For four years, I've been a part of the American Benedictine Academy, which works to pass on Benedictine values. Our biennial conference this year celebrated modern "artisans of the monastery." It brought together more than 100 artists, writers, musicians, craftspeople and art appreciators at St. Benedict Monastery in Minnesota, including a large number of oblates.

Women religious from various congregations are quietly tapping into their faith to advocate for the undocumented. Some of these women happen to be immigration attorneys. Sisters with legal expertise are on the frontlines of changing immigration policies that brought about the separation of families at the border and that made it more difficult for Central Americans to gain asylum.

GSR Today - What is the right-click equivalent for other parts of my life? Were there past events that unlocked whole menus of possibility for me?

Pinocchio, who is on his way to delight my grandniece and nephew in their home in the U.S., has been guiding me in Italy. He is worried that people are forgetting what truth means.

Horizons - Humility gives us an opportunity to hold the reality of what is without having to make excuses or provide solutions. In that space, we are on the ground floor of what is. 

I'm thinking about the word "chain." Chain letters are fraudulent. A chain smoker often lights the next cigarette from the one currently burning. Chain reactions can be bad, such as your car gets hit, which forces you to hit the next car. Or chain reactions can be good, such as a movement to pay it forward.

In October, the majority of the 50 sisters who live in the monastery founded by St. Mary of the Incarnation will head to the Quebec borough of Beauport, where a new home for the elderly awaits them.

Three convents in Congo were attacked by armed men in the latest violence targeting the Catholic Church in the central Africa country. "The thugs attacked the nuns and threatened them with death, before taking away their money" and other goods intended for the sisters' work in the community, the justice and peace commission of the Kananga Archdiocese said in a statement.

Groups of religious women are speaking out about the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court, citing their faith as they call on lawmakers to investigate allegations of sexual assault raised by Christine Blasey Ford and others.

In the last decade, Clare Guest House in Sioux City, Iowa, has helped 106 women who recently left prison. Some came back more than once. "We've had some women who were not success stories," she said, "but we've also had many who have, who have kept in touch with us, thanking us for getting their lives back."