 23, 2021

GSR Today - Even now that Sr. Shahnaz Bhatti is in Italy, "safe and sound, every time I hear a knock at the door or hear the sound of a shutter moving in the wind, my heart leaps and I am terrified that someone has come to get me."

Catholic nun among 16 given permission to kill wild boars attacking farms in southern India

by Thomas Scaria, Matters India

Sep 23, 2021

Prayers for dead among religious' duties at Vietnamese field hospital

Sep 22, 2021

Q&A with Sr. Theresa Crasta, who worked with special needs children before evacuating Kabul

by Thomas Scaria

Sep 21, 2021

Monday Starter: Sisters support latest iteration of election reform bill

Sep 20, 2021

Coronavirus

A screenshot from a video shows religious brothers and sisters in protective gear praying for deceased COVID-19 patients at a field hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

Prayers for dead among religious' duties at Vietnamese field hospital

Sep 22, 2021

Members of different congregations in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, volunteer to assist medical staff in taking care of patients with the coronavirus as well as carry out logistical work.

At left, women prepare meals for people in need in the convent kitchen of the Franciscans Missionaries of Mary; at right, a family receives food items during a lockdown for COVID-19. (Marian Champika Hanzege)

Living the charism during the pandemic in Peru

by Marian Champika Hanzege

Sep 21, 2021

I live in an outlying area of Lima, Peru. For me, the pandemic has been a call to live my commitments as a Franciscan Missionary of Mary with great intensity, in a new way.

US sisters push for COVID-19 vaccination as health care staff face burnout

by Mary Nguyen Thi Phuong Lan (Nguyen)

Sep 20, 2021

Living the faith during the pandemic in Vietnam

Sep 16, 2021

Vietnam sisters serve others online or over the phone during the pandemic

by Joachim Pham

Sep 16, 2021

Holy Family sisters shelter orphans, elderly homeless in Zambia facility

by Derrick Silimina

Sep 6, 2021

Ministry

To see and be seen: Embracing presence as a ministry of learning

by Colleen Gibson

Sep 24, 2021

Maryknoll Sisters celebrate 100 years of ministry in China

Sep 23, 2021

It was 100 years ago — on Sept. 24, 1921 — when the Maryknoll Sisters first set sail from Vancouver, British Columbia, to China, the order's first mission.

Mission work in Thailand continues, despite COVID-19

by Frances Hayes, Jancy Selvaraj

Sep 22, 2021

Q&A with Sr. Theresa Crasta, who worked with special needs children before evacuating Kabul

by Thomas Scaria

Sep 21, 2021

US sisters push for COVID-19 vaccination as health care staff face burnout

Sep 20, 2021

As Francis visits Slovakia, international crowd celebrates Czech woman priest

by Christine Schenk

Sep 16, 2021

Religious Life

Maryknoll Sisters celebrate 100 years of ministry in China

Sep 23, 2021

It was 100 years ago — on Sept. 24, 1921 — when the Maryknoll Sisters first set sail from Vancouver, British Columbia, to China, the order's first mission.

On her way to the chapel the author was suddenly stopped by the purple button flowers in the congregation's drawing room: "What surprised me was the tiny white blossoms within the purple bunch of flowers." (Lissy Maruthanakuzhy)

The flowers of creative fidelity

by Lissy Maruthanakuzhy

Sep 23, 2021

Living the charism during the pandemic in Peru

by Marian Champika Hanzege

Sep 21, 2021

ACWECA's 2021 assembly shows the perseverance and strength of African sisters

by Joyce Meyer

Sep 16, 2021

South Sudan church leaders frustrated by lack of progress in nuns' murders

by Paul Jeffrey, Catholic News Service

Sep 16, 2021

Being Benedictine on the cusp of a new era for monasticism

by Judith Valente, Linda Romey

Sep 15, 2021

Community News

Finding God Everywhere

Event date: Thursday, September 23, 2021 Ursuline Sisters of Mount Saint Joseph

Season Two of the Hearts Afire Podcast

Published Sep 15, 2021 Sisters of Saint Dominic of Blauvelt, NY

Synodality Conference This Saturday

Published Sep 14, 2021 Sisters of Bon Secours

Join the conversation about Food Security

Event date: October 13, 2021 LCWR Region X

Q&As

After escaping Afghanistan, Sr. Theresa Crasta, a Maria Bambina nun, on Sept. 9 went to visit her family home at Bela, a village in Kerala on the border of Karnataka state in southwestern India.

Q&A with Sr. Theresa Crasta, who worked with special needs children before evacuating Kabul

by Thomas Scaria

Sep 21, 2021

Sr. Theresa Crasta of the Sisters of Maria Bambina shares her experiences of working with special needs children in Afghanistan as well as her rescue from the war-stricken country after the Taliban captured Kabul.

Sr. Tessy Kodiyil of the Congregation of the Holy Family writes letters to relatives of accident victims in her office at Aswas in Changampuzha Nagar, Kochi, in the southern Indian state of Kerala. (Courtesy of Tessy Kodiyil)

Q & A with Sr. Tessy Kodiyil, comforting accident victims' relatives in India

by Lissy Maruthanakuzhy

Sep 14, 2021

Holy Family Sr. Tessy Kodiyil manages Aswas ("Comfort"), a center that reaches out to accident victims and their families in the Indian state of Kerala, with a mission to bring love and hope to those in pain.

Q & A with Sr. Percylee Hart on 50 years in education and cheering on Olympian Sydney McLaughlin

by Sydney Clark

Sep 7, 2021

Q & A with Sr. Rita Wynne, educating adults in inner-city Dublin

by Sarah Mac Donald

Aug 31, 2021

Q & A with Sr. Rebecca Ann Gemma, new president-elect of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious

Aug 19, 2021

Q & A with Sr. Mary Elizabeth Clark, writing mealtime prayers for 'ecological conversion'

by Lucy Grindon

Aug 10, 2021

Spirituality

To see and be seen: Embracing presence as a ministry of learning

by Colleen Gibson

Sep 24, 2021

Rana Singh Sodhi speaks during the 20th anniversary memorial for his brother Balbir, Sept. 15 in Mesa, Arizona. Balbir Singh Sodhi was murdered in a hate crime killing days after the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. (Lee Media, Courtesy the Sikh Coalition)

Commentary

A contemporary Sikh 'saint' may offer insights into overcoming polarization

by Simone Campbell

Sep 20, 2021

The Way of the Cross in my neighborhood

by Joan Sauro

Sep 14, 2021

An eyewitness reflects on the World Trade Center attack

by Donna L. Ciangio

Sep 10, 2021

The Beatitudes revisited: a template of the good life

by Joan Chittister

Sep 9, 2021

9/11 anniversary stirs memories of New York and Afghanistan

Updated

by Chris Herlinger

Sep 9, 2021

Environment

As temperatures rise with climate change, how can Houston beat the heat?

A program that mapped Houston’s hot spots can help other communities create plans to mitigate the effects of extreme heat. Heat disproportionately affects low-income communities, where families often lack air conditioning, rely on public transportation, and are more likely to have jobs outside.

A vehicle navigates a flooded road Sept. 14, 2018, during Hurricane Florence in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. The next year, the coastal city of Charleston experienced 89 days of flooding, nearly one every five days. Charleston's previous record, 58

As climate change intensifies, how might Laudato Si' guide community responses?

by Brian Roewe

Aug 20, 2021

Flooding was among the environmental challenges identified during a workshop on Pope Francis' encyclical "Laudato Si', on Care for Our Common Home." The workshop was the start of a series of sessions to discuss climate change's local impact and solutions that benefit all people.

Q & A with Sr. Mary Elizabeth Clark, writing mealtime prayers for 'ecological conversion'

by Lucy Grindon

Aug 10, 2021

Death of Fr. Swamy, tribal rights defender, motivates India's Catholic religious

by Jose Kavi

Aug 4, 2021

The human right to migrate, and the right to stay

by Mary Kay Dobrovolny

Aug 3, 2021

Climate change, COVID point to need for radical turn to small farmers

Social Justice

Feed the hungry, Jesus said. Really, give them something to eat. Now.

by Margaret Cessna

Sep 20, 2021

The 2018 Nuns on the Bus: Tax Justice Truth Tour travels down the road in West Palm Beach, Florida during the 27-day trip from California to Mar-a-Lago. Over the past months, Emily TeKolste has led workshops on racial justice and the tax code. (Courtesy)

Equity, not equality, is the Christian ideal

by Emily TeKolste

Sep 17, 2021

Horizons - When both a billionaire and a minimum wage worker have to rent an apartment for $3,000 a month, that's equality of opportunity, but it leaves the worker homeless. Equity says that is not enough.

The Way of the Cross in my neighborhood

by Joan Sauro

Sep 14, 2021

St. Joseph sisters take their firsthand border experiences to lobby lawmakers

by Soli Salgado

Sep 13, 2021

Suffering and injustice linger for many, even 2 decades after 9/11's violence

by Mumbi Kigutha

Sep 13, 2021

9/11 anniversary stirs memories of New York and Afghanistan

Updated

by Chris Herlinger

Sep 9, 2021

Arts and Media

In Africa, dance is a declaration of life's delights

by Isabel Mann

Sep 8, 2021

For us Africans, dance is as important in life as eating and breathing. It is a complete and independent language. It comes naturally to us; we are born into it and live it, as we are taught the meaning of dance steps and the drumming that goes with it.

Charity Sr. Philomena Nnaji: "Singing, dancing, and other body movements are ways I express myself and worship God." (Courtesy of Religious Sisters of Charity)

An African dance of faith

by Philomena Nnaji

Sep 7, 2021

Singing, dancing, and other body movements are ways I express myself and worship God. Sometimes, I am so grateful to God that I just want my whole being to express this.

Actress embodies Victorian-era nun as she leads walking tours around Minnesota streets

by Maria Wiering, Catholic News Service

Aug 6, 2021

Catholic sisters embrace the gifts, navigate the pitfalls of social media

by The Life Panelists

Jul 26, 2021

The role of dance in African culture

by Mary Morajeyo Okewola

Jul 20, 2021

In Africa, cultural expressions accompany Christian practices

by Freda Ehimuan

Jul 13, 2021

Migration

Catholic leaders urge humane treatment for Haitian migrants as numbers grow

by Julie Asher, Catholic News Service

Sep 23, 2021

The chairman of the U.S. bishops' migration committee and the head of Catholic Charities USA issued a joint statement Sept. 22 urging humane treatment of Haitians and other migrants as their numbers grow in southern Texas at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Asylum-seeking migrants from Central America do their laundry in the public square of Reynosa, Mexico, Aug. 27, 2021. (CNS photo/Go Nakamura, Reuters)

Report outlines complaints of border agents' treatment of asylum-seekers

Sep 14, 2021

A joint report by the Kino Border Initiative and Network, the Catholic social justice lobby, details complaints lodged against U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents against those seeking asylum at the Arizona-Mexico border.

St. Joseph sisters take their firsthand border experiences to lobby lawmakers

by Soli Salgado

Sep 13, 2021

Law firm urges court to 'protect' ministry from Texas governor's order

Aug 16, 2021

The human right to migrate, and the right to stay

by Mary Kay Dobrovolny

Aug 3, 2021

Justice Department sues Texas as it tries to halt transport of migrants

by Rhina Guidos, Catholic News Service

Aug 2, 2021

Trafficking

Warning girls about the tactics of human traffickers

by Teresa Anyabuike

Jul 29, 2021

We, the Africa Faith and Justice Network-Nigeria, went to a school to speak to about 200 girls from grades 7-12 on how to avoid being trafficked. I told them that anyone could be a victim, and that the keyword is vigilance.

Talitha Kum: Fighting trafficking requires interventions of care