In Nong Khai, Thailand, Good Shepherd sisters have created a safe space for anyone who needs healing, education or fair employment. Sisters focus on every individual's success, without judgment.

"Are we so trapped in our institutions, tending to the dying structures, and grieving the loss of so much that the structures themselves do not allow for a radical presence to what is most needed in our world today?"

Sr. Colleen Jackson talks to GSR about her experience serving as a psychologist, refugee advocate and most recently, an intern at a coalition of Catholic congregations focused on concerns of women and children. Jackson is inspired by the courage, resilience and faith of refugees and asylum-seekers.

Women Religious who have gone before us — our foremothers — are pioneers (are they not still with us?) Religious sisters have been in liminal space, or on the edge, for centuries, and this has not changed in the 21st century. 

"When we love, we always strive to become better than we are. When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too."

This Easter season, I find it nearly impossible to continue proclaiming new and risen life, when it seems that so much around me is being taken away.

From Where I Stand -  There's a pall hanging over the country these days. And it's everywhere. It colors every news article, of course. So, should we just give in?

Paris Agreement - The U.S. withdrawal from global accord "disregards our basic human purpose on the planet to love and care for the garden and one another," says Franciscan Sr. Joan Brown, calling the decision "predictable, yet dark."

GSR Today - At the second alumnae gathering for graduates of the Collaborative Leadership Development Program, we were told that instead of asking, "Is there a future for religious life?" we should ask, "What is it we can do that nurtures whatever comes out of the present?"

One step in "Making a positive out of a negative," three communities of sisters gather at sites where violence has occurred and invite the larger community to a short vigil with simple elements — prayer, song, holy water — to show support to victims' families and bring awareness about violence in a city of 100,000 people. Take Back The Site began in 1999 and recently marked its 100th vigil.