"The very first step is to talk to other people about this desire and these seeds that are within you. If we have this same aspiration, we can put together our capacities to figure out together how we can change things. It will take time, because we are human and all human transformation requires conversion and time. That's the only method I know."

Resource Center for Religious Institutes' National Conference - A new White House administration has meant new realities for women religious in almost every aspect of immigration, whether it is religious worker visas or churches helping undocumented persons, an immigration attorney says. Minyoung Ohm, a staff attorney in the Religious Immigration Services section of Catholic Legal Immigration Network, said some of the changes have been formalized in new rules, and others are changes in enforcement practices.

See for Yourself - "Everybody wanted to play the accordion back in the 1950s. Although I really wanted to play the piano, we couldn't afford one at home, so the accordion was the next best thing."

Maybe the aching melody awoke something within me, some bone-deep gratitude and inexplicable love for ancestors I've never known. Certainly, I felt surrounded by them, my grandmothers and grandfathers in both genealogy and faith.

"If we know that we're all in this together, it becomes something beautiful."

More than a year after Pope Francis issued new guidelines for contemplative women religious, leaders of those communities are still working to figure out what changes will be required. Benedictine Sr. Nancy Bauer told attendees at the Resource Center for Religious Institutes' National Conference Nov. 1 the new norms will not take effect until the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life delivers instructions on how to implement them.

A native of Chad, St. Joseph Sr. Jeannette Londadjim was forced to flee her homeland with her family because of the bloody civil war that broke out in the mid-1960s. Her work has taken her throughout Africa, educating young people, working with migrants and refugees, and helping bishops' conferences deal with issues of development, the environment and racism. 

Rani Maria Vattalil, a member of the indigenous Franciscan Clarist Congregation who was knifed to death in 1995, is to be beatified Nov. 4 in India's Indore Diocese. As she gets closer to sainthood, the people for whom she sacrificed her life remember how she inspired transformation. "She taught us to stand on our legs. Our village, with hope, has truly become a place of joy."

"It is our faith that calls us to see each other as members of God's family. It is our faith that calls us to confront and overcome racism."

Notes from the Field - Understanding with whom we are working, we can then use that wisdom to employ methods that are more relevant and personal to them. Collecting more self-knowledge will help us constructively criticize how we respond to those we serve.