Thomas Scaria

Six women congregations have come together to empower "youth at risk" in Bengaluru. "This is the perfect example of synodality in action as envisaged by Pope Francis," says Apostolic Carmel Sr. Maria Nirmalini.

Sisters of secular institutes in India spearhead ministries that offer a better future to children who have been living in the streets or found at bus stations, offering shelter, education and later placing them in job training.

As Catholics in southern India resist the Syro-Malabar Synod's decision requiring the priest to face the altar during parts of Mass, sisters pray for a peaceful ending to the decades long dispute.

The Franciscan Sisters Servants of the Cross manage Jyothi Seva, a school for the visually impaired in Bengaluru, in the southern Indian state of Karnataka. Jyothi Seva helps students to discover their dignity and value.

A feature film on martyred nun Sr. Rani Maria Vattalil is changing attitudes toward missionaries in India while enhancing dignity and confidence among women religious, according to laity and religious who spoke with GSR.

Salesian Sisters run one of the few rehabilitation centers that treat  women with substance abuse addictions in India. 

Bethany Sr. Mable Clara D'Mello shares her experience ministering in the relief camps of Manipur, a northeastern India state where ethnic violence has raged since May 3. 

As violence continues in Manipur, India, sisters care for children in refugee camps while continuing their ministry of looking after orphaned and abandoned children in their Homes of Hope shelters.

The Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ in Bengaluru, India, educate children who would otherwise be working with their nomadic parents in garbage segregation units, in waste picking or at construction sites.

Sr. Rose Paite, a native of the violence-hit Manipur state in northeastern India, works for the prevention of human trafficking, especially women and children from the tribal communities of the region.

As a dispute over how to celebrate the liturgy embroils India's Syro-Malabar Church — one of the Catholic Church's Eastern Catholic churches  — sisters continue parish ministries and holding catechism classes.

Sisters in India run the Sree Jeevan Jyothi Vocational Junior College, where several students are victims of failed child marriages. At the junior college, they train as nurses, receive counseling and develop confidence.

Violence in India's Manipur state has prompted many Catholic sisters to flee to surrounding areas. Some nuns, helping others in relief camps, left after receiving threats. Others remain in Manipur to serve those affected.

Hundreds of women have found a fresh start in a shelter managed by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Tarbes in Bengaluru, Karnataka state, India. The nuns counsel residents, provide them therapy and offer room and board.

Sr. Lismy Parayil is the first Catholic nun to feature in the India Book of Records, the country's highest recognition in visual media. She spoke to GSR about translating her talent into a new way of proclaiming Christ.

"We cannot be silent when the country is burning with divisive forces everywhere," Sr. Maria Nirmalini, head of the Conference of Religious India, said in a letter to more than 130,000 nuns, priests and brothers.

Sr. Rani Fernando and three other members of the Sisters of the Divine Savio work among tsunami victims in the southwestern coast of Sri Lanka. They stay in Don Boscopura, a colony for people displaced by the Dec. 26, 2004, tsunami.

Sr. Maria Rani Anthony Pillai has been a conflict counselor and health worker in different countries for several years. She spoke with GSR about coping with internal conflicts and serving as a conflict counselor.

Sisters across congregations work to transform the lives of devadasis, or temple dancers who are part of a religiously sanctioned ancient system in southern India. Sisters hope to empower them and their children through health and education.

Manasa Rehabilitation and Training Centre in India caters to children with intellectual disabilities. For the past 25 years, laypeople and women religious have collaborated on the center to help more than 800 children.