Contemplate This - Breathe in the pain. Breathe out the gifts. I brought this contemplative practice to my prayer for sexual abuse victims — and then for the male clerical hierarchy as well.

GSR Today: The Seeking Refuge series took me to Rome and Athens, to see how communities are responding to migration. I spoke to refugee families who taught me about resilience, hope and courage. Sisters and others in the humanitarian field gave me direction as I navigated a tricky and complex subject. These are the lessons I learned.

The Life - Anglicans, Buddhists, Hindus, Jews, Methodists, Muslims, Sufis, Quakers: The panelists for August responded on a very personal level, sharing their life experiences that led them into an appreciation of other religions and ecumenical experiences. The panel responded to the following question: There are many entryways to ecumenical experience. Describe the door that let you, personally, walk into a sacred experience with or in a different religion or denomination.

Catholic groups voiced dismay and disagreement with a proposed rule from the Trump administration to weaken regulations on carbon pollution from coal-fired power plants that in the process could result in 1,400 more premature deaths annually. 

See for Yourself - It may sometimes impede understanding, but there's a certain charm to Chinglish, like this message on a sign in a park: "The grass smiles to you, please do not trample on it."

Horizons - "What has been, will be again." The words of Sr. Kathleen Desautels at the closing celebration of the 8th Day Center for Justice in Chicago reminded me that when things end, it's not really an ending by an evolution.

The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation announced Aug. 23 that its board of directors has approved a new five-year strategy for the Catholic Sisters Strategic Initiativethat focuses on sisters' human development work and their role as spiritual and prophetic witnesses through their vocations.

NCR Preview: Lay associates are a dynamic part of the church today. My experience with Mercy associates, within the Institute of the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, has provided spiritual sustenance that I've not gotten in any parish setting over the past decade.

GSR Today - Stars seem to be a universally loved symbol, and they keep popping up in my life as a rich source for contemplation.

Casa del Migrante Reynosa, run by four Daughters of Charity in a Mexican town bordering McAllen, Texas, shelters deportees from the U.S. as they figure out what to do next. "When they're deported, they bring with them a very intense pain because they invested in the journey," said Sr. Edith Garrido, a Daughter of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul.