Dan Stockman

Several women religious communities are collaborating to address the unique dynamics of poverty in New Orleans, beyond the tourist attractions of the French Quarter.

The celebration of the Loretto Earth Network came as U.N. Commission on the Status of Women focused on empowering women and girls in the context of climate change and environmental and disaster risk reduction policies.

Sacred Heart Sr. Maria Cimperman is a true believer in the Synod of Bishops on synodality: "The whole synodal process is really communal discernment. How do we walk with each other and hear each other?"

Nearly 50 Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate in Dhaka, Bangladesh, participated in a parish synodal event. "As nuns, we want to make people more active in the church," Sr. Chandana Rozario said.

It's hard to imagine how powerless the people of Ukraine must feel as their lives are torn apart. It's also hard to feel like you can help. But prayer does help, as Catholic sisters will always tell you.

Participants in an International Union of Superiors General webinar March 9 heard from presenters that the percentage of sisters who are elderly is expected to increase globally over the next decades.

More than 1,000 Catholic long-term care facilities in the United States, most of which were founded by sisters or are sponsored ministries, and secular nursing homes alike are working through the difficulties that persist. Residents suffer the consequences. 

Monday Starter: Catholic sisters across the world are praying, working and raising money to help refugees and families in crisis as Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues. You can pray and pitch in, too.

Though communications with those in a war zone are difficult, Global Sisters Report has received updates from some women religious ministering in Ukraine. The sisters endure amid a mass exodus of people.

Catholic Sisters Week begins March 8, International Women's Day. Many of this year's events are about getting participants involved in the work sisters do.

Sisters of Charity Federation leaders said research shows that the two original congregations of Charity sisters in the United States owned slaves before slavery was outlawed in 1865.

"Every image I take or send out, every photograph I glue on a card is God's people. Every photograph is an act of prayer," the Nun with a Nikon says.

"Synodality is rooted in the tradition of the church. Francis is rescuing this value of our own tradition," Rafael Luciani told a webinar hosted by the Center for the Study of Consecrated Life.

Congregations across the U.S. are transforming their remaining assets, such as land and buildings. Some simply sell what they have, out of need. Others, like the Victory Nolls, are going further.

Though it seems as if there has been a flurry of activity and progress in recent months, the members of Our Lady of Victory Missionary Sisters have been taking steps toward completion for several years.

Dominican Sr. Maureen Sullivan will speak on the synodal church in a FutureChurch series, while the International Union of Superiors General is gathering sister testimonies and focusing its 2022 plenary on the synod.

"The lies of leaders who call their nations 'compassionate' while watching asylum seekers drown off the British coast or be exploited by gangs on the Mexican side of the U.S. border must be called out," the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace said in a statement.

Tornadoes tore through the South and Midwest overnight Dec. 10, leaving paths of destruction that may be unprecedented and killing up to 100 people or more. Catholic sisters are answering the calls for help.

Events for Network's 50th anniversary will celebrate sisters' "bold, radical, joyful, and inclusive energy that motivated Network's founding and continues to animate Network's political ministry today."

Voices of Faith's series against gender-based violence continued Dec. 7 with a panel that discussed historical and modern practices within Catholic religious institutions that discriminate against women of color.