GSR Today - Fighting human trafficking ranks as the most focused global collective and collaborative effort by Catholic women religious. January is National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month, designated in the U.S. since 2010, with Jan. 11 marking Human Trafficking Awareness Day.

I've never been very good at New Year's resolutions, and I know I'm not alone. Like many people, my resolutions tend to be self-serving, fairly unattainable and quickly broken. In an age in which even rest and leisure have become to-do list material, perhaps this is the year to ditch the resolutions.

We recently attended the Parliament of the World's Religions with more than 7,500 other delegates from 80 countries, representing approximately 200 indigenous, spiritual and religious traditions. One could feel the spiritual power and love vibrating as we greeted and talked to fellow participants. The theme of this Parliament was "Promise of inclusion — the power of love —pursuing global understanding, reconciliation and change."

"She helped me discern what this call was all about. She's been there from the beginning." On the surface, these sisters' life stories seem radically different, but what they have in common was a connection with another woman, one that altered the trajectory of their lives — someone who sparked a desire for religious life they might not have known existed.

Notes from the Field: Living with the Salesian sisters at Casa Madre Mazzarello taught me the importance of "wasting" time in prayer, especially in the modern age. Being limited is a good thing.

Seventy monastic women gathered from 17 countries for a dialogue event between Buddhist and Christian nuns. Participants called the event "a landmark to foster mutual understanding and friendship."

"The reason behind my painting is really my passion since childhood," says Sr. Venus Pegar, a Filipina sister of St. Francis of Xavier. Now, with permission from her mother superior, she paints regularly to raise funds for her order's ministries.

GSR Today - The holidays inspire memories of a family friend: the late Sr. Mary Lucy Downey, a hero to the cause of affordable housing in Denver, and the first sister I ever knew.  Downey was a trailblazer whose legacy lives on in Colorado, Missouri and even the United Nations.

The Daughter of Charity sister retires in June as head of Catholic Health Association — a tenure that saw her become the face of Catholic lobbying efforts to pass the Affordable Care Act. That often-bruising fight put to use her ability, in the words of a colleague, "to stay anchored to her principles grounded in the Gospel and Catholic social teaching, while ably working for what's possible and workable."