"The other is always much closer to being our kin than we imagine. It's the continual work of the prophets and the Spirit to open our eyes to this simple yet astounding truth: Anyone can be our family if we let them."

Notes from the Field - Every second Sunday of the month, the Salesian Sisters in Nazareth have a silent retreat. On one such Sunday, I was amazed by the guidance of the Holy Spirit that I received for the retreat.

The Catholic social justice lobby Network has collected nearly 1,000 letters from women religious to U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan, urging him to adopt a "fair and moral" federal budget.

"Evolutionary thinking is actually contemplative thinking, because it leaves the full field of the future in God's hands and agrees to humbly hold the present."

Three panelists at the University of San Francisco's Prophetic Leadership: Women Shaping the Catholic Social Tradition discussed treatment of immigrants in the United States and how it compares to the era when four churchwomen were killed in El Salvador. 

When Benedictine Sr. Kathleen Cogan began writing short stories about growing up on her family's Colorado ranch, she just wanted to give herself something to do while she recovered from a 2014 stroke. Her new hobby culminated in a time capsule for her family that became a published book.

Officials at San Domenico School in San Anselmo, California, founded in 1850 by the Dominican Sisters, announced Nov. 13 that the school will no longer be Catholic and will drop official ties to the San Francisco Archdiocese and the Western Catholic Educational Association.

The Leadership Conference of Women Religious called the withdrawal a "misguided decision" that is " yet another example of the president's attempts to wall off this nation and subvert its values."

Mohican, a rare red timber wolf, pawed the ground and panted with what appeared to be a smile, sizing up the group as he walked around us. I thought of St. Joseph Sr. Elizabeth Johnson's book Ask the Beasts as Mohican rested among new friends.

"The sky has been the limit as far as what I've learned working with women who are homeless. And I've learned that from them. They're beautiful."