Soli Salgado

Hundreds of sisters around the world joined the online session, "Re-Imagining the Future: Religious Life in the United States," during which LCWR leaders discussed shift in structures, membership, ministries and sustainability.

The earthquake that struck Puerto Rico Jan. 7 damaged over 8,000 houses, leaving 2,500 uninhabitable. Thousands of people now live in tents, awaiting home repairs or afraid that their houses may cave in.

New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan is hearing from some sisters in congregational leadership, who worry that his open admiration of President Trump communicates wider approval on behalf of the Catholic Church.

At the 50-bed Home of the Good Shepherd in San Juan, Puerto Rico, homeless men and women with a history of drug abuse are welcome to stay so long as their recovery journey focuses on drug abstinence.

Sisters have long supported migrants and immigrants living in the United States. But a "ministry of presence" isn't possible during a pandemic, and sisters have had to reinvent their ministries.

For four years, Nuns and Nones has been cultivating an intergenerational community of women religious and spiritually curious millennials, taking on the existential questions now plaguing the rest of the world.

In a conversation with Global Sisters Report, Mercy Sr. Eileen Boffa of Bridgeport, Connecticut, reflected on the impact economically poor individuals have had on her life, how the lack of social support feeds a cycle of homelessness, and her new appreciation for beauty.

Gentle, a Sister of Charity of Nazareth, runs a ministry that focuses on five dimensions of well-being among the elderly in Belize City: housing, social supports, food access, medical care, and transportation.

"The Sisters of Providence out of Montreal have been at this for 175 years, and we have never changed our mission. We realize that we have to pay close attention to the formation and mission integration with our laypeople."

With renowned cartoonists and artists contributing, the project aims to raise awareness and funds to help sisters reintegrate survivors of trafficking back into society, with all proceeds going to Talitha Kum.

Sister of the Divine Savior Jean Schafer was inspired in the late 1990s to inform more people about human trafficking and, after the International Union of Superiors General released its first public declaration calling on religious women to work on behalf of this vulnerable population, she started a monthly newsletter. After 17 years, she is handing it off to two other sisters.

Women and men religious gathered in late 2019 to learn about the Amazon synod from one of the 10 women allowed to participate, Sr. Daniela Cannavina, and to discuss environmental issues for their Latin American and Caribbean region and how they could see themselves as pilgrims in a process that is at once intercultural, intercongregational and itinerant.

While Christmas is a celebration of God becoming incarnate through the birth of Jesus Christ, theologians consider God's first act of incarnation to be the birth of the cosmos, inspiring some religious communities to incorporate a cosmic dimension to their seasonal reflections and celebrations. 

Carrying the weight of suffering experienced by persons who are trafficked can cause sleepless nights, heartache and burnout, but how women religious recharge and care for themselves is what allows them to persevere in challenging ministries.

Dignity for workers is the goal of the Dolores Sopeña Center in Chile. The center trains people in specific trades and teaches them how to turn their skills into a business.

Days before the synod on the Amazon is to convene Oct. 6 in Rome, Catholic women called attention to an omission they say bears insulting implications and stifles the potential of the church.

Women religious brought to the Talitha Kum gathering their strategies, struggles and successes. GSR heard from sisters on the ground, working against human trafficking on six continents.

During their first gathering, delegates from 48 countries shared best practices; they celebrated trafficking survivors they had helped, and the expansion of their network; and they established three new priorities.

Sisters must reframe the narrative around trafficking, Australian Sr. Angela Reed told delegates of women religious from 48 countries in a Sept. 23 panel. 

More than 2,000 women religious are members of Talitha Kum, with 43 national networks doing work in 77 countries. The worldwide issue of human trafficking brought together 86 women religious serving as delegates from 48 countries, Sept. 21-27.