"Like ghosts of people unseen, the fountain waters remember that the invisible ones are important as we make our decisions."

Congregations of religious men and women recently received payments totaling $25 million to help cover shortfalls in retirement funding.

GSR Today - A recent high-level forum at the United Nations was a chance to assess how the world is doing in reaching 17 sustainable development goals, which aim to end poverty and hunger, promote action on climate change, and end gender inequality.

Two Sisters of St. Joseph in London, Ontario, run the Office for Systemic Justice, which researches major social issues — poverty, climate change and the environment, human trafficking, indigenous rights, refugees, immigration, etc. — and advocates for policies to improve communities globally. They start with a hyperlocal focus, often a personal story, and work toward alleviating precarious employment, reducing poverty, encouraging improvements in mental health care, and more. 

"The Ignatian approach to good choices emphasizes freedom. Making a free decision means that we set aside our own preferences and preconceptions and strive to be free of social pressures and psychological strains. We carefully examine our motives and desires."

See for Yourself - My friend John has that unchanging air about him, as we see each other but don’t realize that it's been an entire year since we last connected. This year, however, John is moving a little slower. 

Our modern technology means many people get notifications about news headlines on their smartphones. Their phones beep and blink, alerting them throughout the day when there has been a catastrophe in another corner of the nation or the world. Humans are hollowed into headlines, statistics. In light of this, a sister asks me: "Do we have a limited capacity for encountering suffering and pain? What does it do to the human psyche to receive a constant diet of bad news?"

"Sometimes the only thing one can do is pray!"