Dan Stockman

Some Catholic women religious from around the world shared with GSR how they are observing Holy Week in a time when mass gatherings are prohibited and social distancing is the new normal.

On any given night in the United States, 41,000 unaccompanied youth ages 13-25 are without a home. And on all of those nights, Catholic women religious are working to shelter them, feed them, and protect them.

COVID-19, the infection caused by the new coronavirus sweeping the planet, is causing chaos, but Catholic women religious and the organizations they created or run are at the forefront of efforts to mitigate that and provide care.

"It's an endless call," said Sr. Deborah Borneman, director of mission integration for the National Religious Vocation Conference. She said a significant finding of the 2020 study was what new entrants did not care about: the size or geographic location of the community they were entering or the age of current members.

"We have all these symbols of separation to represent our life of prayer, but those that need it find their way in, believe me," says Sr. Marcia Kay LaCour, abbess of the Poor Clares in Spokane, Washington.

Emerging Communities - Meet the Carmelite Sisters of Mary, the Sisters of Life and The Order of St. Benedict-Petersham, all official religious institutes, defined as a community whose members make public vows.

• The entire four-part series can be found here.

Emerging Communities – The origins of three public associations of the faithful involve individuals who listened to God's call and followed their own respective journeys.

Emerging Communities - Groups like the Confraternity of Penitents, the Dwelling Place, and Sisters for Christian Community seek to draw their lay members closer to God in ways "designed for secular living."

Global Sisters Report introduces a four-part series on religious communities created after the Second Vatican Council; these groups may offer hints about what lies ahead for religious life.

Cycling With Sisters is back with a series of rides of various lengths planned this summer in various locations, spreading the fun and health aspects of bike riding.

The tornadoes that roared across Tennessee March 3 left at least 25 people dead, with dozens still missing. Some homes were ripped down to their foundations and four Catholic churches were damaged.

Now called Catholic Sisters Week, the sixth annual celebration of Catholic women religious has more than 50 events planned to share more broadly the traditions and charisms of religious life.

Sr. Dorothy Ann Kundinger, a member of the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, cared for Sr. Thea Bowman, of the same community, from shortly after her cancer diagnosis in 1984 to her death in 1990

The Dominican Sisters of St. Catherine of Siena of Iraq are still trying to rebuild two years after returning home to the devastation the Islamic State group left behind.

The Cistercian Nuns of the Valley of Our Lady Monastery in Prairie du Sac, Wisconsin, have began an estimated $20 million project to design and develop a new property. They see God at work amid the challenges of fundraising and finding a new location amid tricky topography.

How to invite more young women to consider religious life is a question many communities and organizations are asking. Many are moving away from the recruitment model and instead are focusing on mentoring, volunteering programs and mission trips to reach out to young adults.  "It's visibility, visibility, visibility," says one sister.

"We always try to talk to companies about whatever our concerns are and then move forward": Benedictine Sr. Susan Mika spoke with GSR about leading an effort to remove antibiotics from McDonald's beef supply chain. She also talked about an ongoing battle over shareholder resolutions.

As sisters age out of active ministry, many congregations have faced questions about how their ministries' mission will continue in Catholic health systems after they are no longer affiliated with the founding communities. One key response is forming lay leaders in health care who embrace and live those values.

GSR Today - This story was never supposed to be about Sister Paula and Sister Margaret.

The sisters ministering in a community with generational poverty and some of the most challenging employment and health care statistics in the nation make an important statement about the church and women religious through their presence.