The hallmark of Sr. Mary Ellen Merrick's ministry was the way she infused it with spirituality and strong leadership. "I can honestly say that I have learned more from her than any other supervisor in my clinical career," said a member of Merrick's clinical team at Guest House.
Sr. Lissy Vadakkel gave a statement against Bishop Franco Mulakkal, who is accused of raping an Indian sister. Since then, Vadakkel says, she has been facing coercion from the higher-ups in her congregation.
Horizons - The sacred spaces of our lives, after all, are spaces that have always just been waiting for us to enter. It is not our presence that sanctifies them. Each moment is holy. Our recognition of the Sacred in our midst, though, opens up a space to receive the sacred deep within us.
Pilgrimage to Honduras: I was particularly happy to be part of the delegation traveling to Honduras in a "reverse caravan," since it meant a return to the country where I had ministered for almost 19 years.
GSR recently held a discussion with Sr. Carmen Sammut, president of UISG; Sr. Pat Murray, executive director of UISG; Sr. Sharlet Wagner, president of the LCWR; and Sr. Carol Zinn, executive director of LCWR, about abuse of sisters, the role of women in the church, interreligious dialogue and work at the margins.
The perfect pitch Dominican Sr. Mary Jo Sobieck threw prior to a Chicago White Sox game last summer not only went viral but is still out of the park. First, there was a bobblehead in her image and now, she has her own baseball card.
Doris Regan is a member of the Dominican Sisters of Peace. With a graduate degree in Greek and Latin, she first ministered as a teacher and educational administrator. She spent 29 years as a missionary in Bolivia, Peru and Honduras, from 1987 to 2017, where her ministries included service to families with HIV, prisoners and teenagers at risk. She has preached workshops in South America and Africa, and is a writer and Spanish translator.
From Where I Stand: St. Benedict of Nursia's sixth degree of humility is an antidote to the crush of pressure, to the seedbed of envy, to continuing and underlying dissatisfaction with the self.
Notes from the Field - I have to recognize each time I ride in a private car or eat at an agency luncheon that this is part of my work. Mentally rebuffing them brings me no closer to realizing what it truly means to live in service of others.
During the 63rd session of the Commission on the Status of Women, the Medical Mission Sisters and others discussed the radical reorientation of behavior and beliefs we need to shift to a more inclusive way of being in the world.